UTICA, NY - The regular season campaign draws to a close for the No. 3 Utica Pioneers this weekend as they face Manhattanville to close out the 2024-2025 UCHC campaign. The Pioneers will look to gather more points against the Valiants in the pair of contests, welcoming their UCHC counterpart to the Adirondack Bank Center on Friday night before embarking on a trip to the Playland Ice Casino for Saturday's season-finale in Rye. The Pioneers are already locked into one of the coveted UCHC Tournament first round byes, however the first overall seed and regular season title is still very much in play. Check down below to learn how the Pioneers can produce a scenario where this season's UCHC Tournament runs through the Adirondack Bank Center.
 
How to Watch the UCHC Series vs Manhattanville: You can watch this weekend's matchups by heading to the links below or by clicking the "Watch" link under each contest on our men's hockey schedule page.
Stream link for Friday's game at Utica: https://www.empire8network.com/utica/
Stream link for Saturday's game at Manhattanville: https://govaliants.com/watch/?Live=938&type=Live
 
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 links below to view live statistics for this weekend's two-game slate.
Live Stat link for Friday's game at Utica: https://uticapioneers.com/sidearmstats/mhockey/summary
Live Stat link for Saturday's game at Manhattanville: https://govaliants.com/sidearmstats/mhockey/summary
 
Revisiting Last Weekend's First-Class Clash: The powers that be in the UCHC battled last weekend in a monumental meeting to decide who would be in the driver's seat for the conference's top seed heading into the final few games of the regular season. The duo of nationally ranked squads each captured a dominant win over the two-game set, with the Pioneers taking Friday's matchup by a 4-0 final at the Adirondack Bank Center before Geneseo responded with a 7-3 on their home ice to cap off the Saturday slate. In game one, the Pioneers came out as the overwhelming aggressors, using a high forecheck to stop the Knights from gaining any speed on their counterattacks. Thanks to their immense defensive effort, the hosts were able to slow down a run-and-gun Ice Knights squad in a stunning shutout outing. Utica dealt an early haymaker, putting up three scores before their opposition could blink to take a 3-0 lead less than 15 minutes into the proceedings. After that the Pioneers stood pat on the defensive end, gaining a huge win and some massive momentum heading into the final regular season matchup between the two top tier programs. On Saturday, as top tier programs tend to do, Geneseo found their form and surprised the Pioneers with an early barrage of their own. Leading 5-0 early in the second period, the Knights looked to be cruising to a signature victory of their own. The Pioneers, however, had other ideas and managed to shake off their initial disarray and return to the stellar form they showcased the night before. It began with a Scoville slapshot that shook the twine to get Utica on the scoreboard near the midway mark of the match. From there the Pioneers would have the next two goals, cutting the deficit to only two scores at 5-3 with 16 minutes left. With the seed of doubt firmly planted, the Pioneers and Knights went toe-to-toe over the final stretch of play. Although Geneseo eventually ended up finding a sixth score to put the game to bed, the Pioneers managed to provide a very real scare for the Knights and their fans who had been riding high after getting out to a 5-0 start. As the snow settled (and then began in full force later that night) the Pioneers and Knights fought to a split, leaving Geneseo with a key tiebreaker heading into the final weekend of the UCHC conference campaign.
 
It All Comes Down to This: Entering the final weekend of regular season play, the Pioneers and Knights are tied atop the UCHC standings with 45 points apiece. If the season were to end today, the Knights would have the tiebreaker for the number one seed thanks to two regular season victories over Utica. The Pioneers own a victory over the Knights, but their shootout win in the first game between the two teams costs them a few points in the tiebreaker scenario, giving Geneseo the edge should both teams finish tied atop the standings. Here are the scenarios heading into this weekend:
 
Seeding Scenarios:
For Utica to get the number one overall seed: The Pioneers' job is simple this weekend, win twice against Manhattanville and bank on Nazareth skipper George Roll to get a result against Geneseo in his final regular season series as coach of the Golden Flyers. With two wins, the Pioneers would finish with 51 points, needing Geneseo to finish with any less than that to make sure the UCHC Tournament runs through the Adirondack Bank Center. If Geneseo manages to sweep their weekend set with Nazareth, they will enter the tournament as the number one team. However, if they drop points and the Pioneers manage to finish with more than them, Utica will take the number one slot.
 
