UTICA, NY - A new UCHC campaign begins this weekend for the #11 Utica Men's Hockey team as they meet SUNY Brockport in a two-game set to kick off their search for number nine. The Pioneers have put together quite the dynasty since becoming a part of the UCHC, achieving eight-straight regular season conference titles. Their quest for another number on the wall begins with the Golden Eagles, as the orange and blue head to Wegmans Arena on Friday, before taking on Brockport at the Aud in a return matchup on Saturday.
 
Battling Brockport: The #11 ranked Pioneers will head to Brockport on Friday night to face off against the Golden Eagles inside the Wegmans Ice Arena. On Saturday, the Pioneers will return home to complete the series, welcoming the green and gold side to the Adirondack Bank Center in the team's final home game until the Delta by Marriott Utica Thanksgiving Showcase. Both games will begin at 7:00.
 
Looking for a Ticket? You can purchase a ticket for Saturday's game for $12 by heading to Empirestatetix.com or by heading to this link: https://empirestatetix.evenue.net/events/UCP
 
You can stream this weekend's games by heading to the links below, or by clicking the "Watch" link in our men's hockey schedule page.
 
Friday at SUNY Brockport Stream: https://www.empire8network.com/brockport/
 
Saturday vs SUNY Brockport Stream: https://www.empire8network.com/utica/
 
You can follow live stats for this week's contests by heading to these links or by clicking the "Live Stats" link on our men's hockey schedule page.
 
Friday at SUNY Brockport Live Stats Link: https://gobrockport.com/sidearmstats/mhockey/summary
 
Saturday vs SUNY Brockport Live Stats Link: https://uticapioneers.com/sidearmstats/mhockey/summary
 
Recapping Banner Number Eight: As this season's UCHC campaign kicks off, it's worth revisiting the madness that was the 2024 UCHC regular season title race. Last year's battle for the #1 overall seed spanned an entire season, with no team cementing the spot up until the very final moments of the regular season.
 
Despite struggling against new UCHC conference foe Geneseo during last season, the Pioneers were able to outplay their other conference foes during the entire UCHC campaign, only drawing to Chatham as they completed their run with a 15-0-1 record against the other schools in the conference besides the Knights. Geneseo, on the other hand, fell victim to a couple upsets during the season, as the conference regular season title came right down to the final day.
 
Tied on points entering the final day of play, Geneseo needed to defeat Nazareth once more to claim the UCHC regular season crown over the Pioneers, as both teams made it to Saturday with 48 points, and the Knights possessing the tiebreaker. Despite downing the Golden Flyers 9-1 the previous night, Geneseo succumbed to a fired up side who didn't want to disappoint head coach George Roll in his final home game as the Nazareth head coach. Nazareth would claim a shock upset win by a 7-4 final, ripping the door off the hinges for the Pioneers, who now needed any sort of result to win the regular season title. A 3-2 victory over Manhattanville did just the thing, as the Pioneers won their eight consecutive UCHC regular season title, continuing a streak that dates back to the conference's conception. 
 
The Fight for 400: Men's hockey head coach Gary Heenan has built a modern day dynasty in the city of Utica, creating and developing a program that went from its first few seasons of existence to reaching the Division III National Championship in just 24 years of play. His accomplishments have been well documented thanks to the many accolades and achievements that his program, and the players and coaches who have stood beside him, have earned throughout the history of the team. After 12 regular season conference championships, five conference tournament titles, six NCAA Division III Tournament appearances, three NCAA Division III Semifinal appearances, and a National Championship appearance, Coach Heenan stands just a few wins away from reaching the illustrious 400-win mark. Only 49 head coaches in NCAA Hockey history (All Divisions) have surpassed the 400 win threshold, with only 16 of those coaches still being active in the NCAA as of this writing. Only seven current head coaches in Division III have more wins than coach Heenan, with four of those coaches having spent over 30 years as a bench boss. With four more wins, the Pioneer of the Utica men's hockey program will be among even more elite company, and every win that his team achieves this season will contribute to keeping the orange and blue machine running at peak performance.
 
Blue and Orange Archive - SUNY Brockport: The Pioneers will be looking to keep up their incredible form against the Golden Eagles this coming weekend, entering the two-game series with a 12-0-1 all-time ledger against the Western New York program. Prior to last season's quartet of matchups, the two teams hadn't met on the ice since the 2013-2014 season. During the first eight matchups of the series, spanning from the Pioneers' first season in 2001-2002 all the way until 2013-2014, the orange and blue brigade was able to blow past the Brockport battlers, going a perfect 8-0 to start the series while allowing a single goal in each of the first six meetings. During the final meeting for some time, Brockport was able to produce a 2-2 at home during the 2013-2014 season, with that being the final matchup until over 10 years later.
 
