PROVIDENCE, RI – The Union College men's hockey team opened the 2025 portion of the schedule with a 3-1 win over Brown University to snap a four-game losing streak on Friday night at Meehan Auditorium.
"I thought it was a huge step for our group," said head coach Josh Hauge. "We needed that. We needed a good, hard-earned victory. I'm proud of our effort."
Union picked up their first win in Providence since January 20, 2018, a 2-0 win over the Bears.
Three different goal scorers found the back of the net for the Garnet Chargers in the win, highlighted by the first collegiate goal for first-year Lucas Buzziol. Junior John Prokop scored the eventual game-winning goal on the powerplay and classmate Brandon Buhr chipped in an insurance marker.
The visitors opened the scoring only 3:35 into the contest off a goal from Alex Pineau. A shot from the point by Ethan Mistry saw Pineau redirect in front past junior Kyle Chauvette to put Brown up 1-0. Only 22 seconds later, Buzziol scored the equalizer for his first collegiate goal. Racing up ice on a two-on-one situation, first-year Riley Brueck made a centering pass through the slot to Buzziol who cashed in.
"That was a huge response from a first-year player, two first-year players," added Hauge. "To get his first goal that way was huge."
The second period saw Union register 11 shots on goal. After a few minutes of sustained pressure in the offensive end, Pineau was called for holding to put Union on the powerplay near the halfway mark of the middle frame. The Garnet Chargers only needed 22 seconds on the man advantage before Prokop struck for his seventh goal of the season. Senior Caden Villegas made a short pass to Prokop all alone at the point and the blueliner scored.
"You give (Prokop) opportunity and he's going to make you pay," added Hauge.
Union started the third period with 1:39 remaining on a penalty kill and were able to shut down Brown's offense. The Bears attempted to put more pressure on Union part way through the third period before a media time out turned the tide back into Union's favor. With 2:01 remaining, Brown called a timeout and pulled netminder Lawton Zacher in favor of the extra attacker. In a strong individual effort by junior Nate Hanley to keep the puck in the offensive end, Buhr was able to corral the puck and fire home the insurance marker.
Junior Kyle Chauvette made 22 saves including 10 in the third period for the win. Zacher stopped double-digit shots in the final two periods for a total of 29 saves in the loss.
Union continues the road trip tomorrow with another ECAC Hockey contest against Yale University. Puck drop is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. at Ingalls Rink.
