Nobody has won more UCHC championships than the Utica Pioneers. Since the creation of the UCHC in 2017, the Pioneers were able to quickly make themselves the team to beat. This has held true this year as they collected a first round bye in the conference tournament to face Nazareth in the semi-finals.
Aiden Hughes got Utica on the board first in the opening period and was followed a few minutes later by Andrew Della Rovere’s 11th goal of the year. This goal came partially as a result of some drama after Nazareth’s Nate Mann got called for a penalty. After a lengthy discussion the call was made official, a ten minute check to the head penalty that resulted in Mann being sent out of the game.
Nazareth was able to put one goal on the board thanks to Will Halecki in the second period, but that would be all the offense the Golden Flyers would generate. The Pioneers would tack on two more for good measure to take a 4-1 victory and send Nazareth home. Despite the victory, things didn’t look quite right for the Pioneers.
Head coach Gary Heenan was the first to say that the victory “wasn’t our best but it was good enough.”
The game marks a lot of promise for the squad but still confirms there are improvements to be made before the big championship matchup. The Golden Flyers average over three goals per game, so holding them to just one is no easy feat.
“We locked it down defensively and our goalie was good. NIce to see us clearly win the special teams battle,” Heenan said
The victory was also followed by a pair of Pioneer receiving awards as the UCHC announced their 2025-26 award winners on Tuesday morning. Andrew Della Rovere received the honor as the UCHC defensive player of the year after a breakout season in his junior year. His defensive ability was undeniable but his most notable statistics appeared in his goal scoring abilities and especially his face-off percentages. Della Rovere recorded 11 goals and 14 assists to tally 25 total points, all while keeping a face-off win percentage of 66.7%.
Heenan received the second honor, winning UCHC’s Coach of the Year award. Heenan has cemented himself as one of the most dominant coaches in the country. The Pioneers have been the regular season champions of the conference every single year since its creation in 2017. This is the fifth time Heenan has received the coach of the year honor.
The Pioneers final guaranteed game of the year will be played this Saturday, March 7 at 7 p.m. at the Adirondack Bank Center. The conference finale will be a face off of two top 10 ranked teams as number 8 ranked Utica will fight against the reigning conference champions in number 10 ranked SUNY Geneseo in a battle for both the conference title and an automatic bid into the NCAA tournament.
SUNY Geneseo has the upper hand historically as they have emerged victorious in the last four meetings of the two teams. Two of these wins were in the regular seasons series played on Feb. 13 and 14.
“Geneseo has our number so it will take a special effort,” Heenan said. “Looking forward to playing at home in a great playoff atmosphere.”
Should the Pioneers win the game and claim their sixth UCHC trophy, they will receive an automatic bid into the DIII NCAA Men’s Ice Hockey Tournament. However, in the event of a loss the Pioneer season may not be over. While not as reliable as winning the conference, a number of teams will still receive an “at-large” bid into the bracket. This bid gives teams that were not conference winners the chance to still extend their season. As Utica has been a top ranked team in the country all season, this remains a possibility even if they fall to Geneseo in the UCHC final.
