UTICA, NY - Four teams will enter, and one will walk out of the Utica University Nexus Center with one of College Hockey's top prizes this weekend.

Utica University, in association with Mohawk Valley Garden, has been selected as the championship site host for the 2025 NCAA Division III Men's Ice Hockey Championship. The tournament semifinals will be held on Friday, March 28th, and the tournament championship will be held on Sunday, March 30th.

Participating Teams: Fourth-seeded Utica University will be joined by top-seeded Curry College, second-seeded Hobart College, and sixth-seeded SUNY Geneseo in this year's championship site field. The following schedule will be observed for the weekend. Please note that times could be subject to change.

Semifinals: Friday, March 28th
(2) Hobart vs. (6) Geneseo, 3 PM
(1) Curry vs. (4) Utica, 7 PM

Finals: Sunday, March 30th
Semifinal Winner vs. Semifinal Winner, 7 PM.

Tickets Info: Friday's 7 PM game is sold out. Limited availability remains for the game between Hobart and Geneseo. Tickets to Sunday's national championship game will go on sale to the general public at 12:00 PM on Saturday, March 29th. Should Utica advance to the national championship, season ticket holders will then have from Friday night until Saturday at 12:00 PM to purchase their tickets for the Sunday game. A unique code will be sent to season ticket holders at the conclusion of Fridays Semi Final #2 to gain access. Tickets will be available ONLINE ONLY for the national championship.
 
Broadcast Details: Live video of all three games will be carried free of charge through NCAA.com and the NCAA Championships Pass App available for a wide range of devices. The streaming television coverage will be produced through an arrangement with Turner Sports and the NCAA. Trinity College Play-by-Play Announcer Steve Vecchione will team with former Bowdoin College and current Dartmouth College voice Rob Kennedy on the television side.

Local radio coverage of all three games will be available at WPNR 90.7 FM, Utica University Pioneer Radio, and on PioneerRadio.org. For Utica's game Friday, longtime Utica University voice Ray Biggs '13 will have the radio play-by-play call and will be joined by analyst Jeremy Horowitz and reporter Riley Calhoun. The same crew will present the National Championship game on Sunday, regardless of the finalists.

Friday's first semifinal between Hobart and Geneseo will be presented on local radio by the all-student crew of Horowitz, Calhoun, and Jack Rathburn.

Tournament Notes
 
Happy Birthday To You: The 2025 Championship marks the 40th time that a Division III Men's Ice Hockey Champion will be crowned by the NCAA. The tournament began in 1984, and Babson defeated Union at RIT's Frank Ritter Arena for the inaugural title under head coach Rob Riley, the son of legendary US Military Academy and 1960 Olympic Team head coach Jack Riley. Two years, 2020 and 2021, were not played in light of pandemic-related limitations, meaning the 2025 tournament marks its 40th birthday.
 
East Coast, Beast Coast: With mileage restrictions taken off the preliminary round pairings this year, we saw a bracket unlike any other with a total of four inter-regional crossover matchups. And without an opportunistic path for the West region to place a team in the semis, history was made in 2025. This marks the first time in the tournament's 40 year history that all four teams in the semifinals have come from east of Lake Erie.

Play it Again, Sam: This marks Utica's second time hosting the Division III Men's Ice Hockey Championship weekend, and its third time hosting an NCAA hockey championship. The Men's Division III Championship was previously held on the property at the neighboring Adirondack Bank Center at the Utica Memorial Auditorium in 2017, with Trinity, Adrian, St. Norbert, and Norwich attending. Norwich, with future AHL skater William Pelletier starring, defeated Trinity 4-1 in the championship game for its fourth title, all of which came under legendary head coach Mike McShane. Previously, the Aud hosted the Division I Men's Frozen Four in 1962, which was won by a Michigan Tech team that starred the first-ever captain of the Philadelphia Flyers, Lou Angiotti. The Division III Men's Championship will return to Utica in 2026, with the Aud serving as the pre-selected host site.

About The Venue: The Utica University Nexus Center, opened in 2022, is a three-pad facility connected to the Adirondack Bank Center at the Utica Memorial Auditorium. It features approximately 1,200 permanent seats. Its previous event hosting credentials include the World Box Lacrosse Championships, the PWHL Preseason Development Camp held before the league's inaugural season, and serving as practice ice for the IIHF Women's World Championship held in Utica last year, to name a few. A video board, scoreboard, and concession stand are located on the west end of the main arena, typically known for sponsorship reasons as the Mastrovito Hyundai Rink.

