SCHENECTADY, N.Y. – Tied at two going into the third period, the Union College men's hockey team dropped a 4-2 decision to rival Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in the ECAC Hockey opener Friday night at Messa Rink.
 
Sophomore Tyler Watkins and first-year Michael Hodge earned the goals for Union (1-5-1, 0-1-0 ECAC Hockey), who came back to tie the score in each of the first two periods but could not do it again in the third.
 
For only the second time in seven games, the opposing team got on the board first as the Engineers struck at 12:50 of the opening frame when Simon Kjellberg took the puck coast-to-coast for the score.
 
Union responded less than three minutes later, when junior Chaz Smedsrud fired a shot from the left circle that was blocked by a Rensselaer defender. Hodge scooped up the rebound and buried the puck in a wide-open net for this third career goal, with sophomore Nathan Kelly recording his first career point with the secondary assist.
 
With the goal, Hodge extends his personal point streak to five games, scoring three goals and three assists for six points over that span.
 
Rensselaer took a 2-1 lead at 18:04 of the first period on a power-play goal by Zach Dubinsky, as the Engineers went into the locker rooms with a 14-5 edge in shots.
 
Union converted on the man advantage in the second period, when Watkins scored his second career goal at 5:33 in the second period. First-year Cullen Ferguson fired a shot from the point and Watkins redirected it through a teammate's legs to tie the game at two. Both of Watkins' goals this season have come on the power play in the second frame.
 
Ryan Mahshie scored the game winning goal at 3:04 in the third period, when a shot from the point caromed off the boards to a waiting Mahshie at the back post. Union pulled junior Connor Murphy for the extra attacker with two minutes left and had several good chances, but instead it was Jakub Lacka flipping a puck over a Union player and down the ice into the empty net, sealing the victory 4-2 for the visiting Engineers.
 
Union went 1-7 on the powerplay while the Engineers went 1-4 on the man advantage. RPI finished with a 31-25 edge in shots, with Murphy ending the day with 27 saves and RPI's Linden Marshall stopping 23.
 
Union travels to Troy tomorrow for the conclusion of the weekend series with Rensselaer. Puck drop is scheduled for 7 p.m. at Houston Field House.