BOUNCING BACK: The Union College men's hockey team hosts Clarkson and St. Lawrence for its second weekend of ECAC Hockey action. The Garnet Chargers suffered their first defeat of the season on Friday, Oct. 31 at the hands of Rensselaer but bounced back with a 3-0 win over the Engineers the next day. Union shut out an opponent on the road for the first time since a 6-0 win over Army West Point on Oct. 8, 2023. Union is now 9-5 in games after a loss since the beginning of the 2024-25 season.
THE MORE THE MERRIER: Union is averaging 1,854 fans at its home games through four games this season at the new home of the Ganret Chargers, M&T Bank Center. The early attendance numbers show nearly 100 more fans per game have been in the building on average to cheer on the Garnet Chargers compared to the same number of games a season ago.
GOLDEN KNIGHTS - THE GIANT SLAYERS: The Clarkson Golden Knights pull up to Schenectady with a losing record for the first time since the 2014-15 season, but with two, big ranked victories on their ledger against national-championship contenders. Clarkson went into Happy Valley and upended No. 4 Penn State and also beat No. 8 North Dakota State in Potsdam. Clarkson played for an ECAC Hockey championship last season, appearing in the title game for the first time since 2019.
SCOUTING THE SAINTS: The St. Lawrence University Saints enter the weekend on a four-game winless streak that carries an asterisk. St. Lawrence defeated University of Toronto 3-2 in an exhibition game on Oct. 25 and emerged victorious in a shootout against Lake Superior after a 3-3 tie, but their last official win was Oct. 12 against Vermont. The Saints will look to get their special teams back on track against RPI and Union. Their 65.4% penalty kill and 9.7% power play are both in the bottom-10 of NCAA Division I men's hockey.
INSIDE THE SERIES: Neither Union or Clarkson have won back-to-back games in Schenectady since 2018. And even then, there was a three-year gap between Union's consecutive home wins. The Golden Knights do own the advantage in the recent series overall, winning seven of the last nine meetings. Against the Saints, Union is unbeaten in five straight games against St. Lawrence. In the last meeting between the two sides, Union won 8-5 in a game that featured a hat trick from
Brandon Buhr, five total power-play goals, two short-handed goals, and two empty netters. The Garnet Chargers have not swept a weekend of the Clarkson - St. Lawrence series since Nov. 2-3, 2018.
HIGH STAKES FOR THE SKATES
Union split the weekend series with RPI when it opened up conference action last week. Since the Skates already resided in the Electric City, the tie meant Union kept the hardware. RPI needed to win the series to bring the trophy back to Troy, where it had been kept from the 2018-19 season until the 2023-24 season.
2x0=0
Cameron Korpi posted his second shutout of the season on Saturday, Nov. 1, making 12 saves en route to a 3-0 victory over RPI. It's the first time a Union goaltender has had multiple shutouts since the 2023-24 season.
THE BRANDON BUHR BOOST
Brandon Buhr is in a three-way tie with
Tyler Dunbar and
Parker Lindauer for the team lead with seven points. The Garnet Chargers are 5-0-0 when Buhr records at least one point and 0-1-1 when he is held pointless.
THERE'S A FIRST FOR EVERYTHING
Etienne Lessard became the first Union rookie to score this season when he netted a power-play goal against RPI on Friday, Oct. 31. The next night,
Alex Laurenza also scored his first collegiate goal, also on the power play.
Brandon Buhr and
Drew Sutton are the only other current Garnet Chargers to record career goal No. 1 on the man advantage.
DJ Hart scored his first collegiate goal short-handed.
SOPHOMORE STUDS
Sophomore
Lucas Buzziol's line with classmates
Riley Brueck and
Connor Smith on the wings has recorded at least one point in six of Union's seven games. The trio has combined for eight goals and five assists this season and were elevated to Union's top line on Saturday Nov. 1 after serving the first six games as the third.
ROOKIE WATCH
Etienne Lessard saw his three-game point streak end on Saturday, Nov. 1 against RPI, but he is fourth in ECAC Hockey among rookies with six points. He has the most points by a rookie defender in the league and was named the conference's rookie of the week on Oct. 20.
A POWER-PLAY GOAL A GAME
After failing to score on its first 11 power plays, Union has recorded at least one goal on the man advantage in five straight games. Union's power-play unit is 7-20 (35%) since
Brandon Buhr scored the team's first power-play goal of the season in a 5-3 win over Mercyhurst. Union's five-game power-play streak matches its longest since the 2023-24 season, and the Garnet Chargers have not had six games with a power-play goal since January of the 2021-22 campaign.
STILL KILLING IT ON THE KILL
Union's penalty kill has not given up a goal in 20 opportunities and six straight games. It's Union's longest string of games without allowing a power-play goal since going seven straight games from Nov. 6, 2021 - Dec. 11, 2021, and even that streak only included 19 consecutive opponent power plays killed.
IT TAKES A VILLAGE
Alex Laurenza became the fifth different Garnet Charger and first Union rookie to record a game-winning goal when he scored the first goal of the game against RPI on Saturday, Nov. 1.
STOPPING SHOTS
DJ Hart led the team with three blocked shots in Friday's loss to RPI, becoming the sixth different player in a row to lead the team in blocks in a game. The team leader in blocked shots this season,
Tyler Dunbar, had two against RPI on Saturday to become first Garnet Charger this season to lead the team in blocked shots twice.
LOW SHOTS TOTAL
After allowing a season-high 31 shots on Friday, Oct. 31, the Garnet Chargers held RPI to 12 shots the following afternoon. That's tied for Union's least shots allowed since Nov. 24, 2024 at Stonehill, and the last time Union allowed less than 12 shots was Nov. 9, 2013 when the team allowed 11 at Cornell. During the shutout on Saturday, Union held RPI without a shot on goal for 12:32 of game play, spanning from the second to third period.
