SCHENECTADY, NY – The Union College men's hockey team fought off a late surge by Yale to tie the Bulldogs, 3-3, in an overtime ECAC Hockey game at Messa Rink Saturday evening. The tie marks the second-straight for both teams, and the fourth overtime game between the two teams in the last five games.
Union sophomore Jason Walters (Renfrew, ON) put the Dutchmen on the board at 10:44 of the first period with his second goal of the season. Freshman netminder Corey Milan (Great Barrington, MA) cleared the puck to defenseman Lane Caffaro (Slave Lake, AB) who fed Walters atop the left circle. Walters brought the puck in slightly before firing at Yale goaltender Billy Blase, hitting the senior in the right leg pads before the puck slid under and across the line.
Yale (1-1-2, 0-0-2 ECAC Hockey) tied the game less than five minutes later on the power play when Broc Little knocked in a rebound from Michael Karwoski. Tom Dignard took the initial shot from up high, but his shot was blocked by a defender. Milan stopped Karwoski's attempt, but the rebound came out to Little for his first career goal.
Chris Potts (Phillipsburg, NJ) gave Union the lead midway through the second period, sneaking his shot from the right circle past Blase's glove for his first goal of the season.
Michael Beynon (Nepean, ON) picked up his first point of the season with the assist. The senior assistant captain sent a clearing pass bouncing off the boards to avoid hitting a linesman, and Potts calculated the angle to collect the puck just as he crossed into the Yale zone on the right side.
The Dutchmen (2-2-2, 0-0-2 ECAC Hockey) carried the lead into the third until just over the midway point, Jean-François Boucher found a loose puck in Union's zone and banged it toward the net. Milan made the save in the crook of his arm, but the puck fell free for Boucher's second goal of the season.
The Bulldogs struck again quickly, taking the lead 1:13 later. Freshman Tom Dignard found the rebound off Milan's stick from Denny Kearny's shot for his second career goal.
Union came back less than two minutes later to knot the game with a power-play score by freshman
Stéphane Boileau (Blainville, QC). Josh Coyle (Brooklyn, OH) sent a pass from below the right circle to Walters at the point. Walters paused and took a hard shot toward the right of the net, which Boileau just tipped for his first career goal and third point on the season.
While Yale dominated the first minutes of overtime, the momentum shifted Union's way as the last seconds were waning.
Mike Schreiber (Sherwood Park, AB) made a big defensive play in darting into the zone as he came off the bench to block a Sean Backman breakaway late in the extra period. The Dutchmen used the momentum to record the only shot of the extra frame with one second remaining in the period.
Milan came up big late in the third as the Bulldogs rallied for four more shots once the Dutchmen tied it up. He made two quick glove saves late in the frame, first grabbing a Backman shot right off the faceoff with 1:19 remaining, and then denying Robert Page with 46 seconds remaining.
Union's defense made another strong showing, including
Mike Wakita (Kitimat, BC) forcing a poor shot on a one-on-one situation early in the second period. The sophomore also stopped a transition play by the Bulldogs in the first period just as he was exiting the penalty box.
Blase finished with 34 saves in the game, while Milan made 20, including nine in the third period. The Bulldogs were one-for-three on the power play, while Union put forth a one-for-five effort, including 10 shots with the extra man.
Union hits the road for the next six games, starting with an ECAC Hockey road trip to Dartmouth and Harvard on November 9 and 10. The Dutchmen are then off until a November 25 game at Massachusetts.
