BELFAST, Northern Ireland – The Union College men's hockey team set a record for the most goals scored in a Friendship Four game, beating Sacred Heart 8-1 on Friday afternoon at SSE Arena and advancing to the championship game.

The #20 Garnet Chargers (9-3-2) will play the winner of Friday's second game in Belfast between RIT and Miami (Ohio). Union won the tournament in 2018 and has the opportunity on Saturday to become the first two-time champion in the 10-year history of the Friendship Four.

Union is playing in the championship game thanks to seven different goal scorers and 15 saves from Cameron Korpi. Sophomore Ben Muthersbaugh led 13 different point scorers with a game-high two goals and three points overall. It's his fifth multi-goal game of his career and the second of his sophomore campaign. 

Despite the lopsided finish to the matchup, Sacred Heart (6-6-1) had Union on its heels early as the two sides got their legs under them on the Olympic-sized sheet. The Pioneers attempted six shots with half of them on goal within the first four minutes of action before scoring the game's first goal at the 7:13 mark of the opening period.

Union began its eight-goal onslaught 6:20 later, beginning with sophomore Riley Brueck's fourth of the season, assisted by sophomore Connor Smith and junior Carter Rose. 

Muthersbaugh gave Union the lead at the 14:17 mark. Senior Nate Hanley and first-year Alex Laurenza worked together to get Muthersbaugh the puck from behind the goal, beating Sacred Heart's goaltender Ajeet Gundarah on a one-timer.

Union scored once more before the first intermission when senior Brandon Buhr got his stick on a puck in front of the net and snuck it past Gundarah. Buhr now has 12 goals on the season, tying him with Sacred Heart's leading goal scorer Felix Trudeau for the third-most goals in NCAA Division I men's hockey this season. 

Gundarah was lifted at the end of the second period after allowing goals to Smith, junior Tyler Dunbar, and sophomore Lucas Buzziol. Union's final goal of the period was on the power play, extending its streak to six straight games with a goal while a man up. Union has nine power-play goals over that stretch, which ties its longest streak of power-play goals since scoring eight in six games from Jan. 15, 2022 - Feb. 1, 2022.

Sophomore Drew Sutton and Muthersbaugh salted away the game in the third period, scoring twice to take down Sacred Heart and extend their team's unbeaten streak against AHA opponents to 11 games. Union is 10-0-1 against AHA squads in that time and 70-43-13 all time.

Sutton's score at the 6:25 mark of the third tied Northeastern for the most team goals scored in a single game since the Friendship Four began in 2015. Northeastern beat Colgate 7-1 the first year of the tournament. Muthersbaugh's goal set the tournament record with eight, and Union's seven-goal advantage in the game marks its largest margin of victory since defeating Cornell 7-0 in 2015. 

First-year Brendan Holahan relieved Korpi in net with 5:08 remaining. While it was not Holahan's collegiate debut, he did make his first collegiate save and finished the game with three stops overall.

Union takes on the winner of RIT and Miami (Ohio) on Saturday, Nov. 29 at 7 p.m. GMT (2 p.m. ET).