SCHENECTADY, N.Y. - Five different players found the back of the net and junior Connor Murphy made 37 saves to lead the Union College men's hockey team to a critical 5-3 victory over Harvard University on Friday night at Messa Rink.

The win is big for Union (11-17-4, 8-11-2 ECAC Hockey) in the race for home ice in the first round of the playoffs, as the Dutchmen sit in a tie for seventh place with Brown University with one game left in the regular season. Union can assure itself of a home playoff series with a win tomorrow on Senior Day against Dartmouth College.

A total of 12 different players recorded points for Union. Sophomore Nic Petruolo scored the first goal of his collegiate career in the opening frame. Junior Gabriel Seger tallied his sixth goal of the season on the powerplay in the second stanza from classmate Dylan Anhorn and senior Brandon Estes. Junior Owen Farris netted his second of the season in the third period and first-year Collin Graf scored 1:36 later with the eventual game winner. Sophomore Chaz Smedsrud put the game out of reach with an empty net goal. Graf and Anhorn both registered multi point games.

Union struck first, scoring 8:35 into the opening period. Graf gained possession of the puck near the left wall, sending a pass to Petruolo in the slot who snuck it past Mitchell Gibson. The Crimson tied it up at 15:08 of the first period on a breakaway from Alex Gaffney.

Union had the lone goal in the second stanza as Seger redirected a pass from Anhorn past Gibson to take a 2-1 lead.

Harvard wasted no time entering the third period, scoring only 23 seconds into the frame to tie the game at two. Farris gave the Dutchmen a 3-2 lead at 5:42. Junior Matt Allen took a shot that bounced off of Gibson's pads and first-year Trevor Adams picked up the rebound, before Farris was able to get it past Gibson. The Dutchmen struck only 1:36 later off a give and go play from Anhorn to Graf to put Union up 4-2. The Crimson snuck one more past Murphy from Baker Shore to climb within one, but an empty-netter from Smedsrud sealed the victory, 5-2.  

Murphy made 37 saves in the victory to improve to 11-16-3. Gibson stopped 21 shots in the loss, falling to 13-8-1 on the season.

Union wraps up the regular season tomorrow against Dartmouth for senior night. The Dutchmen will recognize the seniors in a post-game ceremony. Puck drop is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. at Messa Rink.