Nazareth Helps Pioneer Men Win 9th UCHC Reg. Season Title

Home ice advantage and the UCHC regular season championship came down to the final game of the season - as the Utica men's hockey team won an impressive 9th straight regular season title on Saturday night at Manhattanville.

It wasn't easy as Utica Coach Gary Heenan said, "(We) had some luck go our way," which is only half of the story. Utica needed a win in Purchase, NY, and a Geneseo loss in order to win the conference and home-ice advantage through the playoffs. On Friday night, those hopes seemed dim as Geneseo manhandled Nazareth at home by a score of 9-1.

Saturday would play differently for Geneseo, as nearby rival Nazareth jumped out to a first period 1-0 lead. In the second period, the Valiants would tie the game only 43-seconds in, and then take the lead six-minutes later with a goal by Alex Demeski. But the home team would come back with aggression, scoring three unanswered goals in just three-minutes to take a 4-2 lead into the second intermission.

Meanwhile in Purchase, Utica was in a tight battle with Manhattanville skating to a 2-2 tie with the Valiants late into the second period when the top scorer from Friday night's win, Johnny Mulera, on a power play with 1:08 left in the period would poke it in for the go-ahead goal. In the final period, Utica's defense was perfect and both teams would remain scoreless, giving Utica the final regular season 3-2 win over Manhattanville. Utica has won the last 15 meetings against the Valiants dating back to November of 2019, but would this win be enough to win the title and home-ice advantage? They were looking for help in Rochester for Nazareth to pull off the upset win.

In Rochester

Geneseo entered the third period of their game with a 4-2 deficit knowing they needed a win to capture the title and the top seed despite Utica's win. A tie game with Utica back in November that resulted in a Utica shootout victory was the playoff/title tie breaker in their favor, if both teams finished atop the conference. Meanwhile, during the regular season, Geneseo had defeated Nazareth in each of their three previous games by a collective score of 20-6. But this was Nazareth's chance to be a spoiler and they came out aggressively in the final period when Cole Bauman scored for the Golden Flyers putting Nazareth up 5-2. Geneseo would stay within reach and keep pace, when Carter Diceman scored on a power play at 11:35 in the period, making the score 5-3.

With four minutes remaining in the game and down by two goals, Geneseo pulled their goalie for the man-advantage, and immediately gave up an empty net goal by Joseph Schaefer putting Nazareth back up 6-3. A minute later Geneseo scored again, inching them within two goals of the home team with 2:10 remaining. Nazareth's Blake Frost would put the game to bed with 58-seconds remaining, scoring the final unassisted empty net goal, giving the Golden Flyers a 7-4 victory and the Geneseo loss that Utica needed to win the championship once again.

Update, 2/24/25: Utica Head Coach Gary Heenan said their game on Saturday night with Manhattanville had been delayed a few times because of ice conditions, meaning the Nazareth game had completed when the Pioneers started the third period. Therefore, his team knew that Nazareth had upset Geneseo and to win the conference, the Pioneers needed to pull out the win in the third period - which they did with perfect defense.

Utica will get a bye in the quarter final round Wednesday, and will play the lowest seed on Saturday night at 7 at the Adirondack Bank Center. The home ice advantage for Utica is significant as Utica is the top fan draw in all of Division III hockey. On Friday night, Utica played in front of 2,975 fans. In contrast on Saturday, there were just 130 fans in attendance in Manhattanville and 412 at the Geneseo - Nazareth game.

Tickets are now on-sale at the Aud Box Office or by purchasing online here. The UCHC Championship game will be held at the site of the highest seed on Saturday, March 7th at 7 p.m..