The UCHC has announced its 2023-24 men’s hockey award winners and all-conference teams.
The award winners were selected through a thorough survey of the league’s 11 head coaches.
Utica senior defenseman Brian Scoville was named both the 2023-24 UCHC player of the year and defensive player of the year. He becomes the first student-athlete in league history to sweep both awards in the same season. Scoville is currently second among all Division III defensemen with 30 points and 1.15 points per game. He has tallied nine goals and added 23 assists for 32 points in 28 games and has a plus-41 rating, which is among the best in the nation. Scoville has scored five power-play goals and added a pair of game-winning tallies. He excelled in league play recording seven goals and 20 assists in 20 UCHC contests. Overall, Scoville has tallied at least a point in 19 games and has six multiple-point outings.
Scoville is Utica’s fifth UCHC player of the year and the is fourth Pioneer to win UCHC defensive player of the year alongside 2018 All-American Dalton Carter, Daniel Fritz, and 2022 All-American and 2023 All-American Jayson Dobay.
Stevenson’s Ty Outen was named the UCHC goaltender of the year. Outen is in the midst of a tremendous season for the Mustangs, compiling an 19-5-1 mark, while recording a 1.77 goals-against average and a .945 save percentage to go along with four shutouts. Outen is fifth in the nation with 749 saves and seventh in save percentage. He has made at least 30 saves in 12 contests this season. Outen was a four-time UCHC goaltender of the week in 2023-24. It is the third straight season that a Stevenson goaltender earned this award.
Utica’s Eric Vitale was named the conference’s rookie of the year. Vitale has tallied 25 points on 11 goals and 14 assists in 26 games played, while recording a plus-19 rating. He has two power-play goals on the year and has eight multiple-point games. Vitale, the UCHC rookie of the week on Feb. 5, has excelled over the last 10 games, registering eight goals and seven assists over that span, including his first collegiate hat trick on Feb. 2. Vitale is Utica’s third UCHC rookie of the year, joining Conor Landrigan (2017-18) and Brandon Osmundson (2019-20).
Utica head coach Gary Heenan was named the conference’s coach of the year by his peers for the third consecutive season and fourth time overall. Heenan has led the Pioneers to the No. 2 ranking in the USCHO.com Division III national poll, a current record of 22-3-2 and a 19-0-1 record in conference play (58 of 60 possible points) for a team that won the UCHC regular-season title for a seventh straight year. Utica, who is riding a 16-game winning streak, has advanced to the conference championship game for the sixth time in seven seasons.
First Team All-UCHC
Forward: Logan vande Meeraker, Alvernia
Forward: Liam McCanney, Stevenson
Forward: Matt Wood, Utica
Defense: Brian Scoville, Utica
Defense: Cole Jungwirth, Wilkes
Goaltender: Ty Outen, Stevenson
Second Team All-UCHC
Forward: Shane Murphy, Utica
Forward: Billy Berry, Wilkes
Forward: Nick Swain, Wilkes
Defense: Jack Karlsson, Stevenson
Defense: Kimball Johnson, Utica
Defense: Joe Johnson, Wilkes
Goaltender: Ethan Roberts, Utica
UCHC All-Rookie Team
Forward: Rhett Evjen, Stevenson
Forward: Aiden Hughes, Utica
Forward: Eric Vitale, Utica
Defense: Justin Fernet, Manhattanville
Defense: Griffen Barr, Utica
Goaltender: Jackson Fellner, Alvernia
