This Weekend
Union is back in action this weekend with a pair of home games against St. Lawrence and Clarkson. The Dutchmen are teaming up with the Kenney Community Center to benefit Schenectady Shares, a city-wide initiative to collect 15,000 pounds of nonperishable food and personal hygiene products to help benefit over 20 food pantries in Schenectady County.
Union's Last Time Out
Last weekend, Union dropped a 6-2 decision to Brown before coming away with a 0-0 tie at Yale.
Sophomore
Caden Villegas netted his fourth goal of the season in the second period and junior
Tyler Watkins scored his team-leading seventh goal, short-handed in the third period. The short-handed goal was the first since February 26, 2022. First-year defenders
Cal Mell and
John Prokop and junior
Nathan Kelly all registered assists.
The Dutchmen flipped the script on Saturday, battling to a 0-0 draw at Yale, and coming away with the shootout winner in the fourth round. First-year netminder
Kyle Chauvette was excellent in his first conference start, making 30 saves on the night and making all four stops in the shootout. Union made a season-high 27 blocked shots with Kelly leading the way with six.
Scouting the Saints
St. Lawrence is coming of a weekend that saw them split with Harvard (L, 0-5) and Dartmouth (W, 3-2 OT). Mason Waite scored the game winner against Dartmouth in overtime.
Junior defenseman Luc Salem paces with Saints with 14 points (7-7-14) in 22 games. Salem has three game-winning goals and a short-handed goal. First-year Tyler Cristall is second on the team in scoring with 10 points (2-8-10) in 22 games.
In goal, veteran netminder Emil Zetterquist has started all 22 games for the Saints. Zetterquist is 11-11-0 with one shutout with a .903 save percentage and a 2.66 GAA.
Scouting the Clarkson
Similar to the Saints, Clarkson is also coming off a weekend split with Dartmouth (W, 5-4) and Harvard (L, 1-4). Erik Bargholtz scored his second short-handed goal of the season against Dartmouth.
Eight skaters for the Golden Knights have reached double-digits in scoring. Sophomore Ayrton Martino leads the way with 25 points (5-20-25) in 22 games. Graduate student Anthony Callin leads the powerplay unit with four goals on the player advantage and is in a three-way tie for first on the team with eight goals.
Junior Ethan Haider has started in 21 of Clarkson's 22 games. Haider has a 10-9-2 record with two shutouts and a 2.53 GAA and .907 save percentage.
Chauvette with the Shutout
First-year
Kyle Chauvette was stellar in his first ECAC Hockey start on Saturday at Yale, recording his first collegiate shutout. Chauvette made 30 saves and came up clutch in the shootout, stopping all four shots to anchor Union in the shootout win over the Bulldogs.
Pipes Earns National Engineering Scholarship
Senior
Merek Pipes was named a recipient of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Aerospace and Electronic Systems (IEEE AESS) Engineering Scholarship for his research on controlled chaotic signals for dual functional bistatic radar-communication systems.
Sanda's Return
Senior
Christian Sanda made his return to the lineup on Dec. 30 against UNH after an injury last February cut his junior year short. The senior winger recorded a shot and blocked a shot in his return.
Chauvette's First Win
First-year
Kyle Chauvette made his first collegiate start on home ice on Dec. 31 and earned his first win.Chauvette turned aside 34 shots, which is tied for the second highest save total by a Union netminder this season.
No Place Like Home
After playing a majority of the season on the road to start the season, Union flips the page to 2023 and the bulk of conference play. So far this season, Union is 7-3 on home ice. The Dutchmen won all three games in October and all three in December. Union's lone loss at home in the first half was against Harvard on Nov. 12.
Block Party
The Dutchmen have racked up 338 blocked shots through 21 games, including a season-high 27 blocks last Saturday at Yale. As a team, they are averaging just over 14.70 blocks per game. First-year
Nick Young leads the way with 31 blocked shots with sophomore
Cullen Ferguson (30), and senior
Owen Farris (29) right behind. Seven student-athletes have 20 or more blocked shots so far this season.