OUTSHOOTING OPPONENTS STREAK
Union is outshooting its opponents 316-147 (+169) this season and have outshot the opposition in seven straight games. The last time Union strung together seven games in a row with more shots than its opponent was Feb. 16 - March 9, 2019. During that stretch, Union tallied 59 more shots than the opposition.
DOING THE DIRTY WORK
Jacob Jeannette is third on the team with six blocks and is the only player on the team with a block every game he's played (min. three games).
CLARKSON CONNECTION
Brandon Buhr and
Carter Rose made previous stops playing for the Golden Knights, and head coach
Josh Hauge came to Union after seven seasons as an assistant at Clarkson wher he helped recruit players like Buhr and Rose to Potsdam. While Rose will be squaring off against his old team for the first time, this will mark Buhr's fourth game against the Golden Knights. He has one goal and one assist in those matchups. Buhr never faced Union while at Clarkson, and Rose appeared in one game against his current squad.
M&T BANK CENTER
This season, the men's and women's Union hockey teams will call the state-of-the-art M&T Bank Center its home, becoming the primary tenant of the 100,000-square-foot multi-purpose venue. The arena holds a capacity of 2,200 for hockey games and expands to 3,600 for other sporting events, trade shows, special events, and conventions. Highlights include seven luxury suites, a spacious hospitality suite, two full-service concession stands, and an elegant bar overlooking the Mohawk River. M&T Bank Center is the 16th hockey venue in the NCAA to open in the last 10 years.
DON'T COUNT THESE GUYS OUT
Union stormed back from a 3-0 deficit and scored five unanswered goals in a 5-3 win over Mercyhurst on Oct. 11. It marked the Garnet Chargers' first victory after trailing by three goals since Dec. 1, 2013, when they erased a 4-1 deficit to beat Penn State. Daniel Ciampini scored the game-winner in that comeback with three seconds left in regulation, breaking the hearts of 5,177 Penn State fans in University Park, Pa.
BUHR WATCHING
College Hockey News released its "Players to Watch" in ECAC Hockey and recognized
Brandon Buhr with some high praise. "Buhr is shifty and has a good shot, which makes him successful. He is also good at getting to the important areas of the ice, which is the way his coach,
Josh Hauge, would like his team to play. Union as a whole is returning a deep group, and [Buhr] could be in the mix for Player of the Year."
NEED A RECHARGE?
The Garnet Chargers lost 12 players from its 2024-25 roster to graduation, the transfer portal, and the pros. Those departures accounted for 101 points last season, but Union still kept its top goal scorer in
Brandon Buhr (19) and point scorer in
Colby MacArthur (29). Not to mention, four of Union's 20-point scorers from last season are still on the squad, and Union's 78 "returning" goals are the seventh-most in Division I.
FRESH FACES
Hauge and his staff brought in two of each positional group to round out their recruiting class.
Alex Laurenza (F),
Troy Pelton (F),
Etienne Lessard (D),
Ollie Chessler (D)
Brayden Gillespie (G), and
Brendan Holahan (G) will all get their first taste of college hockey this season.
Will Felicio (D, Michigan),
Carter Rose (D, Clarkson),
Tyler Dunbar (D, Colorado College),
Cameron Korpi (G, Michigan), and
Luke Buss (F, Wisconsin) end up in Schenectady as transfers after earlier stops around the Division I hockey landscape.
WHAT'S UP BROTHER
They say your teammates are like your brothers. For Carter and
Cameron Korpi, one of their teammates actually is their brother. Carter is three years older than Cameron, and this will be the first time they've played hockey on the same team together (other than knee hockey games in the basement of their childhood home).
PROFESSIONAL PROKOP
It's no secret
John Prokop was a massive part of the Union defense last year. In three seasons, Prokop notched 65 assists and registered 85 points. Now, the AHCA East Second Team All-American is skating professionally for the Toronto Marlies in the Toronto Maple Leafs organization. He's looking to join the likes of Nick DeSimone and Shayne Gostisbehere as former Union hockey players in the NHL.
YOU LOVE TO "C" IT
Nick Young earned captain honors in his senior season. He's been along for the ride for all of head coach
Josh Hauge's tenure so far. The alternate captains on the team are
Parker Lindauer and
Brandon Buhr.
HIGH HOPES IN SCHENECTADY
Head coach
Josh Hauge told the media on Tuesday, Sept. 30 that if his team equals its No. 5 preseason ranking, then the season will be a disappointment. Union did finish fourth in the standings last year before an early exit at home to Dartmouth in the ECAC playoffs. That fourth-place finish was Union's best since placing second in 2017-18. The Garnet Chargers' most recent regular-season title came in 2013-14, the same season Union won its first national championship.
ACROSS THE POND
Union will be joined by RIT, Miami (Ohio), and Sacred Heart in Northern Ireland at the end of November for the Friendship Four.
SENIORITY PRIORITY
Union hits the ice with eight seniors, tied with Niagara and St. Thomas for the seventh-largest senior class across Division I. The Garnet Chargers' average age as a team is 22.5, making them tied for the seventh-oldest team in the country.
GO BIG BLUE?
Three Garnet Chargers previously played college hockey at the University of Michigan.
Cameron Korpi and
Will Felicio both played for Michigan last season, and
Brendan Miles transferred to Union after the 2023-24 campaign.
Tyler Dunbar, Miles, and Cameron and
Carter Korpi all hail from Michigan as well. Across Division I men's hockey, there are 91 players from The Wolverine State.
