This Weekend
The No. 14 Union College Dutchmen start off the new year against the top-ranked Huskies of St. Cloud State in the opening game of the Three Rivers Classic on Friday, Jan. 4, at 5 p.m. (ET). Robert Morris will then take on Brown following at 8 p.m. (ET). Both opening games on Friday will be played at the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex in Cranberry Township, Pa.
The winners will then play at 8 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 5, for the tournament championship, while the losers from Friday will play in the consolation match at 5 p.m. The games on Saturday will be held at the Pittsburgh Penguins home rink PPG Paints Arena in downtown Pittsburgh.
Media Coverage
All four games this weekend will be streamed live through Robert Morris' YouTube channel. The Colonials will also host live stats for the games through their athletics website.
Social Media
Receive real-time updates during all Union men's hockey games by following the team's official Twitter account @UnionMHockey. Additional behind-the-scenes looks are also available through the team's official Instagram account, UnionMHockey.
Union Partners with ESPN+ For Hockey Streams
Union fans across the country will be able to stream all Union home and select ECAC Hockey games through ESPN.com and the redesigned ESPN App, for just $4.99 a month. Fans can sign up for the service by visiting Plus.ESPN.com
For fans living outside the United States, Union and many other ECAC Hockey schools have partnered with Stretch Internet to provide coverage for games this season, giving all fans the same opportunity to watch ECAC Hockey games for $4.99 a month or $2.99 per game. International fans can access the ECAC Hockey video portal at Portal.StretchInternet.com/ECACHockey
vs St. Cloud State
Union enters the weekend trailing slightly in the all-time series against St. Cloud State, with a 2-3-2 mark against the Huskies. Both sides are even when playing at each other's rink, but St. Cloud State won the first meeting between the two teams which also took place on neutral ground, a 4-2 win for SCSU in Burlington, VT.
The last time the two teams met was for a two-game series on Oct. 24-25, 2014 in Schenectady. Union won the first game 5-1, but lost the second 3-2.
Interestingly enough, the last No. 1 ranked team that Union defeated was St. Cloud State back on Dec. 13, 2013, as Union defeated the then-top ranked Huskies 4-1 in St. Cloud.
Scouting the Huskies
St. Cloud State enters the weekend as the No. 1 team in the nation, holding a 13-1-2 overall record and a 6-0-2 record in NCHC play. SCSU's one loss on the season was to Northeastern, by a score of 3-2, on Oct. 27, the weekend after Union swept Northeastern in Boston.
The Huskies currently lead the NCHC in both goals per game (4.12) and goals-against per game (1.82), while also leading the nation in goal-differential per game, as they out-score their opponents by an average of 2.31 goals.
Senior forward Patrick Newell leads the Huskies with 20 points, having scored 10 goals and recording 10 assists. The Huskies have nine current skaters with 10 or more points so far this season. In net, sophomore David Hrenak has posted a 10-0-1 record with a 1.81 goals-against average and a .955 save percentage.
Last Time Out
Union College closed out 2018 with a win and a tie against Canisius at home on Dec. 28-29. The Dutchmen earned a 2-2 tie the first night, despite out-shooting the Griffins, 44-26. On Saturday, Union came away with a 5-3 win to improve to 9-4-4 on the season.
Union vs Canisius - Dec. 28 - Messa Rink
Union Goals:
Sebastian Vidmar (PP),
Brandon Estes (PP)
Canisius Goalie: Blake Weyrick (T) - 42 saves, 2 goals against
Union Goalie:
Darion Hanson (T) - 24 saves, 2 goals against
Power Play: Union 2-5, Canisius 0-2
Noteworthy: After a six-game scoreless drought on the power play, Union scored twice on the man advantage.
Sebastian Vidmar and
Brandon Estes both recorded two-point nights, each scoring once and assisting on each other's goals. Union out-shot the Golden Griffins, 44-26, in the contest, which included a 20-5 advantage in the third period.
