UTICA, NY - Playoff hockey has arrived in Utica.
 
This Saturday, the #3 ranked Pioneers will play host to Chatham University in the semifinal round of this year's UCHC Men's Hockey Tournament. With the opening faceoff set for 7:00 PM at the Adirondack Bank Center, the Pioneers will look to stall a recently resurgent Chatham side who knocked out Nazareth in the first round this past Wednesday, closing the curtain on the career of Golden Flyer Head Coach George Roll. Now in the semifinals, the Cougars enter the contest looking for their first ever official win over Utica, hoping to get it done on the biggest stage and reach the UCHC title game. A rested Pioneer squad will stand firmly in the way of that goal though, looking to keep up their impressive home record which sits at a crisp 12-1 this season with the only loss coming to then #4 ranked Geneseo in this year's New York Sash Teddy Bear Toss. Catch up on all the UCHC playoff action ahead of this weekend's war between the two bitter rivals.
 
How to Watch the UCHC Semifinal: You can watch this weekend's playoff tilt by heading to the link below or by clicking the "Watch" link under the contest in both the men's hockey schedule page as well as the athletics home page.
Stream link for Saturday's UCHC semifinal: https://www.empire8network.com/utica/?B=2227947
 
Keep Up with Live Stats: You can follow along with the live stats for this weekend's semifinal showdown by heading to the "Live Stats" tab under the matchup in the Men's Ice Hockey schedule section of our athletics website. You can also follow the link below to view live statistics for the contest.
Live Stats link for Saturday's UCHC semifinal: https://uticapioneers.com/sidearmstats/mhockey/summary
 
Looking for a Ticket?: You can purchase tickets to the contest by heading to empirestatetix.com or by clicking the link below. Tickets are $12 each!
Ticket link: https://uticapioneers.com/sidearmstats/mhockey/summary
 
 
Setting the Stage: The race for the UCHC's number one seed and regular season championship came down to the final game as it took all 20 games of the conference season to settle things between the Pioneers and new conference rival Geneseo. With Geneseo just needing a win on the final day of the regular season to clinch the conference's top postseason spot, Nazareth played spoiler, defeating the Ice Knights by a shocking 7-4 score powered by the intense atmosphere present in the Tim Horton's Iceplex during a sendoff for the Flyers' skipper Roll. Now with the door ajar, the Pioneers took advantage of the opportunity, defeating Manhattanville on the road by a 3-2 edge to claim their ninth-straight conference regular season title. Thanks to these results, the Pioneers entered the UCHC Tournament with the number one overall seed, meaning that they will play at home in both the semifinal and final should the team advance to the championship. The Pioneers pulled away from Geneseo in the eleventh hour, finishing with 51 conference points while their competition only tallied 48.
 
Let the Madness Begin: With those final results, the 2025 UCHC Tournament field was set. Here is a look at where every conference rep landed and how the tournament bracket shook out.
 
UCHC Tournament Seeds:
1: Utica University (20-3-2, 16-6-6 UCHC, 51 pts)
2: SUNY Geneseo (20-4-1, 16-3-1 UCHC, 48 pts)
3: Manhattanville University (10-15-1, 8-11-1 UCHC, 25 pts)
4: Chatham University (10-14-2, 8-10-2 UCHC, 24 pts)
5: Nazareth University (8-16-2, 4-14-2 UCHC, 24 pts)
6: SUNY Brockport (6-18-2, 4-16-0 UCHC, 12 pts)
 
First Round Matchups:
(3) Manhattanville vs (6) Brockport | Playland Ice Casino - Rye, NY
(4) Chatham vs (5) Nazareth | Alpha Ice Complex - Pittsburgh, PA
 
Utica and Geneseo received byes into the semifinal round of the tournament, with each team hosting a conference final four matchup against the winners of the first-round contests. Here's how those matchups ended up going:
 
First Round Recap:
 
(3) Manhattanville 4, (6) Brockport 1:
 
The Valiants breezed past Brockport in their first-round victory, winning a gritty and defensive game by a three goal gap to etch their name in the semifinal lineup. Manhattanville outshot Brockport by a 26-21 margin, being efficient with their chances while simultaneously slowing down the Golden Eagles on all three of their power play opportunities to come away with a winning first round result. Four different Valiant goal-scorers vaulted them past Brockport and into a semifinal matchup with Geneseo, as Manhattanville would be the highest seed to emerge from the first round. The Knights will host the Valiants this upcoming Saturday in Geneseo for the other UCHC semifinal matchup.
 
