GENESEO, NY: The No.4 SUNY Geneseo Men's Hockey team will face the No.1 Hobart Statesmen in the Frozen Four in the NCAA Tournament on Friday, March 28th at the Nexus Center in Utica, NY. The Ice Knights enter the semifinal matchup with a 24-4-1 record and the No.4 seed in the national tournament.
WHAT TO KNOW:
The SUNY Geneseo Ice Knights earned a spot in the semi-finals after a 7-4 comeback victory against No.3 Aurora on Saturday. Trailing 3-0 late in the second period, and 4-2 in the third period, Geneseo found a way to battle back and earn the thrilling road victory with five unanswered goals in the third.
This marks Geneseo's 11th time competing in the NCAA Tournament in program history. Saturday's win over Aurora also means that the Ice Knights join Wisconsin-Stevens Point and Adrian for the most Division III Frozen Four appearances with five within the last 10 seasons. The program's last time in the NCAA Championship was the 2021-2022 season, which saw the Ice Knights fall 5-2 to Adrian in Lake Placid, NY. Geneseo leads the NCAA in scoring offense, averaging 4.90 goals per game, with nine games having seven or more goals.
OPPOSITION PREVIEW:
The Hobart Statesmen have been the most dominant team in Division III Hockey over the past two seasons and are looking to defend their back-to-back national championships. This year, the Statesman hold a 27-1-1 overall record and an 18-1-1 record in NEHC play. They earned a place in the Frozen Four by defeating #7 Trine University 3-2 in overtime in the quarterfinals on Saturday, March 22nd, in Geneva. Their defense has led the team throughout the year, holding opponents to 1.03 goals per game, good enough for the top spot in Division III Hockey. Both of their goalies sit in the top two spots in the country for winning percentages at .962 and .938 respectively.
ICE KNIGHTS TO WATCH:
Senior forward Peter Morgan leads the Ice Knights with 36 points on 14 goals and 22 assists in 29 games played (regular season and playoffs). Morgan notched two assists in the quarterfinal vs. Aurora to complete the comeback. Sophomore forward Filip Wiberg sits just behind Morgan in total points with 34 on the year. Wilberg leads the Ice Knights with 17 goals, none more important than his two in the quarterfinals against Aurora. Sophomore defender Sean Melso leads Geneseo with an outstanding +31 plus/minus, which was second-best in the UCHC. Lastly, senior goaltender Adam Harris holds a .916 save percentage in 21 games started in net. He sits fourth overall in Division III with a .853 winning percentage.
AWARD SEASON:
The Ice Knights were recognized by the UCHC for their impressive inaugural season in the conference. Head coach Chris Schultz was named UCHC Coach of the Year after leading the Ice Knights to a No.5 ranking in the NCAA National Power Index and No.6 ranking in the USCHO.com Division III national poll to end the regular season. He led the Ice Knights to their eighth NCAA Tournament appearance since 2014.
Sophomore defender Sean Melso was named the Defensive Player of the Year and First-Team All-Conference. Melso had the third highest plus/minus in the conference and led all UCHC defensemen in scoring with 24 points on eight goals and 16 assists in 26 games.
Senior captain Peter Morgan was named First-Team All-Conference after tallying 32 points on 12 goals and 20 assists in the regular season. Jack McDonald and Nicholas Kovacs were named to the All-Rookie team after putting up 12 points (four goals, eight assists) and 10 points (five goals, five assists) respectively.
YEAR IN REVIEW:
Geneseo opened the year at home with a convincing 5-2 win against Wilkes University at the start of November. The Ice Knights then played their first UCHC games after moving from the SUNYAC and took down Chatham twice on the road. Geneseo swept new conference rivals Manhattanville and Brockport in the following weeks. Amherst and Williams visited the Ira S. Wilson Arena and were both taken down by the Ice Knights to continue their hot start to the season.
The Ice Knights started the 2024-2025 campaign undefeated (11-0-1) leading up to the month of January. Their impressive season in a new conference saw multiple winning streaks throughout, including five in a row after a loss to Chatham on January 24th. They finished with a 16-3-1 conference record, placing them as the two-seed in the UCHC Tournament.
Geneseo started the UCHC Tournament with a convincing 5-2 victory against Manhattanville after receiving a first-round bye. Peter Morgan and Nicholas Kovacs led the Ice Knights with three points each and the team accumulated 47 shots on target. They then traveled to Utica to take on the No.1 seed Pioneers, where they came out of the gates firing. The Ice Knights jumped out to a quick 4-0 lead in the first period and never looked back. The UCHC Championship finished with a 7-4 Geneseo victory over Utica that saw senior goaltender Adam Harris make 30 saves for a .909 save percentage.
A win against Hobart would move Geneseo to 25-4-1 on the season, give the Knights a 11-8-2 record in the NCAA tournament and send the team to their first NCAA Championship since March 26th, 2022.
Puck drop between the Ice Knights and the Statesmen is scheduled for 3PM with the game's live stream being accessible through the "watch" link on GeneseoKnights.com. The winner of Friday's Geneseo-Hobart matchup will earn a place in the NCAA Division III Ice Hockey Championship on Sunday, March 30th, at 7 PM in Utica.