Darion Hanson made his sixth-straight appearance in net and made 24 saves.
Union vs Canisius - Dec. 29 - Messa Rink
Union Goals:
Sebastian Vidmar (SH),
Ryan Walker,
Michael Ryan (PP),
Zachary Emelifeonwu,
Brendan Taylor (EN).
Canisius Goalie: Matt Ladd (L) - 32 saves, 4 goals against
Union Goalie:
Jake Kupsky (W) - 22 saves, 3 goals against
Power Play: Union 1-3, Canisius 0-3
Noteworthy:
Sebastian Vidmar had another two-point night, earning him four points on the weekend. In addition to Vidmar,
Brendan Taylor and
Josh Kosack also had two-point nights.
Zachary Emelifeonwu scored his first of the season, which stood as the game-winning goal for the Dutchmen. Union went 1-for-3 on the power play and scored one shorthanded goal.
Jake Kupsky earned his fifth victory of the season.
Best of the Month
Cole Maier was named ECAC Hockey's Player of the Month for October. The senior forward led all conference skaters with 10 points in the month, scoring four goals, including two game winners, and picking up six assists. He was also named the league's first Player of the Week this season, after a five-point weekend against Omaha, Oct. 12-13.
Leading the nation with a .972 save percentage and a 0.97 goals-against average during the month of November,
Darion Hanson was named ECAC Hockey's Goalie of the Month and the Hockey Commissioners Association Goalie of the Month. He finished the month with 104 saves (34.6 per game), posting a 2-0-1 record. After a 34-save performance against Quinnipiac on Nov. 10, the sophomore posted back-to-back 30+ save games against Yale and Boston University in Belfast, Northern Ireland, leading the Dutchmen to the 2018 Friendship Four title while earning MVP honors. He was also named Goalie of the Week twice during the month of November.
Best of the Week
After a five-point weekend,
Cole Maier was named ECAC Hockey's first Player of the Week for the 2017-18 season. Maier had a hand in all three Union goals in the Oct. 12 game against Omaha, scoring once and tallying two assists. He followed that up with two assists in the finale against the Mavericks.
With a big road sweep against then-No. 12 Northeastern, Union's
Brett Supinski and
Darion Hanson both earned ECAC Hockey weekly honors. Supinski had a stellar four-point weekend leading all skaters in the league. He, had a hand in all three regulation goals in Friday's 4-3 overtime win. In that game, he scored twice in the first period against the Huskies, including potting Union's first shorthanded goal of the season. In net, Hanson was also stellar, leading all goalies in the nation with 68 saves over the Oct. 18-20 weekend, and being one of only four goalies to record two wins that weekend as well. Despite conceding four goals over the weekend, only one was even strength, as the other three were all scored on Northeastern power plays. Hanson ended the weekend with a 1.99 goals-against average and a .944 save percentage.
Darion Hanson earned his second Goaltender of the Week award after posting 34 saves to help Union defeat No. 13 Quinnipiac, 5-1. A total of 16 of his 34 saves were made in the second period alone, as Quinnipiac out-shot the Dutchmen 35-23 in the contest. His efforts in net also helped the Union penalty kill go a perfect three-for-three on the night.
Hanson earned his third Goalie of the Week honor after leading Union to a 2018 Friendship Four championship. The sophomore only conceded one even-strength goal all weekend and made a career-high 39 saves against Boston University in the championship game. Hanson was also named the tournament's MVP for his efforts.
20 Goalies To Watch
Senior goaltender
Jake Kupsky has been named to the Mike Richter Award Watch List for the 2018-19 season. The award annually honors the most outstanding goaltender in NCAA Division I men's hockey. The winner of the sixth annual award will be announced at the 2019 NCAA Men's Frozen Four in Buffalo, N.Y.
Kupsky returns for his senior year after being named to the All-ECAC Hockey Third Team last season. During the 2017-18 campaign he posted the third-best winning percentage in the league (10-2-1) with a .917 save percentage and 2.43 goals-against average in conference action.
