UTICA, NY - The Utica men's hockey team looked to defend home ice last night at the Adirondack Bank Center, as the number one overall seed in this year's UCHC Tournament was poised to handle business and advance to next weekend's championship round with a victory. Up against the number four seeded Chatham Cougars, the Pioneers flipped their playoff switch and dispelled their semifinal opponent in stunning fashion, scoring nine goals and pitching a shutout on defense to capture a decisive victory in their postseason-opener and solidify a showdown with Geneseo next weekend for the UCHC Tournament Title.
 
Leading the team in the scoring column was senior stud Shane Murphy (Oriskany, NY/Danbury Hat Tricks (NAHL)) who collected two goals on the night to register as the only multi-goal scorer in the rout. The Oriskany native grabbed both his tallies in similar fashion, firing in a couple slapshots from the left side of the slot, including a buzzer beater in the second period to really put the game out of reach. Both goals were scored on the power play.
 
Other than Murphy, the Pioneers saw seven different players get onto the scorers sheet including Eric Vitale (Toronto, ON/Shreveport Mudbugs (NAHL)), John Gutt (Middletown, NJ/Utica JR Comets (NCDC)), Andrew Della Rovere (Caledon East, ON/Georgetown Raiders (OJHL)), Matt Wood (Garnet Valley, PA/Richmond Generals (USPHL)), Johnny Mulera (Rockville, MD/Salve Regina University (NCAA DIII)), Gabriel Lundberg (Gothenburg, Sweden/Janesville Jets (NAHL)), and Tio D'Addario (Montreal, QC/SUNY Plattsburgh (NCAA DIII)) who all netted even strength scores to held the team run Chatham off the ice.
 
D'Addario in particular had an astounding outing in hist first-ever playoff action for the Pioneers, embracing the postseason atmosphere as he added three assists to go along with his long score. The winter transfer's trio of playmakers allowed him to finish as the leading point-getter for the Pioneers on a night where the team racked up an impressive 24 total points. D'Addario finished with four of those points.
 
Also recording a trifecta of assists was the Pioneers' Captain Brian Scoville (Agawam, MA/Alabama-Huntsville (NCAA DI)), who made some heady plays from the point during the semifinal slugfest. Scoville saw a couple hard shots from the blue line get redirected in front of net, providing the captain with a bevy of assists in the action. Scoville also set the tone early on, laying some huge hits up along the boards to get the ADK crowd rocking in what was an excellent postseason showing from the Pioneer faithful.
 
Other than D'Addario and Scoville, no other Pioneer player logged more than one assist, with Matt Wood (Garnet Valley, PA/Richmond Generals (USPHL)), Aiden Hughes (Mississauga, ON/Milton Menace (OJHL)), Alexander Gullichsen (Turku, Finland/Aberdeen Wings (NAHL)), Collin Patterson (Rockledge, FL/UMass Dartmouth (NCAA DIII)), Preston Brighton (Brighton, MI/Amarillo Wranglers (NAHL)), Anthony Bax (Parkhill, ON/Flin Flon Bombers (SJHL)), Della Rovere, Gutt, and Jakob Breault (Acton Vale, QC/Alaska-Fairbanks (NCAA DI)) each spreading the wealth to the tune of one assist per player.
 
Breault and Della Rovere helped the team take a slight edge on total faceoff wins, with the Pioneers capturing 37 of 61 possible attempts within the circle. Although Chatham put up a good fight on the draw, the veteran Pioneer defense coupled with the solid play of freshman goaltender Ryan Piros (Hartland, MI/University of Dubuque (NCAA DIII)) allowed the hosts to handle their opponents offense.
 
Piros shined in his first career playoff start, with the rookie displaying the temperament of a seasoned veteran in net, not giving an inch as he kept the Cougars off the scoresheet, getting 19 saves on the way to a huge shutout. The Pioneer newcomer formed an excellent end-to-end duo with D'Addario, as the two recent transfers got it done on both ends in their first respective playoff starts at the Adirondack Bank Center. Piros notched his third shutout since joining the team in January, solidifying a spot in next Saturday's UCHC Championship which will coincidentally be against the last team that fell victim to a scoreless outing against the Michigan man, the Geneseo Knights.
 
The fifth installment between the two ranked Division III powerhouses will take place next Saturday, March 8th at 7:00 PM back at the Adirondack Bank Center and will be contested for the 2025 UCHC Tournament Championship as well as a guaranteed berth to this year's NCAA Tournament. Utica is currently #3 and Geneseo #6 in this past week's USCHO poll rankings, meaning this fifth matchup will continue the trend of ranked vs ranked action between the two clubs.
 
The general ticket sale for Saturday's Championship Game will begin at noon this coming Tuesday, March 4th. Interested buyers can purchase tickets either online or at the Adirondack Bank Center Box Office during normal box office hours.
 
Season ticket holders will be eligible to purchase their reserved seats for the UCHC Finals beginning at noon today, with the general sale beginning for all prospective buyers on March 4th. Interested season ticket holders can visit the Adirondack Bank Center box office to purchase their reserved seats.
 
Grab your tickets and come support the Pioneers in the UCHC Championship Game against Geneseo next Saturday!