Skip To Main Content
Skip To Main Content
a men's hockey player, photographed from the waist up, wearing a garnet-colored jersey
Mary Gettens
5
Winner Union (NY) UC 1-0-1
2
Mercyhurst MU 0-3-0
Winner
Union (NY) UC
1-0-1
5
Final
2
Mercyhurst MU
0-3-0
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 F
Union (NY) UC 2 1 2 5
Mercyhurst MU 0 1 1 2

Game Recap: Men's Ice Hockey | | Tim LaDuca, Assistant Athletic Communications Director

Buzziol Scores Twice in Men's Hockey's Road Win

Erie, Pa. – Sophomore Lucas Buzziol scored twice as the Union College men's hockey team defeated Mercyhurst 5-2 at the Mercyhurst Ice Arena on Saturday night. 

Buzziol scored Union's third and fifth goals of the game as the Mississauga, Ontario native recorded the first multi-goal game of his collegiate career. 

Coming off a 1-1 tie in their season opener against Army West Point on Oct. 4, Union came out of the gates firing, getting three shots off within the first 60 seconds. Senior Nick Young, first-year Etienne Lessard, and junior Tyler Dunbar all connected for chances from their defensive positions at the blue line, but all three shots were either blocked or saved. 

Union earned its first power play of the night 5:59 into the game, and sophomore Ben Muthersbaugh got two shots off during those two minutes, but the Garnet Chargers came up empty for the seventh time this season. Union ended the night scoreless in four extra-man opportunities. 

Union's heavy pressure paid off at the 11:16 mark when sophomore Riley Brueck dumped the puck in from center ice. The puck slid along the boards to the right of Mercyhurst's goaltender, took an odd bounce, and found its way past Charles-Edward Gravel's skate and across the goal line. 

Union doubled its lead 1:49 later beginning with good forechecking pressure from junior Jacob Jeannette. The junior was hot on Gravel's tail as the Laker goaltender tried to clear the puck from behind the net. Junior Carter Rose pounced on the ill-placed clearance, slid it to sophomore Drew Sutton, and then Sutton left it for senior Brendan Miles. The defenseman netted his first-collegiate goal and first point since his sophomore season.

In the second period, Buzziol scored his first of two goals at the 6:05 mark. Sophomore Connor Smith intercepted a pass at the point in front of the blue line and turned it around to Brueck, streaking towards net. Brueck's look at a second goal was denied, but Buzziol followed up the play and buried it for his first goal of the season and Union's third of the night. With the assist, Brueck earned his second-career multipoint game. He last filled the stat sheet in such a manner on Feb. 15, 2025 against Princeton.

Mercyhurst did get on the board late in the second, snapping an 88:09 shutout streak for sophomore Cameron Korpi. The transfer from Michigan made 20 saves in total on the night. 

Midway through the third period, Mercyhurst cut the Union lead to just one, but the slim margin did not last long. At the 12:37 mark of the third, Muthersbaugh and Lessard denied several breakout attempts from the Lakers, and after the third failed clear in a row from Mercyhurst, Lessard made a cross-ice pass to senior Nate Hanley in the left corner. Hanley passed it along the goal line and connected with senior Brandon Buhr, who finished it from one knee. Buhr netted the first goal for the first line of the season and the 31st of his career. 

Union's final score once again came thanks to stellar play along Union's blue line. Sophomore Will Felicio stopped the puck along the boards at the blue line and instantly turned it into a two-on-one with Buzziol. Moments before knocking the net off its posts, Buzziol knocked the puck across the goal line to seal Union's 5-2 victory and first win of the year. 

The win also marked head coach Josh Hauge's 50th victory at the helm of the Union program. He joined the Garnet Chargers four seasons ago and is the sixth head coach in Union's history to reach 50 wins.

Union also won its first road game for the third consecutive season and has a chance to sweep the season series with Mercyhurst for the second year in a row. Union faces off with Mercyhurst again on Saturday, Oct. 11 at 5 p.m.
Print Friendly Version