UCHC Outlook Heading into the Final Weekend Series: The stage is set for a noteworthy conclusion to the regular season this weekend, although there is lots more going on around the conference besides the chase for the number one seed. Here is what the conference standings look like heading into the final weekend of regular season play:
 
1: Geneseo | 45 points | 19-3-1 (15-2-1 UCHC)
2: Utica | 45 points | 18-3-2 (14-2-2 UCHC)
3: Manhattanville | 25 points | 9-13-1 (8-9-1 UCHC)
4: Chatham | 22 points | 8-13-2 (7-9-2 UCHC)
5: Nazareth | 17 points | 7-14-2 (3-13-2 UCHC)
6: Brockport | 8 points | 5-16-2 (3-15-0 UCHC)
 
The other two UCHC series featured battles for first round seeding, with each matchup having massive implications for the final seeding of the conference tournament.
 
The two Rochester-based programs, Nazareth and Brockport, engaged in a two-game set that was to decide who would be the number five and number six seed in the conference tournament. Each team took the home leg in the series, with Nazareth capturing a 3-2 decision at the Tim Horton's Iceplex on Friday before Brockport rebounded with a shutout 2-0 victory on Saturday at their barn to level the score. With the result, Brockport will be the number six seed in the upcoming conference tournament, with Nazareth most likely slotting in at the five barring a collapse by Chatham this weekend.
 
Speaking of the Cougars, they met Manhattanville in a wild series that saw both games take place at the home of the Valiants. In the series to determine the number three and number four spots in the conference playoffs, the two teams split, with Chatham taking game one by a 2-1 final before the Valiants rolled to an 8-3 victory the next night. With the split, the Valiants took the edge in the fight for the number three spot, currently holding a three-point edge on the Cougars entering the final weekend of play. Manhattanville will face the Pioneers this weekend while Chatham looks to retake the three seed in a matchup with Brockport.
 
As it stands right now, the first-round matchups see the number six seed Brockport heading to Manhattanville while the number five seed Nazareth takes a trek to Pittsburgh to play Chatham.
 
Tune in this weekend to see how the season finale plays out!
 
In the Polls: The mutual destruction between the Pioneers and Knights caused them both to fall under a couple respective teams who picked up big wins in conference play this weekend. In the USCHO poll, the Pioneers fell beneath Aurora, dropping to the number three spot in the rankings. In the DIII Hockey News poll, Curry also hopped over the Pioneers after securing the CNE regular season championship this past weekend, placing Utica at number four.
 
Geneseo fell to number five in both polls after their weekend war with the Pioneers, remaining inside the top tier of the rankings thanks to the high-profile nature of their last matchup.
 
Other notable ranking movements include University of New England, who remained number eight and number ten in the USCHO and DIII Hockey News polls respectively. Oswego also continues to receive votes in both polls heading into the final week of the season.
 
As the NCAA Tournament draws near, the NPI becomes ever-more important, since the tournament seeding will ultimately be decided in large part by the final rankings at the end of the conference tournament season.
 
In these rankings, the Pioneers currently place fourth, sitting behind Hobart, Curry, and Aurora who own the number one, two, and three spots respectively. The fourth ranking would cause Utica to narrowly miss out on a first-round bye into the National Quarterfinal, with only the top two teams getting a pass to the next round. Instead the Pioneers would host first round action, with the current DIII Hockey News bracket forecast projecting them to welcome the number 19 ranked team in the NPI: The Wilkes Colonels. Although, the number four team (currently the Pioneers) would most likely draw a conference champion in the first round, meaning that their opponent could change at will depending on the result of this year's conference tournaments. The DIII Hockey News bracket forecast also projects the Pioneers to potentially host Geneseo in quarterfinal action should both of the higher-seeded teams in that quadrant emerge from the opening round, a potential sixth matchup of the season between the two conference foes.
 
