Photo Courtesy of Cameron Garofalo
The Geneseo Ice Knights will be attempting to make it back to the NCAA Tournament this season, and the first two exhibition games of the season lit what is a hopeful fire beneath the Ice Knights and fans.
The Geneseo Men’s Hockey team began the march toward the start of the 2026-27 season with a pair of exhibition wins over Nazareth and Niagara American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA). Last season, the Ice Knights made it all the way to the United Collegiate Hockey Conference Championship (UCHC) round, ultimately losing 4-1 to number one-ranked Utica. Despite coming up short of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III finals, the Ice Knights finished the 2025-26 season with an impressive 18-8-5 record, finishing second in the conference. 12 of those 18 wins were conference matchups, and the Ice Knights boasted an excellent road record of 10-2-1. This season, Geneseo looks to continue that previous success and get back to the finals, which they last made during the 2024-25 season.
On Saturday, Oct. 17, the Ice Knights played their first exhibition game of the season, defeating the conference rival Golden Flyers from Nazareth University. The road game, which was scoreless during regulation, ended after an overtime goal from sophomore forward Kowin Belsterling. Belsterling, who transferred this offseason from Chatham University, scored 10 goals and tallied 19 assists in his freshman season, which placed him fourth in points for the Chatham team with 29. The Belsterling goal came off assists from senior defenseman Sterling Wolters and freshman forward Owen King. Senior goalie Jacob Torgner played a major role in the victory as well, shutting out Nazareth for the entirety of the game.
King, who is in his first year with the Ice Knights, committed to Geneseo after playing previously with the North American Hockey League’s (NAHL) Rochester Jr. Americans. During his two seasons with the Americans, King scored 44 goals and 71 assists; in his final season with the Americans, King averaged 1.14 points per game (50 points in 44 games played). King also ranked second in points scored on the team during the 2025-26 NAHL season. Wolters, who is entering his fourth year with Geneseo, has scored eight goals and 26 assists during his collegiate career, with six of those coming from last season, tying him for sixth among the entire team that year. Torgner is also entering his fourth season at Geneseo, with last season being his most productive. Torgner played over 1.2 thousand minutes in net last season, recording a save percentage of .927 through 22 games.
Four days later, on Wednesday, Oct. 21, Geneseo faced Niagara University’s Division I ACHA team in their second exhibition game. This game, which was the Ice Knights first home contest for the team, ended in a 2-1 Geneseo victory, with both goals coming in the third quarter. The two goals came courtesy of senior forward Luke Panchisin and sophomore forward Danny Bagnole. Last season, Panchisin scored seven goals and 16 assists, a statline that had him placed fifth in goals, and tied him for fourth in total points and third in assists amongst the entire team. In his freshman season, Bagnole scored five goals and eight assists, with those five goals placing him in a four-way-tie for seventh among the entire team in goals.
This win at home, however, was much more than just the final score. In a post by the Geneseo Ice Knights Instagram account, the team stated that the game was about the community. The team went on to say that “[f]rom our students to our incredible community, the energy inside the IRA was unbelievable. You showed exactly what this place can be when we #PackTheIRA.” As the quote from the Instagram page shows, the Geneseo community is at the heart of everything the Ice Knights hockey team works toward.
High expectations surround the Geneseo Men’s Hockey team this season. A preseason poll held by the website DIIIHockeyNews.com placed the Ice Knights as the tenth-best team throughout the NCAA’s Division III, with the team receiving 111 votes. The team has their eyes set on the NCAA finals and will begin their official campaign towards the championship with a Friday, Oct. 30 road game against the University of Wisconsin-Stout Blue Devils. The Ice Knights will return to the Ira S. Wilson Arena on Sunday, Nov. 7, when they take on the Cortland Red Dragons.