UTICA, NY - After a resounding 7-0 win over Morrisville State in their first exhibition matchup this past Saturday, the #2 Utica men's hockey team will welcome another SUNYAC side to the Aud on Friday night, facing Skidmore in their final exhibition matchup before the regular season kicks off. Friday's pre-season finale will take place at 7:00 PM. Get caught up on all of last week's action and storylines with this week's men's hockey preview!
 
Friday Night Fight: The Pioneers get set to welcome new SUNYAC representatives, Skidmore College, this Friday night at the Aud. The Thoroughbreds will be the Pioneers' final test before the regular season gets underway. Puck drop is scheduled for 7:00 PM this Friday night.
 
Looking for a Ticket? You can purchase one for $12 by heading to Empirestatetix.com or by heading to this link: https://empirestatetix.evenue.net/events/UCP
 
You can stream Friday's game by heading to the link below, or by clicking the "Watch" link in our men's hockey schedule page.
 
Friday vs Skidmore Stream: https://www.empire8network.com/utica/
 
You can follow live stats for Friday's contest by heading to this link or by clicking the "Live Stats" link on our men's hockey schedule page.
 
Friday vs Skidmore Live Stats Link: https://uticapioneers.com/sidearmstats/mhockey/summary
 
Recapping Exhibition #1 vs Morrisville: The orange and blue finally made their return to the ice this past Saturday, ending the offseason with an exhibition matchup against a Morrisville side led by Utica men's hockey alum Kevin Krogol. In the game, the Pioneers gradually found their footing, notching three goals in periods one and two, before a four-goal avalanche in the third period gave them a 7-0 drubbing over their black and green opposition.
 
Following an offseason that saw the team bring in numerous high-profile transfers and phenomenal freshmen, the Pioneers looked to gel early, as their main core of returners worked to find a rhythm with the many new additions. Despite only one goal during the early stages of the game, the team's pressure remained a constant factor, as Division III's #2 ranked team sent waves of talent at Morrisville, piling up 23 shots in the first period. A balanced attacking effort would see the Pioneers finish with a final shots tally of 74, also allowing just 16 by the Mustangs, with 10 of those coming in the final period of play after the game had been all but settled.
 
Funnily enough, the Pioneers' standout star on the evening didn't even break into the top five for shots taken in the matchup. Nick Ahern (Chicago, IL), an incoming junior transfer from Division I Vermont, snagged four goals on just five shots, also netting a power play score and accruing an assist to finish with a five-point day. The former Utica Jr. Comets standout made much noise in his return to the Aud, setting the stage for what hopes to be an excellent season for the Pioneer offense.
 
Not forgotten amidst Ahern's outing were standout contributions from other familiar faces, as newly-minted captain Drake Morse (Grand Rapids, MI), along with last year's Elite 90 Award winner Andrew Della Rovere (Caledon East, Ontario) found goals in the game. The latter junior also grabbed his score on the power play, ending the sequence less than 15 seconds into the advantage time.
 
Transfer defensemen Davis Goukler (Cumming, GA) was the final Pioneer to find net in the matchup, scoring the cherry on top in his Pioneer debut. Goukler would finish with two points, also grabbing an assist on the initial goal from Ahern.
 
Returners John Gutt (Middletown, NJ), and Eric Vitale (Toronto, Ontario), along with freshman Sal Cerrato (St. Louis, MO) each pocketed two assists in the game, with returners Aydin Parekh (Nobleton, ON), Alexander Gullichsen (Turku, Finland), and Anthony Bax (Parkhill, Ontario), along with newcomer Will Hilfiker (Middletown, NJ) each getting a single assist to round out the point getters.
 
The Pioneers finished with 12 assists on seven goals.
 
Della Rovere and Gabriel Lundberg (Gothenburg, Sweden) also helped lead the Pioneers to an incredible 72% faceoff win percentage, as the team took 49 of a total 68 faceoff chances.
 
In net, the team rotated all three of it's rostered netminders, with Frank Murphy (Mississauga, Ontario), Kyle Curtin (St. George, Ontario), and Avery Sturtz (Cedar Rapids, IA) each playing 20 minutes in a combined shutout effort.
 
