The first round of the 2024-25 NCAA D-III men’s ice hockey championship tournament is in the books with six teams joining Curry and Hobart in the quarterfinal round set for Saturday, March 22. The first round saw six games with three set between teams from the east, two from teams from the west and one east v. west matchup. While St. Norbert and Aurora advanced in the west pairings, Geneseo, Hamilton, and Utica advanced in the east with Trine taking the one inter-regional matchup in their first NCAA tournament game against Oswego. Lots of exciting action to recap so here is the wrap-up for the east:
Stevenson v. Geneseo
The Mustangs traveled to face the Knights but were clearly ready to play as they poured sixteen shots on Knights’ goaltender Adam Harris in the first period but were unable to score a goal. Geneseo also found Stevenson’s Ford DeLoss difficult to solve as they fired thirteen attempts in what proved to be a scoreless first period.
In the second period, senior Peter Morgan found a puck left loose by DeLoss and the Knights took a 1-0 lead with the only marker of the second period.
In the third period, Evan Beers scored on a power play midway through the final period of regulation to tie the score at 1-1. The lead was short-lived as Zach Purcell gave the lead back to Geneseo off a nifty play by Filip Wiberg for a 2-1 advantage. Carter Diceman iced the contest with a late empty-net goal for the 3-1 final score that advanced Geneseo to a quarterfinal date against Aurora on Saturday, March 22.
“It could have been better, it could have been worse,” noted Geneseo head coach Chris Schultz on his team’s play on Saturday. “It was a slow start, but we got better as the game went on – not going to win many NCAA games with that explanation though.”
Both goaltenders were outstanding with DeLoss finishing with thirty-nine saves on forty-one shots while Harris stopped twenty-nine of thirty to pick up the win. Purcell finished the night with a goal and an assist while Diarmad DiMurro chipped in with a pair of assists in the win.
Fitchburg State v. Utica
The Falcons were coming in on a high having won the MASCAC tournament while Utica was looking for a reset after losing the UCHC championship game on home ice to Geneseo just a week ago. The 1 PM matinee was the first game of the day with both teams looking to establish their game on the ice early.
It was Utica’s Matt Wood who set the tone early with a pair of goals in the opening ten minutes of play to give the Pioneers the lead. Wood’s first tally was a sensational deflection past netminder Max Macchioni off a shot from Andrew Della Rovere and just a couple of minutes later Wood was again in the right place to put a rebound of a Johnny Mulera shot past Macchioni for a two-goal lead.
Utica dominated the second period, but Macchioni was stellar in goal keeping the host team at bay until Aiden Hughes finally got the puck past him with just over a minute remaining for a 3-0 lead after two periods of play.
In the third period, Eric Vitale netted an unassisted goal before Hunter Dunn broke Ryan Piros’ shutout bid in the final five minutes of regulation play. Gabriel Lundberg closed out the scoring for Utica in the 5-1 win that advanced the Pioneers to a quarterfinal date with St. Norbert next Saturday at 1 PM.
“I didn’t like our start,” commented Utica head coach Gary Heenan. “We were very “east-west” and turned the puck over far too many times. We cleaned it up and executed in the second and third periods. It was great to be on home ice. Next, we have an exciting opportunity to play next against a program with five national championships.”
Macchioni stopped thirty-eight shots for the Falcons while Piros finished with seventeen saves and the win for Utica.
Hamilton v. University of New England
The NESCAC champions traveled to Maine to face a Nor’easters squad that has seen recent NCAA tournament success including the Frozen Four just two seasons ago. Both teams were very evenly matched on paper and the action on the ice reflected that quickly.
Just over seven minutes into the first period, UNE’s Ryan Kuzmich capitalized on a fortunate puck bounce and scored an unassisted goal past goaltender Charlie Archer to give the host team a 1-0 lead. Hamilton answered back before the end of the first as Devon deVries tied the score off a nice play by Jackson Krock and Ryan Sordillo gave the Continentals a 2-1 lead with his goal in the final thirty seconds of play.
Things tightened up in the second period with scoring chances being limited but Hamilton’s Justin Biraben extended the lead to 3-1 with an assist going to Ryan Brown.
The third period saw UNE pull to within a goal on Jayden Price’s power play goal just over three minutes after the puck drop. That would be the only puck to get past Archer and Krock provided an insurance marker in the final minute into an empty-net for a 4-2 win.
“I thought our first period was great,” said Hamilton head coach Rob Haberbusch. “UNE capitalized on a fortunate bounce, and we went down early but we stayed the course and battled back to take the lead into the intermission. We got into some penalty trouble in the second period which shifted the momentum, but I thought we did a good job all night of just managing the game that we had in front of us.”
Krock paced the offense for Hamilton with a goal and an assist while Archer picked up the win making twenty-one saves. UNE’s Joey Stanizzi stopped nineteen Hamilton attempts on goal. The Continentals advance to the quarterfinals for the second time in their history and will face top-seed Curry on Saturday, March 22 at 3 PM.
Oswego v. Trine
The Thunder were playing in and hosting their first NCAA tournament game in a rink where they were undefeated during the regular season (Sure that Brian Lester will have more in his wrap-up column). Their opponent was a young Oswego squad that found its game to capture the SUNYAC crown and as expected the action was a back-and-forth affair from the opening puck drop.
Both teams were trying to establish their game in the opening twenty minutes with Oswego capturing the shot advantage (10-8) but neither team was able to score.
In the second period, goaltender Ronnie Petrucci kept the visitors off the board and Drew Jeffers and Brendan Finn solved Brandon Milberg in the Lakers net for a 2-0 advantage to close out the second period.
In the third period, Sean Henry extended the advantage to three goals with a goal in the opening minute of play. Jess Horacek finally got Oswego on the board with a power play goal and over six minutes remaining but that would be the only goal Petrucci would surrender in the game. Tyler Fox iced the contest with his ENG in the final fifteen seconds of play for a 4-1 win that extended Trine’s home win streak this season to thirteen games.
Alexander Babich finished with a pair of assists to pace the Thunder.
Trine will travel to Geneva, NY on Saturday, March 22 where they will face the defending two-time national champions from Hobart at 7 PM.
Three quarterfinal games feature east v west matchups with Utica playing St. Norbert: Geneseo facing Aurora and Trine matching up with Hobart. Hamilton against Curry is the fourth quarterfinal matchup. Host location for the Frozen Four will be determined by the winners on Saturday and bids submitted over a month ago for the non-per-determined venue this season.
