SCHENECTADY, N.Y. – The Union College men's hockey team completed the weekend sweep of Mercyhurst University on Saturday evening with a 3-2 win at Messa Rink.

After Mercyhurst (1-5-0, 1-1-0 AHA) tied the game at 9:07 of the third period, the Garnet Chargers (4-1-0) only needed 41 seconds to score the go-ahead goal for the eventual game winner. First-year Drew Sutton won the faceoff in the defensive end of the ice back to senior Cullen Ferguson. The captain dumped the puck ahead to the neutral zone to senior Josh Nixon. Nixon made a quick pass to junior Colby MacArthur and the tandem forced a two-on-one situation, and another lateral pass from MacArthur saw Nixon bury the puck for the score.   

First-years Drew Sutton (1-1-2) and Ben Muthersbaugh (0-2-2) each recorded two points for Union in the win. Junior Brandon Buhr recorded his first goal of the season, a power-play goal, in the third period.

The Union powerplay went 2-for-4 on the night and the penalty kill unit went 4-for-5. For the fifth straight game, Union recorded over 30 shots on goal, as they outshot Mercyhurst 37-23. Union went 65.2 percent on the faceoff with Sutton leading all skaters with 19 wins.

Reminiscent of last night's game, the Lakers struck first with a power-play goal. After Ferguson was called for interference, Riley Fitzgerald struck on the player advantage to put the visitors up 1-0. The hosts tied it up on the powerplay with under a minute to go in the first period. Muthersbaugh sent a pass from the top of the left circle to junior Nate Hanley on the right faceoff dot. Hanley made a move towards the net to draw Carter McPhail out of position before sending a quick pass to Sutton in the slot. The first-year buried the puck into the open net for his first collegiate tally.

Union outshot Mercyhurst 18-5 in the middle frame. With only 90 seconds remaining in the period, Jake Beaune was assessed a five-minute major for a hit from behind to put Union on the powerplay. Union had several scoring chances, but two blocked shots and a shot off the crossbar kept the game tied at one.

The Garnet Chargers took a 2-1 lead off a power-play goal at 3:07 in the third period. Junior John Prokop made a pass from the blue line to Muthersbaugh in the left circle. In a tic-tac-toe play, Muthersbaugh sent the puck to Sutton on the goal line, who passed it back up to Buhr in the slot for the score. The Lakers did not go away as they tied the game up with 11:53 to play on a goal from Tyler DesRochers. Nixon scored the eventual game winner 41 seconds later to put Union up 3-2.

Junior Kyle Chauvette made 21 saves to earn his fourth win of the season. McPhail stopped 34 shots, including 18 in the second period, in the loss.

Union opens ECAC Hockey play on Friday with a trip down route 7 to visit Rensselaer. Puck drop is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. at Houston Field House.