Empire State Excellence: The Pioneers' foe this Friday is SUNYAC side Skidmore, however, to fans who followed Division III hockey in New York these past few seasons, they know that this is a recent development.
 
After the dissolving of the New England Hockey Conference following this past season, the league's members began to search for new homes, leaving the New York representatives with two main choices: the UCHC and the SUNYAC. As it pertains to the Pioneers, the UCHC will receive a couple new additions from the NEHC in Elmira, who returns to the UCHC after a stint in the NEHC, and Albertus Magnus, who will join the league for the first time. A newly created program at St. John Fisher will also boost the UCHC's member tally to nine, adding three new squads after a six-team league last season.
 
On the SUNYAC side of things, the UCHC's rival conference sees the addition of some powerful players, namely three-time reigning NCAA Division III Champion Hobart, and a very successful Skidmore side.
 
Thanks to these new additions, Division III hockey in New York State has never been more competitive. A season after seing three New York teams in the Frozen Four, along with two Empire State programs battling it out for the National Championship, the pre-season USCHO poll contains five New York programs and an additional New York team receiving votes.
 
The respective pre-season top fours of #2 Utica, #3 Geneseo, Chatham, and Elmira for the UCHC, and #1 Hobart, #12 Oswego, Plattsburgh, and Cortland for the SUNYAC mean crossover galore for fans of Division III hockey in New York. This section has yet to even mention Hamilton, who was a win away from making it a four-team sweep for New York in last season's Frozen Four. They start the season at #8 in the USCHO poll, and will head to Utica for the annual Utica Thanksgiving Showcase with an opportunity to meet the Pioneers for the first time in over a decade.
 
TLDR: New York hockey fans will be eating good this season.
 
Scouting Skidmore: The Skidmore Thoroughbreds, a recently powerful side in the NEHC, experienced a bit of a down season last year, following up a 19-7-2 record and NEHC Championship appearance in 2023-24 with a 14-13 record and an NEHC Semifinal loss in 2024-25. Under Head Coach Rob Hutchison, though, the Thoroughbreds have been great since the beginning of the 2020's. After five-straight NEHC Quarterfinal exits to start his tenure, Hutchison has guided Skidmore to two NEHC Semifinals and two NEHC Championships in the past four seasons, posting a combined record of 65-39-6 during that four-year stretch. Hutchison, a Waterville native, will return to the Mohawk Valley on Friday evening to kick off Skidmore's 2025-26 campaign.
 
Traveling to the Aud alongside Hutchison is a trio of returning double-digit point getters for the Thoroughbreds. Skidmore loses it its 1st, 3rd, and 5th highest point-getters from this previous season, but returns their 2nd, 4th, and 6th top point-getters.
 
Coleman Jenkins returns to Saratoga Springs after a rookie season that saw him grab seven goals and 14 points, finishing second on Skidmore's points chart with 21. Jenkins also captured just over 50% of his faceoff opportunities during his freshmen year, going 199-for-394. Flanking Jenkins is junior forward Cooper Rice and senior Ryan Waltman, who finished as the 4th and 6th highest point-getters on last year's squad.
 
Rice, out of Rutland, Vermont, had a balanced offensive season with nine goals and nine assists during the 2024-25 campaign. While Waltman, out of South Bend, Illinois, had seven goals and 10 assists.
 
The team lost a top defensive duo last year in Danny Magnusin and Freddie Ilias, but will turn to junior Jacob Zwirecki, who had a team-high 44 blocks last season.
 
A point of strength for Skidmore will be goaltender Joshua Seeley, who returns after compiling a 12-7 record during his junior campaign in 2024-25. Seeley had a goals allowed average of 2.50 and a save percentage of .905. He played over 1,100 minutes in net for the Thoroughbreds last year. The team also brings back a pair of backup goalies in Tommy Aitken and Alex Bonrouhi.
 
After Exhibition #2: The Pioneers will officially get their 25th anniversary season underway next weekend with a pair of season-opening matchups against #10 Adiran College at the Adirondack Bank Center. The season-opener will be at 7:00 PM on Friday night, while Saturday's second game will begin at 2:00 PM.
 
Tune in for exhibition #2 this weekend!