How They Got Here: Fourth-seeded Utica is the UCHC Tournament Runner-Up and earned an at-large selection. They defeated fourteenth-seeded Fitchburg State 5-1 in the opening round, then dispatched fifth-seeded St. Norbert 5-3 in the quarterfinals. UCHC champion Geneseo is the sixth overall seed. They took down MAC Champion Stevenson 3-1 in the first round, and rallied past third-seeded Aurora 7-4. The Ice Knights rallied from a 3-0 hole by scoring seven of the next eight goals to take the road quarterfinal win. NEHC Champion Hobart, the second seed, sat idle in the opening round on the bye, then posted an overtime quarterfinal win for the second year in a row with a 3-2 win over seventh-seeded Trine to keep their title defense alive. Top-seeded Curry also held a first round bye, and the Conference of New England champions denied ninth-seeded Hamilton the opportunity to play for a title close to home with a 4-1 home win in Canton, Mass.

Hey Coach: One common thread shared among two of Utica's opponents in this tournament is that they have had alumni go on to serve as active head coaches in the National Hockey League. St. Norbert grad Spencer Carbery could very soon have a front row seat to history as the head coach of the Washington Capitals. He played for the Green Knights for three years and had 100 points. Meanwhile, Curry grad Ryan Warsofsky is currently the head coach of the San Jose Sharks, and played a season and a half for the Colonels between 2010 and 2011 after transferring from Division I Sacred Heart. One of Warsofsky's teammates at Curry was former Pioneer Scott Wentworth.
 
Tournament Scoring Leaders
Goals - Ten players with two goals each (Wood - Utica, Wiberg - Geneseo, Santalucia - Aurora, Panchisin - Geneseo, Lundberg - Utica, Hughes - Utica, Dameski - Geneseo, Breault - Utica, Haddon-Harris - Curry, Aquaro - Hobart)

Assists - Three players with three assists each (Zimmerman - Hamilton, Mulera - Utica, Hammond - St. Norbert)

Points - Two players with four points each (Wiberg - Geneseo, Breault - Utica)
Tournament Save Percentage Leaders
Soderwall, Curry (.974), Deloss, Stevenson (.951), Gutjahr, UW-Eau Claire (.944)

A Newer Breed of Contender: An exciting part about this year's championship weekend is the opportunity to manifest results out of the continued evolution of the four participating programs. Before 2023, none of the four teams had won a national championship. This year, we will have a first time winner or a three-year title streak. As Hobart chases a third straight, the three other programs, Curry, Geneseo, and Utica, are still seeking their first chance to hoist the cherry and glass trophy that awaits the winner.

Don't Call It A Comeback: In their quarterfinal wins, Geneseo, Utica, and Hobart all trailed entering the third period and came back to win.


Things Come In Threes: If Hobart were to claim a third straight national title, they would become the third different program to do it, and it would mark the fourth three-peat in Division III history. Middlebury has accomplished the feat twice on their way to a record eight titles under now-retired head coach Bill Beaney, with one streak part of a record five consecutive titles. The other three-peat belongs to UW-Stevens Point, who locked down titles in 1989, 1990, and 1991 under head coach Mark Mazzoleni.


Tale of the Tape

(2) Hobart College Statesmen (27-1-1 Overall, 18-1-1 NEHC)
Location: Geneva, NY
Head Coach: Mark Taylor (Elmira '85, 25th Season, 433-177-56)
National Championships: 2 (2023, 2024)
Scoring Offense Rank: 6th, 4.24 Goals/Game
Scoring Defense Rank: 1st, 1.03 Goals Allowed/Game
Power Play Rank: 7th, 28.3 percent
Penalty Kill Rank: 8th, 86.7 percent
The Lowdown: As Hobart seeks a three-peat, stable defensive hockey and timely scoring have remained their bread and butter, and that recipe tends to work well for any team at this time of year.  Three of the Geneva-based squad's four playoff wins have been by two goals or less, and the Statesmen showed noticeable grit in their come-from-behind overtime win over Trine in the quarterfinals, as Luke Aquaro capped a three goal rally with the clincher. NEHC Coach of the Year Mark Taylor has a squad that is impressively deep on all fronts, securing nine All-Conference honors and three of the conference's four major individual awards. Headlining an offense that sports six 20 point scorers for the campaign is NEHC Player of the Year Tanner Daniels, who has 40 points on 18 goals and 22 assists. 2022-23 All-American Aquaro is also still in the fold, and the quarterfinal overtime hero for the Statesmen has 33 points on 16 goals and 17 assists. He is a 2025 first team all-conference pick. Senior Shane Shell (8-19-27) is a proven contributor who earned third team all-conference honors this season. The team's top scoring defenseman, Bauer Morrissey, has 22 points on three goals and nineteen assists. He is a Skaneateles native and most notably scored their overtime winner in the 2024 quarterfinals. Morrissey was a third team All-NEHC pick. Graduate defenseman Austin Mourar was a first team all-conference pick and has played in every game this season, and senior defenseman Cooper Swift was a second team all-conference pick for the Statesmen. Ignat Belov (3-9-12) has had a quieter role this season after earning All-American honors last year. Fans may also recognize the last name of dynamic player Chris Duclair (11-10-21), who leads the team in power play goals with six alongside Mourar. Duclair is the younger brother of NHL veteran Anthony Duclair, who is currently with the New York Islanders. In net, the Statesmen sport a two-headed monster between Damon Beaver, the NEHC Goaltender of the Year, and Mavrick Goyer, who both earned all-conference honors this year. The duo have combined for twelve shutouts. This is Hobart's final season in the NEHC, as they are bound for the SUNYAC next season.

