ADRIAN, MI - The No. 4 Utica University Men's Hockey team will travel to Michigan this weekend and begin a much-anticipated 2024-2025 campaign with a two-game set against a high-profile opponent in the No. 3 Adrian College Bulldogs. Those contests will take place at the Arrington Ice Arena on Saturday, November 2nd and Sunday, November 3rd at 7:00 PM and 1:00 PM respectively.
 
How to Watch: You can catch this weekend's two-game slate by heading to the "Watch" tab in the Men's Ice Hockey schedule section of our athletics website. You can also follow the link below to view both games.
Adrian College Men's Ice Hockey Stream: https://www.youtube.com/@AdrianCollegeTV
 
Keep Up With Live Stats: You can follow along with live statistics for the games by heading to the "Live Stats" tab under the matchups in the Men's Ice Hockey schedule section of our athletics website. You can also follow the link below to view live statistics for both matchups.
Adrian College Men's Ice Hockey Live Statistics: https://adrianbulldogs.com/sidearmstats/mhockey/summary
 
Pre-Season Recap: The Pioneers hosted a pair of SUNYAC opponents during their two exhibition outings, defeating SUNY Canton 6-1 and SUNY Potsdam 7-2 over the two-week Preseason period. Both games took place at the Adirondack Bank Center and saw a flurry of different lineups for the Pioneers, with all 27 players seeing significant action during the 120 minutes of exhibition play. All three goals given up by the Pioneers during their exhibition outings occurred during the first period of each matchup, which tends to happen during the first couple games of any given season. The team really got clicking during the final 40 minutes of each match though, outscoring their opponents 8-0 during the final two periods of each game. 
 
Out of Your Depth: Utica saw a different player score each of their goals during both Preseason matchups, with six different Pioneers scoring against Canton and seven different Pioneers scoring against Potsdam. Here were the scorers in each game for the Pioneers:
 
Pioneer goal-scorers against SUNY Canton:
Chris Carroll (Islip, NY/New Jersey Titans (NAHL)) (Austin D'Orazio (Vaughan, ON/Trenton Golden Hawks (OJHL)))
Anthony Bax (Parkhill, ON/Flin Flon Bombers (SJHL))
Michael Herrera (Syracuse, NY/Utica Comets (NCDC)) (Chris Carroll (Islip, NY/New Jersey Titans (NAHL)))
Vladislav Pshenichnikov (Moscow, Russia/Utica Comets (NCDC)) (John Gutt (Middletown, NJ/Utica JR Comets (NCDC)))
Gabriel Lundberg (Gothenburg, Sweden/Janesville Jets (NAHL)) (John Gutt (Middletown, NJ/Utica JR Comets (NCDC)))
Matt Wood (Garnet Valley, PA/Richmond Generals (USPHL)) (John Gutt (Middletown, NJ/Utica JR Comets (NCDC)), Brian Scoville (Agawam, MA/Alabama-Huntsville (NCAA DI)))
 
Pioneer goal-scorers against SUNY Potsdam:
Eric Vitale (Toronto, ON/Shreveport Mudbugs (NAHL)) (Jakob Breault (Acton Vale, QC/Alaska-Fairbanks (NCAA DI)))
Drake Morse (Grand Rapids, MI/Shreveport Mudbugs (NAHL)) (Johnny Mulera (Rockville, MD/Salve Regina University (NCAA DIII)), Aydin Parekh (Nobleton, ON/Georgetown Raiders (OJHL)))
Gabriel Lundberg (Gothenburg, Sweden/Janesville Jets (NAHL)) (John Gutt (Middletown, NJ/Utica JR Comets (NCDC)))
Aydin Parekh (Nobleton, ON/Georgetown Raiders (OJHL)) (Drake Morse (Grand Rapids, MI/Shreveport Mudbugs (NAHL)), Gabriel Lundberg (Gothenburg, Sweden/Janesville Jets (NAHL)))
Johnny Mulera (Rockville, MD/Salve Regina University (NCAA DIII))
Matt Wood (Garnet Valley, PA/Richmond Generals (USPHL)) (Shorthanded) (Shane Murphy (Oriskany, NY/Danbury Hat Tricks (NAHL)))
Chris Carroll (Islip, NY/New Jersey Titans (NAHL)) (Ben Schultheis (Mount Juliet, TN/Ferris State University (NCAA DI)))
 
The Pioneers also gave all their goaltenders two periods of play to guard the net, with the three different goalkeepers logging 80 minutes of shutout ice-time in their two games.
 
