Utica University’s men’s hockey team took on St. Norbert College on March 22 in the NCAA Division III Quarterfinal and came out victorious in front of a home crowd. The Pioneers amplified their play in the third period with three goals and won the game 5-3.

Utica has now reached the Frozen Four for the second straight year. Taking down a five-time national champion caliber competitor took a team effort to rise from adversity. Utica hung around for most of the game, eventually securing the win with an exciting third period performance. 

Utica’s center Jakob Breault had a night for the ages, scoring a goal off a rebound with 50 seconds remaining in the first period to keep the score at one a piece. He finished the game with two goals, two assists all while cleaning house in the circle with a 65% faceoff win percentage. 

“It’s probably the best game I’ve been a part of. You know being down, the fans being super loud and fighting till the end to carry out the win,” Breault said. “My teammates did their jobs to fight back so it’s a feeling that’s hard to explain.”

Breault kept the Pioneers alive into the second period, where they dominated possession while facing a 3-1 deficit. Then, a big-time goal was scored by sophomore Drake Morse to narrow the lead to 3-2 going into the third period where the Pioneers brought the fight to St. Norbert. 

Breault started the period carrying the energy for the team offensively with his second goal of the game to tie it at 3-3. Minutes later, Pioneer sophomore forward Gabriel Lundberg scored a goal in his second straight game. The Pioneers would weather the storm on defense and prevented St. Nobert’s offense to barely any shots on goal.

This was a big part to their freshmen goalie Ryan Piros, who had an incredible game dealing with the heavy attacking Green Knight offense. Twenty-four blocked shots in his 60 minutes of play, with half of those coming in the third period. Ending the game with a victory for the Pioneers. Breault led all Pioneer point-getters with four as he continued to write his name in the program’s record books. 

At the post-game press conference, head coach Gary Heenan said the team did a great job of scoring at the right times and “it helped us build momentum as we fought our way to victory.” 

“I knew our group was going to be a little tentative. It’s a big game you know,” Heenan said. “I felt like that the first ten minutes of the first period, we really started earning the victory. Did this game test us? It sure did. We chased the game and score.”

When asked about the momentum throughout the game, Heenan said the team looked for matchups that benefited the first line and they were happy with that. 

“Second line did some damage to us, but there were lots of line changes,” Heenan said. “Might have been a record setting amount of line changes on both sides. Overall, we just continued believing in ourselves that we deserve to be here.”

Utica University is set to host NCAA Division III Men’s Hockey Championship

Utica is set to host the NCAA Division III Men’s Hockey Championship this weekend, marking a surprise opportunity for the city to host two consecutive national finals. While Utica has been the established host for the 2026 national finals, it took advantage of the chance to host this year’s as well.

The games will take place at the Utica University Nexus Center, as the Adirondack Bank Center is unavailable due to pre-existing events. The semifinals are set for Friday, March 28, with Hobart facing Geneseo at 3 p.m. and Utica taking on Curry at 7 p.m. The championship game will be held on Sunday, March 30 at 7 p.m.

Tickets for Friday’s semifinal match-up went on sale Wednesday at 12 P.M. and sold out within minutes. However, 72 Tavern and Grill as well as Babe’s at Harbor Point will be hosting watch parties, both beginning at 6:30 P.M. Tickets for Sunday’s championship game will be available Saturday at noon, online only.