ITHACA, N.Y. – The Union College men's hockey team clinched a top-eight spot in the upcoming ECAC Hockey playoffs with a 3-2 win over #13/15 Cornell University for the team's first win in Ithaca since 2019 on Friday night at Lynah Rink.

Union's (15-15-3, 9-9-3) last win over the Big Red occurred on March 15, 2019 with a similar score of 3-2.

The last win over the Big Red occurred on March 15, 2019 with a similar score of 3-2.

Sophomore Colby MacArthur led the way with a goal and an assist while classmate John Prokop registered a pair of helpers. Seniors Liam Robertson and Chaz Smedsrud both scored on the powerplay.

Robertson's power-play goal was his seventh of the season and 20th of his career which ties him with Olivier Bouchard '07 for fifth in Union's Division I record book.

Prokop now sits at 34 points on the season, the most for a Union skater since Ryan Scarfo '18 scored 36 points (20-16-26) in the 2017-18 season.

Cornell struck first only 1:37 into the opening period. Union battled back with a pair of power-play goals. After Sullivan Mack went to the box for a holding penalty, Union capitalized about halfway through the powerplay. Smedsrud fired a shot from the goal line right in front of Ian Shane and over the shoulder for the score. The Garnet Chargers only needed seven seconds on their second power-play opportunity to find the back of the net. Prokop ripped a shot from just inside the blue line and Robertson redirected the puck in front for his seventh power-play goal of the year.

Each team found the back of the net in the middle frame. On the player advantage, Gabriel Seger went backdoor to knot the game at two at 15:23. With only 1:03 to play in the second period, Union took a 3-2 lead off the stick of MacArthur. Junior Cullen Ferguson took a shot from the point that bounced off a defender's stick. MacArthur grabbed the rebound at the bottom of the right circle and fired it past Shane.

A back-and-forth third period saw the Garnet Chargers put eight shots on goal and sophomore Kyle Chauvette stop all five shots to hang on for the victory.

Chauvette made 21 saves for his 15th win of the season. Shane stopped 18 shots in the loss.

Union closes out the regular season tomorrow at Colgate University. Puck drop is slated for 7:00 p.m. at Class of 1965 Arena.