(6) SUNY Geneseo Knights (24-4-1 Overall, 16-3-1 UCHC)
Location: Geneseo, NY
Head Coach: Chris Schultz (Geneseo '97, 19th Season, 323-139-31)
National Championships: 0
Scoring Offense Rank: 1st, 4.90 Goals/Game
Scoring Defense Rank: 30th, 2.62 Goals Allowed/Game
Power Play Rank: 42nd, 19.2 percent
Penalty Kill Rank: 25th, 84.3 percent
The Lowdown: With two wins under their belt in the host city this season, the UCHC Tournament Champions on league debut will look to continue their good fortunes across the block at the Nexus Center with their first appearance at the championship site since their 2022 runner-up finish in Lake Placid. From that appearance, two skaters from their 2022 title game lineup: Peter Morgan and Stefan Miklakos, are still around, and two others who didn't play: Adam Harris and Tommy Winn, also remain on the roster. The Ice Knights are in their fifth semifinal appearance overall, all of which have happened in the last eleven years, and this will be the fourth different city they've played one in. Four All-UCHC Selections set the pace for the Ice Knights and their nation-leading offense operating at 4.90 goals per game. They have eight players with 20 points or more. This includes UCHC Defensive Player of the Year Sean Melso. Melso has 24 points on 8 goals and 16 assists while operating from Geneseo's blue line. He was joined on the all-conference first team by veteran forward Peter Morgan, who led the Ice Knights with a team-best 36 points on fourteen goals and a team-leading 22 assists. Morgan, a 2022 All-American, might be the nation's fastest skater. Filip Wiberg has 34 points on 17 goals and 17 assists to rank second on the squad, and he had a huge game with two goals in the quarterfinals at Aurora. Luke Panchisin has 30 points on 11 goals and 19 assists, and also scored twice in the quarterfinals to keep the season alive. Zach Purcell leads the Ice Knights with four power play goals, and Alex Dameski scored twice, including the game-winner, in the win over Aurora. Starting netminder Adam Harris carries a 14-2-1 overall record into the semifinals, and has made 55 saves through two rounds of NCAA play. His season-high of 50 saves came in Utica at the 2024 New York SASH Teddy Bear Toss game in a 7-3 Geneseo win.


(1) Curry College Colonels (25-3, 16-2 CNE)
Location: Milton, Mass.
Head Coach: Peter Roundy (Stonehill '10, 4th Season, 84-24-4)
National Championships: 0
Scoring Offense Rank: 10th, 4.14 Goals/Game
Scoring Defense Rank: 2nd, 1.46 Goals Allowed/Game
Power Play Rank: 34th, 20.9 percent
Penalty Kill Rank: 3rd, 88.7 percent
The Lowdown: The Colonels enter their first national semifinal game as the top seed, and as the hottest team in all of NCAA Men's Ice Hockey with a 17 game winning streak, which ties Hobart for the longest winning streak in Division III this season, and plants both squads in a tie for 11th in Division III history in that category. For the Colonels, the biggest star of the show might be goaltender Shane Soderwall. Soderwall, the CNE Player and Goalie of the Year, has not allowed more than two goals in a game since January 24th. His goals allowed average of 1.45 and save percentage of 94.5 percent rank third nationally, and he has logged five shutouts for the Colonels to rank fourth nationally. He recently won the Joe Concannon award as the top Division III player in New England. Last year, he set a national record for saves in a game (99) in the quarterfinals in a four-overtime thriller against Hobart that was the second-longest game in Division III history. In front of him is a dominant defensive corps led by two players who were named to the CNE All-Conference first team: Casper Soderling and Ryan Prewitt. Prewitt is an impressive +28 over 24 games played. Matt Connor was also selected to last year's All-Conference teams and continues to patrol the Blue Line for Curry. Eelis Laaksonen leads the nation's tenth-ranked offense with a team-best 25 points on 14 goals and 11 assists. He was a CNE First Team All-Conference selection. Gage Dill, a three-time All-Conference Pick, was named to the CNE Third Team and tied for third on the squad with 21 points alongside Grady Friedman and impressive rookie forward Karim Gayfullin. Gayfullin has had a team-high six points across Curry's postseason run. New England College transfer Manny Cabral is second amidst the Curry offense with 23 total points.
 