Returning Offense
The Dutchmen return 92 goals from last season, which ranks 10th most in the nation. Union scored a total of 115 goals last year, 20 of which were scored by
Ryan Scarfo, and 14 of the top 15 goal scorers from last season return this year.
Senior Leadership
Union's current senior class ranked 10th in the country last year for class scoring, having produced 48 goals and 87 assists. Six of the senior skaters recored at least eight points during the year, and
Cole Maier led the class last year with 11 goals and 23 assists.
Overall,
Brett Supinski leads the group in career points with 28 goals and 63 assists, while
Sebastian Vidmar leads the class in career goals with 34 goals, in addition to his 52 assists.
Look Who's Back: Forwards
Union returns 13 forwards from the 2017-18 season.
Cole Maier is the top returning offensive producer, having totaled 11 goals and 23 assists last season. Fellow senior
Sebastian Vidmar was third on the team in scoring, producing 10 goals and 20 assists.
Anthony Rinaldi was fourth-overall but second on the team in goals, totaling 17 goals and 11 assists last season.
Brett Supinski rounded out the top-five scorers for the Dutchmen last year, scoring nine goals and tallying 19 assists.
Also returning up top for the Dutchmen includes:
Ryan Walker (38gp, 11g, 6a);
Greg Campbell (35gp, 3g, 14a);
Liam Morgan (29gp, 6g, 10a);
Jack Adams (28gp, 4g, 9a);
Brendan Taylor (31gp, 4g, 4a);
Parker Foo (33gp, 1g, 5a);
Sean Harrison (30gp, 3g, 1a);
Zachary Emelifeonwu (31gp, 2g, 2a);
Josh Kosack (25gp, 1g, 3a); and
Mark Dufour (2gp, 0g, 0a).
Look Who's Back: Defense
The Dutchmen return six defensemen from the 2017-18 season.
Greg Campbell and
Vas Kolias both totaled three goals and 14 assists each last season, as they are Union's top returning offensive producers on the blue line. Also returning on the blue line for Union includes:
Joseph Campolieto (33gp, 3g, 4a);
Brandon Estes (33gp, 1g, 5a); and
Taylor Brierley (3gp, 0g, 0a).
Look Who's Back: Goaltenders
Union returns all three goaltenders from last season. Senior
Jake Kupsky led the trio last season with 25 games played, securing a 11-11-2 record (10-2-1 in ECAC Hockey), with a .917 save percentage and a 2.43 goals-against average.
Sophomore
Darion Hanson had a stellar freshman season, posting a 10-4-0 record with a .908 save percentage and a 2.32 goals-against average. Hanson began his career winning six of his first seven games.
Senior
Joe Young returns as Union's third goalie. Young has played a total of 61:35 during his career and holds a perfect 1.000 save percentage having stopped all 26 shots he's faced in his time at Union.
Welcome to Union College
The Dutchmen welcome six new student-athletes to their ranks this season, including three forwards, and three defensemen.
| # |
Name |
Pos. |
S/C |
Hometown / Previous Team |
| 9 |
Blake Hayward |
F |
L |
Vancouver, B.C. / Prince George Spruce Kings (BCHL) |
| 10 |
Ryan Sidorski |
D |
R |
Williamsville, N.Y. / Buffalo Jr. Sabres (OJHL) |
| 12 |
Fletcher Fineman |
D |
R |
Lake Worth, Fla. / Springfield Jr. Blues (NAHL) |
| 14 |
Lucas Breault |
F |
R |
Toronto, Ontario / Central Illinois Flying Aces (USHL) |
| 21 |
Michael Ryan |
D |
R |
Marion, Mass. / West Kelowna Warriors (BCHL) |
| 28 |
Sam Morton |
F |
R |
Benicia, Calif. / Wenatchee Wild (BCHL) |
Already Spoken For
The Union College hockey team features three student-athletes who have been drafted by NHL teams.