In the Polls: The Pioneers are ranked #4 in both the USCHO Division III Preseason poll as well as the DIII Hockey News Preseason poll. The three teams ahead of the Pioneers in the USCHO poll are coincidentally the other three teams that participated in last season's NCAA Division III Frozen Four, with Adrian at #3, Trinity (CT) at #2, and last year's champion Hobart at #1. Another team of note is new UCHC foe SUNY Geneseo who enters this season with a USCHO ranking of 7.
 
About Adrian College: The Adrian College Bulldogs out of Adrian, Michigan begin this season at #3 in the USCHO Preseason Poll and #2 in the DIII Hockey News Preseason Poll after falling to Trinity (CT) in last year's NCAA Division III Semifinal Round by a score of 2-1. Adrian failed to score in that matchup after cutting the deficit to 1-2 late in the second period of the decisive playoff game. Last year's campaign saw Adrian go 24-7-1 on the season, falling in the Finals of the Harris Cup Tournament, the conference tournament for the NCHA Conference, the league in which Adrian competes. The Bulldogs fell to St. Norbert College by a score of 1-3, losing out on the conference title but managing to sneak into the NCAA Division III Men's Hockey Tournament where they went on to defeat the Green Knights by a score of 5-3, earning their revenge and a trip to the NCAA Division III Frozen Four.
 
The Bulldogs lose the services of their top three point-getters from last season, with Matthew Rehding, Zachary Heintz, and Jaden Shields all gone in 2024-2025. Those three players accounted for a total of 45 goals, 82 assists, and 127 points. Bradley Somers, Jacob Suede, and Ryan Pitoscia will look to move into bigger roles on offense this season, with the trio slotting in as the fourth, fifth, and sixth ranked point-getters from last season, totaling 39 goals, 57 assists, and 96 points.
 
The Bulldogs' main goaltender will be back this season, as DerShahn Stewart returns to Adrian as a Graduate Student just a season after logging over 1,640 minutes in net and nabbing 713 saves at a 94% rate. Stewart had a record of 19-6-1 last season during his 2024-2025 campaign. Stewart started all eight postseason games for the Bulldogs last season during their Harris Cup Playoff and NCAA Tournament runs.
 
The Bulldogs lost their first exhibition game this season to a Trine side receiving votes in both the USCHO Poll and DIII Hockey News Poll. Adrian fell by a score of 1-2 in Angola, Indiana during the contest. Adrian also faced off against the USA U18 National Team Development Program, scoring five unanswered goals after facing a 3-0 deficit to charge back and win 5-3. Jacob Suede, Patrick Saini, Bradley Somers, and Ryder Nienhuis scored for the Bulldogs during the contest, with Saini scoring two.
 
The Series - Adrian: Utica and Adrian met towards the beginning of last season, with the (at the time) #2 ranked Bulldogs traveling to the Adirondack Bank Center for a two-game set with the then #6 ranked Pioneers. The two teams played to a standstill in game one, drawing with a score of 0-0, before the Pioneers narrowly edged the Bulldogs 3-2 in overtime during the second matchup. Utica returns many point-getters from that second game.
 
The Pioneers are 4-6-1 all-time against the Bulldogs, going 2-3-1 at home and 2-3 away over that span. Every contest between the Pioneers and Bulldogs has occurred since the 2017-2018 season. Adrian has two 3-win streaks during the rivalry, sandwiching a three-game win streak by the Pioneers to round out the first nine results in the series. The final two games occurred last season, with a tie followed by a Pioneer win as the outcomes. The series has been an exciting one, with four of the 11 games going to overtime.
 
After Adrian: Utica Men's Hockey will have some early UCHC action next week, beginning their new UCHC schedule that plays on a home-and-home calendar. All that is to say that the Pioneers will travel to Rochester for a bout with Nazareth on Friday, November 8th before returning home the next night for a Saturday night showdown at The Bank against the Golden Flyers. Once again, that two-game set will take place next Friday and Saturday.
 
Tune in this weekend as the Pioneers open their season against #3 Adrian College in Michigan!