CANTON, N.Y.  – A five-goal first period by the Union College men's hockey team and a 27 save effort for first-year Lucas Massie in his first collegiate start saw the Garnet Chargers cruise to an 8-5 win over St. Lawrence University Saturday night at Appleton Arena.

In a game dominated by special teams, Union went 3-for-4 on the powerplay and added a short-handed goal. The Saints were 2-for-6 on the player advantage and also scored a short-handed tally. Of the game's 13 combined goals, only four were scored at even strength.

The eight goals scored by Union is the most since an 8-3 win at Dartmouth College on February 11, 2017.

"We were a little disappointed in the stuff that happened last night," said head coach Josh Hauge. "We wanted to come with a little better effort tonight."

Eleven different skaters found the scoresheet in the win for Union. Junior Brandon Buhr recorded his first career hat trick and the second hat trick of the season for the Garnet Chargers. Classmate Nate Hanley added two goals and two assists for a career-high four-point night. Juniors Ethan Benz and Parker Lindauer each scored a goal in the victory. Senior Caden Villegas tallied his sixth goal of the season.

In total, 11 of Union's 16 points scored tonight came from members of the junior class.

"It's a good step for us," added Hauge. "I take these two weeks. We got three out of four. It wasn't perfect. We set us up really well going into league play. We have four more league games on the road and eight more at home."

The first period saw six of the game's thirteen goals scored with the Garnet Chargers holding a 5-1 advantage after 20 minutes. Union jumped out to a five-goal lead in the first period starting with a goal from Hanley at 2:07. A boarding penalty 29 seconds later put the Garnet Chargers on the power-play. Buhr gave Union a 2-0 lead 40 seconds in to the powerplay for his first of the game. Less than three minutes later, Buhr struck again on the powerplay. The Saints went back to the box at 6:53 for an interference call on Tyler Cristall and Villegas cashed in with this fifth goal of the season that prompted a goalie change for the Saints. Junior Nick Young went to the box at 11:31 of the opening stanza, but a timely turnover in the neutral zone saw Lindauer skate in all alone for the short-handed marker. St. Lawrence broke through only 24 seconds later with a power-play goal of their own to cap off the scoring in the first period.

The Saints dominated the opening five minutes of the middle frame and cashed on a goal by Greg Lapointe to make it a three-goal game. Union killed off two penalties in the second period to hang on to the 5-2 lead after 40 minutes of play.

After a comparatively quiet second period, the teams once again combined for six goals in the third stanza. A rush up the ice by senior Josh Nixon saw the winger chip the puck over to Benz in the slot for the eventual game-winning goal. Isaac Tremblay went off for tripping at 9:46 of the period and Mason Waite scored a short-handed goal of his own 11 seconds later. St. Lawrence pulled netminder Mason Kucenski at 14:43 in favor of the extra attacker and cut the lead to two goals with 3:23 remaining. Kucenski went to the bench again at 16:54 and Buhr scored the empty netter for the hat trick. A penalty first-year Lucas Buzziol with 50 seconds to play put the Saints back on the powerplay. Only 16 seconds later, it was back to a two-goal game. The Saints pulled Kucenski again, but Hanley put home his second goal of the game and Union's eighth of the night with five seconds remaining.
 
Massie stopped 27 shots including 12 in the second period for his first collegiate win. Dominic Basse made three saves in 8:10 of game time. Kucenski entered the game and made 19 saves in 48:08 of playing time and took the loss for the Saints.

After four straight games on the road, the Garnet Chargers return home next weekend to host Dartmouth College on Friday in another pivotal ECAC Hockey weekend. Puck drop is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. at Messa Rink.