SCHENECTADY, N.Y. – The #20 Union College men's hockey team saw its five-game unbeaten streak snapped with a 6-4 loss to the University of Alaska Fairbanks on Saturday evening at Messa Rink.

First-year Ben Muthersbaugh scored two goals on the powerplay for the third multi-goal game of his career. Junior Brandon Buhr tallied a goal and an assist to extend his point streak to three games. Junior John Prokop also scored a goal and an assist while classmate Nate Hanley registered two assists to extend his point streak to six games.

The Nanooks jumped out to a three-goal lead in the first period and never looked back. Haden Kruse struck at 5:06 of the first period. Ninety seconds later, sophomore Jacob Jeannette was penalized for tripping, giving Alaska their first power-play opportunity of the night. Matt Koethe scored on the player advantage for the Nanooks and Kruse struck again a few minutes later to take a 3-0 advantage just over halfway through the frame and prompting a goalie change for the hosts. The Garnet Chargers managed to kill off a five-minute major later in the period, but still trailed going into the second period.

The teams combined for six goals in the middle frame. A tripping call on Matt Hubbarde gave Union a power-play opportunity at 7:40, and they only needed 32 seconds to capitalize. Hanley made a strong effort at the blue line to keep the puck in the offensive end and dished the puck over to Muthersbaugh in the right circle. The first-year fired a wrister past Nicholas Grabko to cut the lead. The Nanooks struck back a few minutes later sparking a four-goal flurry from both sides in a span of 2:59. Buhr sent a one-timer past Grabko to make it a two-goal game. Alaska responded only 41 seconds later with a goal from Brendan Ross at 14:43. Skating four-on-four, Adam Cardona was called for interference to give Union a four-on-three powerplay for just over a minute. Only eight seconds after the it turned into a five-on-four powerplay, Muthersbaugh struck again on the player advantage for his fourth power-play tally of the year.

Union started the third period with over a minute of power-play time. Prokop initially took a shot from the point that was blocked in front. A defender for the Nanooks tried to clear it out, but Prokop collected the puck at the point and sent a blast from the top of the slot past Grabko for the score. Union added 11 shots in the third period, but Grabko made 10 saves to hold on.

All three of Union's goaltenders saw ice time in the contest. Junior Kyle Chauvette made four saves in 10:54 minutes of game time. First-year Lucas Massie made his collegiate debut in relief and made six saves in 23:49. Senior Joe Sharib closed out the final 21:36 with three saves. Grabko made 24 saves for the Nanooks in the win.

Union returns to ECAC Hockey play on Friday with a game against St. Lawrence. Puck drop is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. at Messa Rink.