DANBURY, Conn. – Two Union College men's hockey defensemen, junior
Tyler Dunbar and first-year
Etienne Lessard, earned ECAC Hockey weekly honors, as Dunbar was named the Defender of the Week and Lessard was tabbed the #Bitcoin Rookie of the Week, the league announced Monday.
Union has been represented by at least one player on the ECAC Hockey weekly honor roll through the first three weeks of its season, with a Garnet Charger already claiming each of the four awards available to conference players.
Dunbar and Lessard's honors come after Union's weekend sweep of Niagara University, earning 3-2 and 6-0 victories over the Purple Eagles.
Dunbar recorded three goals and one assist on the weekend, highlighted by a three-point performance in Saturday's shutout. He factored into three of the final four goals, scoring on the power play late in the second period, assisting on senior Carter Korpi's third-period tally, and adding his second goal of the night minutes later. The Sault Ste. Marie, Mich., native scored his first goal of the season on Friday, tallied the first multi-goal and multi-point game of his career, and added two blocked shots. During Union's current four-game winning streak, Dunbar has been on a streak of his own, recording at least one point per game.
Lessard assisted on three goals in the sweep. He set up senior Brandon Buhr for the game-winning goal late in Friday's third period, then dished out two assists on Saturday, finding senior
Parker Lindauer and Dunbar for goals in the first and third periods.
Union's top defensemen pairing anchored the Garnet Charger blue line and helped limit Niagara to two goals on the weekend. Niagara entered the series averaging four goals per game. Dunbar and Lessard also supported sophomore Cameron Korpi in posting the first shutout of his career and Union's first in 31 games.
Union returns to action on Friday, Oct. 31, hosting Rensselaer at 7 p.m. as the Garnet Chargers look to extend their five-game unbeaten streak and open ECAC Hockey play with a victory for the second straight season.