Re-published and altered to include alumni information by permission and courtesy of UCHC.
The United Collegiate Hockey Conference announced its 2024-25 Men’s Award Winners and All-Conference teams. The award winners were selected through a thorough survey of the league’s six head coaches. Three NCDC alumni were among the UCHC’s individual award winners.
Chatham University’s Nick Cyprian was named the UCHC Player of the Year.
A native of Aledo, Texas, Cyprian is a former member of the Rockets Hockey Club, with whom he played for both their USPHL Premier and NCDC teams. Cyprian was a key member of the Rockets’ Premier 2022 National Championship team. Cyprian leads all UCHC skaters with 34 points on 14 goals and 20 assists in 27 games played this season. In 20 UCHC regular season contests, he led the league with 28 points on 12 goals and 16 assists to go along with three game-winning tallies and four power-play markers. A two-time UCHC Player of the Week, Cyprian recorded 10 multiple-point contests this season, including a season-best four-point outing while scoring the overtime winner in a 7-6 victory at SUNY Geneseo on Jan. 24. Cyprian is the first Chatham student-athlete to be named UCHC Player of the Year in program history.
Sean Melso of SUNY Geneseo earned UCHC Defensive Player of the Year honors. A native of Philadelphia, Pa., Melso is a two-time Dineen Cup Champion with the Jersey Hitmen in 2021 and 2022. While with the Hitmen, Melso won the Defenseman of the Year award twice and set the record for most points by a defenseman for all time with 125 points in 139 games.
Melso has a plus-28 rating, third best in the league and leads all defensemen in scoring with 24 points on eight goals and 16 assists in 26 games played this season. He was a league-best plus-26 with 21 points (six goals and 15 assists) in 20 UCHC regular season contests.
William Billequey of Manhattanville University and Geno Pichora of Chatham University shared UCHC Goaltender of the Year honors, while Pichora was also named the UCHC Rookie of the Year.
Pichora, a native of Bethel Park, PA, played with the Rockets Hockey Club during the 2021-22 NCDC season. He played 23 games in the regular season, winning 14, and put up an impressive .924 save percentage in five playoff games that year.
Pichora finished 10-6-2 on the season with a 3.05 goals against average, a .914 save percentage and two shutouts in 18 games played this season. He leads the league with 652 saves and 36.2 saves per game this season, including 14 games with at least 30 saves. Pichora made a season-high 53 saves at Utica on Nov. 22 and stopped all 48 shots he faced in a 3-0 shutout win over Nazareth in the opening round of the UCHC Tournament on Feb. 26. He is the first Chatham student-athlete to earn UCHC Goaltender of the Year honors and second player to garner UCHC Rookie of the Year accolades (Caden Smith, 2022-23).
SUNY Geneseo head coach Chris Schultz was named the Conference’s Coach of the Year by his peers.
Utica University Jakob Breault and SUNY Geneseo Peter Morgan joined Cyprian as forwards on the UCHC First Team. Adyin Parekh of Utica joined Melso as first team defensemen, while Billequry and Pichora shared the first team goaltender honor. All six student-athletes earned All-UCHC first team accolades for the first time.
The full list of UCHC award winners is listed below. NCDC Alumni are marked with an asterisk *
2024-25 UCHC Men’s Ice Hockey Award Winners
Player of the Year: Nick Cyprian, Chatham*
Defensive Player of the Year: Sean Melso, SUNY Geneseo*
Co-Goaltender of the Year: William Billequey, Manhattanville
Co-Goaltender of the Year: Geno Pichora, Chatham*
Rookie of the Year: Geno Pichora, Chatham*
Coach of the Year: Chris Schultz, SUNY Geneseo
First Team All-UCHC
Forward: Jakob Breault, Utica
Forward: Nick Cyprian, Chatham*
Forward: Peter Morgan, SUNY Geneseo
Defense: Aydin Parekh, Utica
Defense: Sean Melso, SUNY Geneseo*
Goaltender: William Billequey, Manhattanville
Goaltender: Geno Pichora, Chatham*
Second Team All-UCHC
Forward: Drake Morse, Utica
Forward: Nicholas Rogers, Manhattanville
Forward: Logan Tobias, Nazareth
Defense: Zack Conner, Chatham*
Defense: Corey Popowcer, Manhattanville*
All-Rookie Team
Forward: Jack McDonald, SUNY Geneseo*
Forward: Tyler Samodral, Chatham
Forward: Aidan Taylor, SUNY Brockport
Defense: Anthony Bax, Utica*
Defense: Nicholas Kovacs, SUNY Geneseo
Goaltender: Geno Pichora, Chatham*
