UTICA, N.Y. - A storybook season for the Williams College men's hockey team will continue on Saturday when the Ephs visit Utica University in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, with the puck drop scheduled for 7 p.m. at the Adirondack Bank Center in Utica.
Tickets are on sale for the game now by visiting this link.
It will be the first appearance for the Ephs in the NCAA Tournament since the 2015-16 season, when the team beat Salem State in the first round and dropped a quarterfinal to SUNY Geneseo by a 2-1 score. The Ephs are in the NCAA Tournament this year by virtue of their NESCAC Championship, which the team earned in dramatic fashion, winning three games on the road to get the conference's automatic bid.
Williams started its postseason run with a 3-1 win at Tufts University on February 28 in the NESCAC Quarterfinal, and the Ephs then headed to face top-ranked Hamilton in a Semifinal on Saturday, March 7. An overtime goal from first-year Jackson Krill - which completed his hat-trick - completed the upset of the top-ranked team in the league, and the team now #6-ranked nationally. After a 4-2 win over Middlebury College in the NESCAC Final the next day, the team celebrated its first NESCAC Championship and the right to continue playing in the NCAAs.
The team holds a 12-13-2 record on the season, but has shown the ability to play with anyone, and has a number of impressive results on the year, including a shootout win over then-#6-ranked Oswego State on January 2, and wins at Hamilton on February 20 and March 7.
The team's offense has been paced by NESCAC Rookie of the Year Jackson Krill, whose 14 goals lead the team and 14 assists are second on the Ephs' roster. Brady Welsch has 12 goals in his 19 games on the season, followed by Jake McManus with eight, and Conner Fitzpatrick and Ryan Kearney, both with seven. McManus has a team-leading 20 assists on the season as well. In goal, Harrison Fogel and Kael DePape have split the time, with Fogel helping the team to its recent wins in the NESCAC Tournament, and holding a save percentage of .909 and a goals-against-average of 2.89 in his 16 games.
In the Utica Pioneers, the Ephs will be facing the team ranked #5 nationally in the most recent USCHO poll, and owners of a 19-7-1 record in 2025-26. The Pioneers won their conference tournament, capturing the UCHC Championship with a pair of 4-1 wins, first over Nazareth University in the semifinal on February 28, then over Geneseo on March 7. Utica has five players with double-digit goals on the season, led by Drake Morse with 17, and the lion's share of the goaltending minutes have gone to Kyle Curtin, who has a save percentage of .903 and a GAA of 2.21 in his 20 games.
For the Ephs, Saturday's game presents another opportunity for the team to pull off an upset, which is a place the team has been in several times already this season, and Williams will be looking to extend its season once more on the biggest stage.
