PALM DESERT, Calif. – Former Union College men's hockey captain Mike Vecchione '17 scored the game-winning goal at 16:19 of overtime in Game 7 of the Calder Cup Finals to lift the Hershey Bears to their first Calder Cup championship since 2010.

Hershey Bears Recap

"This is literally a dream come true," said Vecchione. "As a kid, you imagine you're in these big game scenarios playing mini hockey or street hockey whatever and to actually be able to experience it in real life is hard to put into words. We knew we had a special group of guys at the start of the season and it took every single one of them to get this done. I've been blessed to have some huge moments wearing the Dutchmen jersey and this one will be right up there with the rest of them! Literally no better feeling in the world!"

Vecchione becomes the second Union alumnus to win the Calder Cup and the first in Union's Division I era. He joins Union Athletics Hall of Fame inductee Steve Baker '85, who tended the goal for Union from 1975-78 and later won a Calder Cup with the Maine Mariners in 1984.
  "Congratulations to Mike and the Hershey Bears on winning the Calder Cup," said head coach Josh Hauge. "I could not be more excited for him. He's an excellent representative of our program. Seeing him grow from when I first met him in juniors to win not only a national title, but now a Calder Cup, is really special."

The Saugus, Mass. native skated in all 20 playoff games for Hershey, netting five goals and three assists for eight points. He finished second on the team with 55 points during the regular season, scoring 23 goals with 32 assists to rank second on the squad in both categories. All three totals were new career highs for the six-year AHL veteran, who helped Union win a Division I national championship as a first-year in 2014 and went on to become the program's all-time leader in points with 176, scoring 71 goals and adding a program D-I record 105 assists in 149 games. He was named a Hobey Baker Hat Trick Finalist and an AHCA first-team All-American as a senior in 2016-17, when he recorded a school-record 63 points on 29 goals and 34 assists.
  Vecchione is one of three former Union players to appear in the Calder Cup Finals, joining Baker (New Haven Nighthawks, 1979, and Maine Mariners. 1984) and Daniel Carr '14 (Chicago Wolves, 2019).

The Bears, the AHL affiliate of the Washington Capitals, dropped the first two games of the series to Coachella Valley before Hershey rattled off three home wins to take a 3-2 series lead. Vecchione was a pivotal part of game four to even the series, netting two goals and assisting on the game-winner.  

The Firebirds, a first-year affiliate of the Seattle Kraken, forced the series to go to seven games after taking a 5-2 victory in Game 6 in California. Coachella Valley built a two-goal lead in the final game, but Hershey came back to tie it to force the extra frame.

This marks the 12th Calder Cup championship for the Hershey Bears, the most in the American Hockey League.