Here is the DIII Hockey News.com Bracket Forecast for this week:
 
 
 
And here are the complete rankings this week:
 

Rank	USCHO	DIII Hockey News
1	Hobart (18)	Hobart (17)
2	Aurora (2)	Aurora (3)
3	Curry	Utica
4	Utica	Geneseo
5	Geneseo	Curry
6	St. Norbert	St. Norbert
7	Trine	UW-Superior
8	U New England	Trine
9	UW-Stevens Point	UW-Stevens Point
10	UW-Superior	U New England
11	Hamilton	Hamilton
12	Adrian	Adrian (Tie 12)
13	Cortland	Trinity (CT) (Tie 12)
14	Trinity (CT)	Cortland
15	Endicott	Endicott
RV	Plymouth State (8)	Oswego (6)
RV	Oswego (6)	Gustavus Adolphus (2)
RV	Colby (5)	Plymouth State (2)
RV	Bethel (3)	Colby (1)
RV	Salve Regina (1)	Wilkes (1)
RV	UW-River Falls (1)	—
RV	Wilkes (1)	—

 
 
 
Revisiting the Valiants: The Pioneers and Valiants last met back in January to kick off the 2025 portion of the UCHC season with the orange and blue capturing a pair of one-goal wins to start their new year on the right track. Showing out in those matchups was power play extraordinaire Johnny Mulera (Rockville, MD/Salve Regina University (NCAA DIII)) who managed to net a player-up score in each matchup, including the game winner in a 1-0 victory to end the weekend. Rookie goaltender Ryan Piros (Hartland, MI/University of Dubuque (NCAA DIII)) also fully settled in for the Pioneers during the series, notching a Saturday shutout to improve his record to 3-0 as the stopper.
 
For the Valiants, it was Nicholas Rogers and Johno Hoins who struck late in the Friday matchup to make it a tense finish between the two sides. Rogers and Hoins remain two of the premier attackers for Manhattanville, ranking first and third on the team in points gathered. Rogers is the overwhelming primary scorer though, having 17 goals to his name this season, ranking first in the conference for scores by a three-goal margin. Hoins is second on the team for goals scored with eight, showcasing the sheer volume of offense that Rogers presents.
 
Feeding Rogers and Hoins up top is the Valiants' lead playmaker Artem Mateichenko. The senior from Ukraine recently became the Valiant's all-time career assists leader, currently having 79 career apples. Mateichenko is adept at finding his attackers with open space and proves to be one of the best control towers in all of the UCHC. This trio of Rogers, Hoins, and Mateichenko create a powerful triple threat for Manhattanville up top.
 
At the back of the formation is a pair of primary goaltenders for the red and black, with William Billequey and Sebastian Woods having the biggest share of minutes this year. The two netminders split the earlier series against Utica, with Billequey starting the first game and Woods getting the call in the second matchup. For the most part, the two stoppers have alternated starts for the Valiants as of late, with neither goaltender starting back-to-back days since December of last year. Despite the shared time between the two, Billequey has superior numbers sporting a 2.36 goals allowed average and a 93.6% save percentage. Although, Woods played very well in his Saturday start against Utica earlier this season. It remains to be seen who the Pioneers will see, but the mission remains the same nonetheless.
 
After Wrapping up the Regular Season vs Manhattanville: The Pioneers will get a first-round bye in this year's UCHC Tournament, dodging the first round matchups taking place next Wednesday. The Pioneers semifinal home game will take place this Saturday at a time to be determined and against an opponent to be determined. The location of this year's UCHC Championship will be determined after the conclusion of the semifinals, although the results of this weekend's action could decide who the most likely host may be.
 
Tune in this weekend as the Pioneers finish up their regular season against Manhattanville!