During last season, the Golden Eagles joined the ranks of the UCHC, immediately jumpstarting the series between the two programs once again. In those four games, the Pioneers managed to sweep their opposition, but met some solid resistance in the final matchup as Brockport kept the game tied until the final five minutes, when Shane Murphy (Oriskany, NY/Danbury Hat Tricks (NAHL)) drove through the heart of the defense to score one of the season's best goals and give the hosts a 2-1 win.
 
In total against Brockport last season, the Pioneers scored 19 goals and allowed just five, also outshooting the opposition by a 195-85 margin. Utica also won 152 out of 241 total faceoffs, good for a 63.1% win rate during the four contests. A major part of that faceoff effort was Brockport's bane, Jakob Breault (Acton Vale, QC/Alaska-Fairbanks (NCAA DI)), who led the Pioneers during those four matchups with five goals and four assists against the Golden Eagles. The superstar center also took 58 of 79 faceoffs, good for an absurd faceoff win percentage of 73.4%. Not far behind Breault was fellow forward Johnny Mulera (Rockville, MD/Salve Regina University (NCAA DIII)), who scored four goals and procured two assists during his outings against the Green and Gold.
 
The Pioneers will have to look for a new weapon against the Golden Eagles this season, as Breault, Mulera, and both goaltenders who logged time against Brockport last season (Ethan Roberts and Ryan Piros (Hartland, MI/University of Dubuque (NCAA DIII))) have moved on from the U. Drake Morse (Grand Rapids, MI) and Aydin Parekh (Nobleton, ON) look to be good candidates to fit the bill, as the former scored three times and assisted twice against Brockport, while the latter found four assists in his four games played during the series. The Pioneers' third letterman is also in good position, as Preston Brighton (Castle Rock, CO) also found three assists from the blue line during his four outings against the Golden Eagles.
 
In total, the Pioneers return five goals and 15 assists from their 19 total goals and 35 total assists against Brockport last season.
 
Scouting the Golden Eagles: Brockport will enter Friday's game with a 1-3 record, suffering defeats against Stevenson, Buffalo State, and #8 Oswego to start the year, while also having a 6-2 victory over Neumann University mixed in. Brockport is looking to rebound from a 6-18-2 mark, and a 4-16 conference record during their first season in the UCHC in 2024-2025.
 
The Golden Eagles lost their top-two point getters from this past season, but return lots of playmaking potential in defenseman Jacob Gates, who scored twice and assisted 10 times during Brockport's last campaign. However, Gates has fallen out of the scoring charts after only playing in the green and gold's first two games of the season, meaning he could be dealing with an injury of some sort.
 
In his place are the trio of Manny Sanchez, Nick Reif, and Joshua Pryztal, who occupy point positions one through three for the Golden Eagles.
 
Sanchez, a junior out of Potsdam, NY, leads the team with five points, all coming from assists as he's shown signs of being a dangerous playmaker from his spot on the attack. Reif, a freshman from Depew, NY, leads the team with four goals, while fellow freshman Pryztal is second in scoring with two goals.
 
Outside of those top three talents, the Golden Eagles also returned the Flansburg brothers, as Spencer and Schuyler return after 11-point and 10-point seasons respectively.
 
In goal, Dax Easter and David Filak have split starts, with each netminder having started two games. Filak has the lone victory, starting in Brockport's game against Neumann, while also posting the slightly superior goals allowed average of 2.52. Easter, on the other hand, nudges out Filak in save percentage early on in the season, owning a .930 stopping rate compared to just .921 by his counterpart.
 
Following the Two-Game Set with SUNY Brockport: The Pioneers will hit the road next weekend for a two-game series against Manhattanville. Friday's game will begin at 7:00 PM, while Saturday's game starts at 2:00 PM. Both games will take place at the Playland Ice Casino in Rye, New York. The Pioneers will return the following week for their annual Delta by Marriott Thanksgiving Showcase. They'll welcome UMass Boston in the first round of the tournament, with Hamilton and Morrisville making up the other side of the bracket. Should the results fall in a specific order, the Pioneers and Continentals could potentially clash in a seismic re-awakening of one of Division III's fiercest rivalries. The two teams haven't met on the sheet of battle since November 28th, 2014, despite being mere miles from each other.
 
Tune in this week as the Pioneers battle Brockport to open UCHC play!