(4) Utica University Pioneers (23-4-2, 16-2-2 UCHC)
Location: Utica, NY
Head Coach: Gary Heenan (Hamilton '97, 24th Season, 395-184-54)
National Championships: 0
Scoring Offense Rank: 3rd, 4.45 Goals Per Game
Scoring Defense Rank: 18th, 2.45 Goals Allowed Per Game
Power Play Rank: 3rd, 30.5 percent
Penalty Kill Rank: 51st, 80.3 percent

The Lowdown: The host Pioneers are in the semis for a second consecutive year, and a third time overall. The UCHC tournament runners-up got here on the heels of arguably the biggest win in program history, a brilliant comeback win over fifth-seeded and five time national champion St. Norbert at home by a 5-3 score in the quarterfinals. The Pioneers assailed a 3-1 deficit at the hands of the Green Knights with four unanswered goals in the first-ever meeting between the two sides. Graduate student Jakob Breault (Acton Vale, QC/Alaska-Fairbanks (NCAA DI)) had one of the biggest games of his life with two goals and an assist, including the tying goal. In the first round, the Pioneers eliminated MASCAC Champion Fitchburg State with two goals by veteran forward Matt Wood (Garnet Valley, PA/Richmond Generals (USPHL)) setting the pace. In 2025, Utica seeks its first appearance in the National Championship game while also pursuing its first national title. In two prior appearances, Utica has been eliminated in the semis by the eventual national champion - Hobart in 2024, and UW-Eau Claire in 2013. Assistant coach Nick Therrien was part of the latter squad for Utica as a goaltender. The Pioneers are guided by four all-conference selections, including UCHC first teamers Breault (17-19-36, career-high) and defenseman Aydin Parekh (Nobleton, ON/Georgetown Raiders (OJHL)) (0-23-23, career-high). Breault leads the team in goals and points and is 24th nationally in points per game, while Parekh leads the squad in assists and ranks 22nd nationally on a per-game basis. They are part of a contingent of six players with 20 points or more on the roster. Drake Morse (Grand Rapids, MI/Shreveport Mudbugs (NAHL)) was a UCHC second team selection and has had a career-high 30 points this season. Johnny Mulera (Rockville, MD/Salve Regina University (NCAA DIII)), a transfer from Salve Regina, has had a terrific year as well with 28 points on 16 goals and twelve assists. He has eight power play goals, which has him tied for second in program history for a single season. Mulera has a point in six of his last seven games. On the blue line, 2024 All-American Brian Scoville (Agawam, MA/Alabama-Huntsville (NCAA DI)), UCHC All-Rookie pick Anthony Bax (Parkhill, ON/Flin Flon Bombers (SJHL)), and Ben Schultheis (Mount Juliet, TN/Ferris State University (NCAA DI)) all feature significantly in the Pioneers' plans. In net, Ryan Piros (Hartland, MI/University of Dubuque (NCAA DIII)) has solidified the starting job after arriving from Dubuque at midseason. After not winning a game with the Spartans, he has gone 14-2-1 since the new year with Utica, with a 92.1 percent save percentage on his line. Emergent sophomore forwards Gabriel Lundberg (Gothenburg, Sweden/Janesville Jets (NAHL)) and Aiden Hughes (Mississauga, ON/Milton Menace (OJHL)) are worth keeping an eye on after they have scored goals in each tournament round so far. Matt Wood (Garnet Valley, PA/Richmond Generals (USPHL)) is also a proven contributor with two goals in Utica's first round win, and a 30 point season with nine goals and 21 assists this year.
 
 Tune in to this year's Frozen Four on Friday and Sunday!