Arcadia Counting Down to Opener

The Arcadia Knights are a step closer to beginning their inaugural season of NCAA Division III hockey. The Knights will play a pair of exhibition games before opening their regular season on October 29 when they host Aurora University.

Coach Vincent Pietrangelo says his players are looking forward to facing an opponent.

“It’s exciting,” he said. “We’ve had really, really good practices and really good competition. But, since the boys have been here at the start, they’ve only been practicing against themselves so a change of pace will be nice, it will be refreshing, it will be exciting,

“That’s what we all came here for, to play college hockey and compete against other schools. We have a couple exhibition games against other opponents before we start our regular season, and it will be a really good test for us. We’ll kind of see how we stack up and see maybe where some guys end up.”

Pietrangelo was asked if he felt his team was ready for the start of the regular season. “I guess we’ll never know until our first game,” he said. “I really like what we have. I’m pleasantly surprised at what we have.

“We’re a lot further along in terms of skill. There have been a few guys that have really surprised me. From the recruiting process, they’ve gotten a lot better over the summer. They’ve put the time in, they’ve put the work in, so I’m very happy to see that. That was really good to see, guys coming in and doing the right things.”

One of Pietrangelo’s concerns is injuries. “We have a few guys banged up right now We have some opportunities for some other guys to certainly make their mark in the lineup and (the exhibition games) will be a really good tool evaluating tool for myself and my assistant coach.”

Only one player on the Arcadia roster has NCAA hockey experience.

Arcadia Releases Hockey Schedules

Arcadia University has announced its inaugural men’s and women’s ice hockey schedules. The Knights are making their NCAA Division III debut this season. Both teams will play their home games at Hatfield Ice Arena in Colmar.

The men, will play the program’s first game in team history under Head Coach Vincent Pietrangelo on Friday, Oct. 29 as they host Aurora University at 7 p.m.

Arcadia’s schedule consists of seven non-conference games, including the Castleton State Tournament on Nov. 26 and 27. Matchups against Aurora University, Morrisville State College, and SUNY Canton round out the non-conference schedule.

The Knights will compete in the United Collegiate Hockey Conference (UCHC) and open conference play on Friday, Nov. 5 at Utica College. The UCHC slate features 18 games beginning in November and running through the final week of the regular season in mid-February.

Arcadia’s season culminates with the UCHC Tournament, which is scheduled to take place from Feb. 22 to March 5. The conference postseason tournament includes one quarterfinal game, two semifinal games, and two championship games.

The women will play the program’s first game under Head Coach Kelsey Koelzer in team history on Saturday, Oct. 30 at home against Worcester State University at 7:30 p.m.

Arcadia has three non-conference matchups on its schedule, traveling to SUNY Cortland for a pair of games on Dec. 10 and 11 before hosting Western New England University on New Year’s Day.

The Knights will compete in the United Collegiate Hockey Conference (UCHC) and open conference play on Friday, Nov. 5, hosting Utica College. The UCHC slate features 20 games beginning in November and running through the final week of the regular season in mid-February.

Arcadia’s season culminates with the UCHC Tournament, which is scheduled to take place from Feb. 26 to March 5. The conference postseason tournament features one game each for the quarterfinal, semifinal, and championship rounds.

The Arcadia men’s hockey schedule is HERE

The Arcadia women’s hockey schedule is HERE

Members of the United Collegiate Hockey Conference include: Wilkes, Chatham, King’s, Lebanon Valley, Manhattanville, Nazareth, Neumann, Stevenson, Utica, Alvernia, and Arcadia

Launch of Arcadia Hockey Program Marks the Start of a New Era

A new era is dawning at Arcadia University. Beginning this fall the university will put men’s and women’s NCAA Division III varsity hockey teams on the ice. The Knights will play their home games at Hatfield Ice and compete in the United Collegiate Hockey Conference, which includes teams in Pennsylvania, New York, and Maryland.

The 25-game regular season will commence on Halloween Weekend. Several teams in the hockey-only conference, including Arcadia, are members of the Middle Atlantic Conference in other sports, including Wilkes, Lebanon Valley, and Stevenson. Kings, which did not field a team last season, is also part of the MAC.

The Arcadia men’s team is coached by Vincent Pietrangelo a Michigan native who has been on the job since September of 2019. Before coming to Arcadia, he spent three years as an assistant at the SUNY at Canton. Prior to that he was an assistant at Division I Ferris State.

Pietrangelo, who played college hockey at Division III Finlandia University has always wanted to build his own program and embraces the challenges that accompany that, notably in the area of recruiting.

“A startup program isn’t for everybody,” he said. “I guess the one unique thing is, I have a special opportunity for guys to come in and help write the history of something and build something from the ground up.

“So, that’s the kind of players that I’ve been going after, guys pretty much like myself. I took this job on (because) I wanted to start a program from scratch. It’s been my dream job, and I want guys to have that same kind of passion, that are saying ‘I want to be part of something, I want to be one of the founding members and take this program from starting to something great.’”

One challenges Pietrangelo has faced is attracting players who can meet Arcadia’s academic standards.

“Obviously finding kids that meet that academic requirement is something I have to look at,” he said. “But I guess just getting the word out that we are starting a program and having a program was the biggest challenge.

“Year One was just kind of watching kids, letting the hockey world know that Arcadia is starting. I was able to grab five really good kids that were pretty connected in the world and were able to also kind of help me recruit. I did that up until the pandemic hit. That was very challenging, once the pandemic hit, to recruit. instead of being able to meet a player face to face at the rink, I’m having to watch a lot more video and do a lot more phone calls. I’m more of a personal recruiter, I like to be face to face. So, that was kind of a new challenge for me.”

Like all players coming into NCAA hockey. Pietrangelo’s players will have to make some adjustments, and make them in a hurry.

“We practice every day,” he pointed out, which is a very different transition for a lot of my guys that are coming in. They’re used to playing 60 games a year in junior. Now they’re only playing 25 but it’s a lot more taxing than a lot of people think just because every day these student-athletes have to get up and go to class and study.

“They’re in the weight room, then they come to practice. That takes a toll on their bodies. All my guys are coming in at 21 as freshmen. They’ll be playing against some seniors that are 25, 26 years old.”