(4) Chatham 3, (5) Nazareth 0:
 
The Cougars prevailed in their first-round matchup by dispatching a Nazareth team who managed to hang around until the third period. Neither team would strike in the first 40 minutes of play, with the game heading to a decisive final period still tied at 0-0. Chatham would quickly correct this though, scoring just three minutes into the final period to grab momentum before netting two more scores over the rest of regulation to eliminate Nazareth with a 3-0 win. The Cougars also displayed some balanced offense of their own, seeing three different players find twine in the tilt. Chatham earned themselves a trip to Utica for the semifinal round, being the lower seeded team to advance from Wednesday's first round battles.
 
Scouting the Season Series: The Pioneers and Cougars matched up four times during the regular season, with the orange and blue capturing three wins during the conference quartet. The fourth result came during the third matchup between the two sides down in Pittsburgh, as Chatham managed to push the Pioneers to the brink in a 3-3 draw, with the Cougars eventually winning the shootout by a 2-0 tally. Despite that result, the Cougars have still not achieved an official victory over the Pioneers in the history of their rivalry. Utica leads the all-time series with 16 wins, zero losses, and one tie. Despite these numbers, the Cougars gave Utica quite a scare in two of the matchups, hanging around in the aforementioned draw while also managing to scream back from down multiple in game number two back in November 2024, eventually only losing by a single goal. This Chatham team is extremely dangerous and potent, and will score in bunches if given the opportunity.
 
In the four games featuring the two teams this season, the usual suspects led the Pioneers on offense with Drake Morse (Grand Rapids, MI/Shreveport Mudbugs (NAHL)) and Jakob Breault (Acton Vale, QC/Alaska-Fairbanks (NCAA DI)) each racking up seven points over the four outings, with the former posting totals of four goals and three assists, while the latter grabbed three goals and four assists. They were matched on offense by the Cougars lead man though, as Cougar standout Nick Cyprian also managed seven points off three goals and four assists against the Pioneers.
 
Despite Cyprian's outburst in the four games against Utica, the rest of the Pioneers mightily outweighed the other point-getters from Chatham, with Aydin Parekh (Nobleton, ON/Georgetown Raiders (OJHL)) picking up six points (six assists) and the duo of Eric Vitale (Toronto, ON/Shreveport Mudbugs (NAHL)) and Johnny Mulera (Rockville, MD/Salve Regina University (NCAA DIII)) nabbing five points each (three goals, two assists - one goal, four assists).
 
Breault also made light work of the Cougar centers, taking 94 faceoff wins in just 118 opportunities inside the circle, good enough for an absurd 80% faceoff win rate against his purple-clad competition. The Acton Vale native heavily contributed to a 67.7% team faceoff win rate for the Pioneers in their matchups with Chatham. The extra chances generated by their 191 total claims within the circle led the Pioneers to outshoot Chatham by a 222-89 total margin, outsourcing the Cougars 19-11 over the four-game spread.
 
Along with Cyprian, Tyler Samodral and Zack Conner were the other effective offensive outlets for Chatham in the season series, with each player grabbing four points thanks to one assist and three goals. The Cougars' only other multi-goal scorer was Kyle Contessa, who netted two against the Pioneers this year.
 
A bevy of goaltenders were employed by both teams over the course of the year, although each team saw their opponents' preferred choice just a few weeks back, with the Cougars splitting starts between Geno Pichora and Louis Finnegan while Utica employed freshman sensation Ryan Piros (Hartland, MI/University of Dubuque (NCAA DIII)) in both games.
 
Pichora was the pick in net for the Cougars during their most competitive contest with the Pioneers, as he kept them in the proceedings during their draw back in early February. Pichora has a 92.6% save percentage this year against the Pioneers, allowing eight goals across his two appearances in the season series for a 4.15 goals allowed average. Pichora is the most likely adversary for the Pioneers this weekend, although anything can happen in playoff puck.
 
For the Pioneers, Piros is the most likely pick, with the first-year nabbing 44 saves at a 91.7% rate during his two starts against Chatham. The Hartland native allowed just four goals in the two appearances for a 2.05 goals allowed average over his 117 minutes of time in net. Don't rule out the experience of a recently returned Bryan Landsberger (Montreal, Quebec/Nepean Raiders (CCHL)) though, who made it back onto the line chart during the final weeks of the season after dealing with some injury trouble down the stretch.
 
Another statistic of note comes as a result of the chippiness caught between the two conference challengers, with both teams combining for a staggering 67 total penalties over the four-game spell. The Pioneers had a ridiculous 19 power plays during the season series, using their league's best player-up unit to convert four of those opportunities into scores. It remains to be seen how the playoff atmosphere will affect the penalty picture, however, expect both teams to come out fast and physical.
 
After the Semifinal Round: The winner of Saturday's semifinal will advance to the UCHC Championship Game which will take place the following Saturday, March 8th at a time to be determined. The finals will take place at the higher seed, meaning that Chatham will hit the road if they advance, and for the Pioneers it means Championship action at the Aud with a victory over the Cougars.
 
It all comes down to this. Grab a ticket or tune in for Saturday's UCHC semifinal!