Oh Captains, My Captains
On Nov. 3, head coach
Josh Hauge named seniors
Owen Farris and
Connor Murphy and junior
Ben Tupker as the captains for the 2022-23 season.
He'd Be Honored
First-year
Nate Hanley was named the ECAC Hockey Rookie of the Month for October. The last time a Dutchman earned Rookie of the Month honors was on January 5, 2016 when Sebastian Vidmar was recognized. Hanley leads all Union skaters in points (4-13-17).
Shut 'Em Out
Senior
Connor Murphy posted his first shutout of the season and fourth since transferring to Union in the Oct. 29 6-0 win over the Engineers. In Union's Division I era, they had not blanked RPI at home. The lone shutout was back on February 23, 1924, a 7-0 win.
Murph Keeps Climbing
Senior
Connor Murphy continues his climb up the Union record books. Earlier this season, he passed Keith Kinkaid '11 to move into sole possession of tenth place on Union's DI career saves list. He is currently 80 saves away from tying Troy Grosenick '13 for ninth place. His fourth shutout at Union ties him with Keith Kinkaid '11 for sixth place in career shutouts. Murphy needs one more shutout to move into a tie for fifth place with Justin Mrazek '08.
Scheerer Scores
Junior
Bram Scheerer scored his first collegiate goal against UMass. After losing his freshman season to the pandemic, he saw his sophomore season cut short only eight games in with a season-ending injury against Clarkson. To date, Scheerer has appeared in 20 career games and has six points (1-5-6).
Reigning Rookies
Union's first-year defenders are off to a hot start.
Nick Young was named the ECAC Hockey Rookie of the Week on Oct. 10 after scoring his first collegiate goal and blocking five shots against nationally-ranked UConn.
John Prokop earned the honor the following week after tallying an assist on five of Union's 10 goals between Oct. 13 and 15.
Cal Mell picked up his first weekly honor on Oct. 31.
Nate Hanley was named the Rookie of the Month after scoring a conference-leading nine points in 10 games.
Spread the Wealth
Through 23 games, Union has seen 23 of 27 skaters score at least one point. Seven of the eight first-year skaters all have at least one point.
New Kids on the Block
First-years
Nate Hanley,
Carter Korpi,
John Prokop, and
Cal Mell, as well as sophomore
Josh Nixon and senior
Chris Theodore all tallied their first points for Union in the opening weekend. In total, newcomers accounted for 12 of the 15 points scored (4-8-12).
New Bench Boss
Josh Hauge was named the 22nd head coach in Union hockey's history on April 15, 2022. Hauge was previously the Associate Head Coach at ECAC Hockey rival Clarkson University. Hauge earned his first coaching victory in Union's home opener, a 4-3 win over RIT on Oct. 1, 2022.
Fresh Faces
Union welcomes 13 new students to the team in 2022-23 comprising of four transfers and nine first-years representing eight states and three Canadian provinces.
Transfer Commits
The coaching staff was active in the transfer portal this offseason, committing four student-athletes:
Chris Theodore (AIC),
Mason Snell (Penn State),
Josh Nixon (Lake Superior State) and
Ben Tupker (Cornell).
Rounding Out the Staff
Joining
Josh Hauge and Assistant Coach
John Ronan behind the bench is
Lennie Childs, who previously served as an assistant coach with the Des Moines Buccaneers of the USHL.
Set Records
Senior
Connor Murphy made an immediate impact for Union in his first season. He set the program's new single-season save records with 1,060.
Looking to Surprise
Union was picked to finished eighth in the ECAC Hockey preseason coaches poll, earning 45 points. Local media were more optimistic, picking the Dutchmen to finish sixth in the preseason media poll.
NHL Bloodlines
Sophomore
Thomas Richter and junior
Mason Snell are sons of retired NHLers Mike Richter (New York Rangers 1989-2002) and Chris Snell (Toronto, Los Angeles 1993-95), respectively.
