The United Collegiate Hockey Conference announced its 2025-26 Men’s Award Winners and All-Conference teams on Tuesday, March 3. The award winners were selected through a thorough survey of the league’s nine head coaches.

SUNY Geneseo senior forward Alex Dameski was named the 2025-26 UCHC Player of the Year. A native of Oakville, Ontario, Dameski is enjoying a tremendous season, with 21 goals and 16 assists for 37 points with a plus-24 rating in 26 games played. Dameski is tied for third nationally with five game-winning goals, while his 21 goals are tied for fourth in Division III. Dameski excelled in league play, scoring 25 points on 14 goals and 11 assists to go along with a plus-17 rating and four game-winning tallies in 16 contests. He tied for the league lead in goals and points in UCHC play this season and has 14 multiple-point efforts overall in 2025-26.
 
Andrew Della Rovere of Utica University earned 2025-26 UCHC Defensive Player of the Year honors. A junior forward from Caledon East, Ontario, Della Rovere excels on both ends of the ice. He leads the league and is among the national leaders in the face-off circle, having won 400 draws and an astounding 66.7 percent (400-for-599) of his face-offs this season. In addition, Della Rovere has emerged as a top scoring threat for the Pioneers, with 25 points on 11 goals and 14 assists and is plus-11 in 26 games played. He tallied 18 points on six goals and 12 assists and was plus-11 in 16 UCHC regular season contests, while recording a 66.3 face-off win percentage.
 
Cameron Kuntar of Chatham University was named the UCHC Goaltender of the Year. Kuntar, a junior who hails from Williamsville, NY, leads all UCHC netminders with a 2.16 goals against average, .941 save percentage and 34.5 saves per game (655 total saves), in addition to a 13-5-1 record and one shutout. Kuntar excelled in UCHC play, recording a .945 save percentage, 2.17 goals against average and made an average of 37 saves per game in 12 league contests. He made at least 30 saves in a game 14 times, including a career-high 61 in the opening round of the UCHC Tournament, a triple overtime win over SUNY Brockport on Feb. 25.
 
SUNY Brockport forward Nick Reif garnered 2025-26 UCHC Rookie of the Year accolades. A native of Depew, NY, Reif led the Golden Eagles in scoring this season with 21 points on nine goals and 12 assists in 24 games played. He excelled in league play, averaging a point per game, with 15 points (5 goals, 10 assists) in 15 games played. Reif ended the year with a six-game point-scoring streak with eight points over that stretch. He had a hat-trick in his second collegiate game, Nov. 1 against Neumann University.

Utica University head coach Gary Heenan was named the 2025-26 UCHC Coach of the Year by his peers. Heenan has led the Pioneers to a No. 6 ranking in the NCAA National Power Index. Utica enters the UCHC Championship game with a current record of 18-7-1, having finished 13-2-1 in league play to garner the regular season championship and top seed. Heenan, Utica’s only head coach in its 25 seasons as a program, is 414-192-55 in his career and is looking to lead the Pioneers to their sixth UCHC Championship and seventh NCAA Tournament appearance. He led Utica on a magical ride to the 2025 NCAA Division III National Championship game and is 190-37-13 since the league was formed in 2017-18. Heenan is now a five-time UCHC Coach of the Year.
 
Chatham University senior Nick Cyprian, the 2024-25 UCHC Player of the Year and junior Drake Morse of Utica University joined Dameski as forwards on the UCHC First Team. Junior Sean Melso of SUNY Geneseo and first-year Caden Pendo of Chatham earned first team honors on defense, while Kuntar and junior Jacob Torgner of Geneseo shared the first team goaltender honor. Cyprian and Melso earned All-UCHC first team accolades for the second consecutive season.

The full list of UCHC award winners is listed below.
Player of the Year: Alex Dameski, SUNY Geneseo
Defensive Player of the Year: Andrew Della Rovere, Utica
Goaltender of the Year: Cameron Kuntar, Chatham
Rookie of the Year: Nick Reif, SUNY Brockport
Coach of the Year: Gary Heenan, Utica

First Team All-UCHC
Forward: Nick Cyprian, Chatham
Forward: Alex Dameski, SUNY Geneseo
Forward: Drake Morse, Utica
Defense: Sean Melso, SUNY Geneseo
Defense: Caden Pendo, Chatham
Goaltender: Cameron Kuntar, Chatham
Goaltender: Jacob Torgner, SUNY Geneseo

Second Team All-UCHC
Forward: Nick Ahern, Utica
Forward: Andrew Della Rovere, Utica
Forward: Michael Roby, Chatham
Forward: Filip Wiberg, SUNY Geneseo
Defense: Aydin Parekh, Utica
Defense: Charles Ross, Nazareth
 
Third Team All-UCHC
Forward: Blake Frost, Nazareth
Forward: John Gutt, Utica
Defense: Connor Bertamini, Albertus Magnus
Defense: Dakota Zarudny, SUNY Geneseo
Goaltender: Paul Dalessio, Nazareth
 
All-Rookie Team
Forward: Nick Reif, Brockport
Forward: Sam Ciappa, St. John Fisher
Forward: Stepan Kuznetzov, Utica
Defense: Caden Pendo, Chatham
Defense: Sal Cerrato, Utica
Goaltender: Paul Dalessio, Nazareth