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UTICA, N.Y. -- The University of New England received a shorthanded goal from Daniel Winslow, an empty-net tally out of Tyler Seltenreich, and 38 saves from Billy Girard IV to knock off Utica University by a 2-0 margin in the quarterfinals of the 2022 NCAA Division III Men's Ice Hockey Championship on Saturday afternoon (Mar. 19) in the Adirondack Bank Center at the Utica Memorial Auditorium before an overwhelmingly stunned crowd of 3,474.

The Nor'easters (23-3-1) add to their program-record victory total and win streak (now 13 games, since the beginning of February) and advance to the national semifinal for the first time in school history [Interactive Bracket]. UNE, the only road team to move forward on Saturday, will get SUNY Geneseo on Friday night at Herb Brooks Arena in Lake Placid, N.Y. The Knights survived a late push from Babson College for a 3-2 decision. On the other side of the bracket, Adrian College and Augsburg University will clash.

The visiting squad neutralized the nation's second-best scoring offense (5.86 goals per game), and denied the top-ranked power play (35.0%) on all three of its chances. The Nor'easters blocked 15 shot attempts in support of Girard, including four each by Chris Jones and Will Spitzer, while the UNE netminder was calm and dazzling en route to his second shutout of the year. The 38 stops matched a personal high for the sophomore.

After a scoreless opening period, where UNE came up empty on its only chance with an extra skater, the Pioneers got their first advantage just past the middle of the 2nd frame. The unit was still getting settled when Liam Darcy stepped in front of a puck directed towards the cage and immediately sent Winslow the other way all alone to give the Nor'easters a 1-0 edge with 7:19 on the clock. Winslow slipped his 13th goal of the season (second on the team) between the legs of Utica goalie Sean Dickson, who entered the day with the leading goals against average in Division III (1.35).

The hosts did everything they could to tie things before the 2nd intermission, unleashing a flurry of chances down the stretch in the period. The Pioneers almost solved the UNE defense with one near miss, however Girard reached back with his paddle and pulled a point-blank shot out of mid-air before it crossed the line.

The Nor'easters continued to frustrate Utica in the 3rd, despite offering two more power play opportunities to the Pioneers in the last eight minutes. Dickson came to the bench for an additional skater and 58 seconds worth of a 6-on-4 in the waning moments, but the home team couldn't break through. UNE got it back to 6-on-5 with 1:21 remaining, and then held on some more to get a vital insurance goal with 25 ticks left. Darcy chipped it out from the end wall to Aaron Aragon, whose long-distance try from the UNE blue line skipped wide right of the target. But it bounced off the boards just hard enough for Seltenreich to race up and hammer one from the right circle into the open net; his 12th marker of the year, and third of the empty net variety (all in the last 8 games).

Darcy upped his season assist total to 17 on the day -- third on the team and the most by a defenseman. The helper credited to Aragon was his sixth. 

UNE entered the NCAA tournament with the nation's 7th-rated penalty kill at 88.6 percent, and has only bolstered that since. The Nor'easters have not conceded a power play score from the 18 chances over the last month (7 games).

Utica's 19-game unbeaten run into the championship earned a first-round bye, but the program's second bid at a spot in the national semifinals fell short after being held off the board for the first time since late November (against SUNY Geneseo) and just the second occasion in six years. The Pioneers, who got 15 saves out of Dickson, conclude the year with a 25-3-1 record.

The Nor'easters are now 2-0 in meetings with Utica. The first was also at 'The Aud' in the middle of 2016-17 and finished in a 7-3 triumph.

UNE is in the midst of its third NCAA postseason run since restarting the program in 2009-10. After an opening-round exit in 2018, the Nor'easters won a road game and reached the quarterfinals in 2019 before an overtime setback at Norwich University. The men's ice hockey program was the University's first to progress to a national quarterfinal in any sport, and now improves upon that standard with the semifinal berth.

The only previous contest between UNE and SUNY Geneseo came in a mid-year tournament at Norwich during the 2017-18 campaign. The Nor'easters never trailed in a wild 9-5 result over the Knights. And, after topping the host Cadets the following day, UNE entered the USCHO national poll for the first time ever.