| Union vs Rensselaer |
| Saturday, January 28, 2023 • Albany, N.Y. • MVP Arena • 6:00 p.m. |
| Live Stats • Live Audio |
This Weekend
Union is back in action on Saturday for the 10th annual Capital District Mayor's Cup against Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. This is the third and final meeting between the two teams during the regular season.
Each team won their respective home game back in October, with RPI winning at Houston Fieldhouse 2-1, and Union winning 6-0 at Messa Rink. The shutout was Union's first blanking of the Engineers at home in the Dutchmen's Division I era. The previous Union shutout in Schenectady was on February 23, 1924, a 7-0 win.
Mayor's Cup 2022
The last time these two teams met in Albany, Union came away with a 2-0 victory.
Liam Robertson scored on the powerplay only 7:27 into the first period for the eventual game winner.
Brandon Estes '22 added an empty netter late in the third period to make it a 2-0 game. Current senior
Connor Murphy made 33 saves in the win to send the trophy back to Schenectady.
Scouting the Engineers
The Engineers are coming off a weekend that saw them post back-to-back overtime wins over Clarkson and St. Lawrence. RPI won 3-2 in overtime on Friday with Max Smolinski scoring the goal in extra time. Saturday saw the Saints tie the game at 8:57 of the third period with a power-play goal, before first-year Sutter Muzzatti called game at 1:53 of overtime to give RPI a 4-3 victory.
Nine different Engineers have reached double figures in scoring. Muzzatti leads the way with 17 points (6-11-17) through 25 games. Junior Jakob Lee is second on the team in scoring with 16 points (6-10-16) while senior Ryan Mahshie leads the team with 10 goals.
On defense, Smolinski has made an immediate impact in his first year with 13 points (3-10-13), including three this past weekend. The blue liner also has 23 blocked shots this season.
In goal, sophomore Jack Watson is the primary netminder. Watson has started 22 of the 25 games and posted a 9-11-1 record with one shutout. The sophomore has a 3.11 GAA and a .892 save percentage.
Straight Stats
Against the Engineers, the top line of juniors
Chaz Smedsrud,
Liam Robertson, and
Tyler Watkins have seen the most success with eight points (4-4-8) in their careers. Robertson is the most familiar with the Engineers with eight games played.
In goal, senior
Connor Murphy has made all five starts against RPI the last two seasons. In his career against the Engineers, he's posted a 2-3-0 record with two shutouts, a 1.41 GAA and a .951 save percentage.
Union's first-year class has also seen a lot of success against the Capital Region rival. As a class, the first-years have seven points (2-5-7) between them. The four upperclassmen additions this year, also have five points (2-3-5) between them.
As a team, 153 points (59-94-153) have been scored this season. The 12 skaters that started in the fall have accounted for 89 (30-59-89) of those points.
Double Up
The first line of juniors
Chaz Smedsrud,
Liam Robertson, and
Tyler Watkins had a big weekend in the split with St. Lawrence and Clarkson last weekend. As a line, they put together an eight point weekend (1-7-8), which pushed all three into double-digit scoring on the season. Robertson led the way with four points (1-3-4) in two games. Watkins and Smedsrud chipped in two points apiece.
Prokop For Two
First-year
John Prokop is having a tremendous rookie campaign. The blue line staple is second in team scoring and put together another solid weekend offensively, scoring a goal in each game, and adding a helper against St. Lawrence for his multi-point game this season.
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.
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 8-4 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 364 blocked shots through 25 games, including a season-high 27 blocks at Yale. As a team, they are averaging 14.56 blocks per game. First-year
Nick Young leads the way with 37 blocked shots with sophomore
Cullen Ferguson (31), and senior
Owen Farris (30) right behind. Seven student-athletes have 20 or more blocked shots 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).
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 59 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.
Spread the Wealth
Through 25 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 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).
