Union College vs. Rensselear Polytecnic Institute

Saturday, Jan. 24, 2026 • Albany, N.Y. • MVP Arena • 6:00 PM

Live Stats • Audio Stream

Preview

Union Game Notes

FOR THE 518: The Union College men's hockey team squares off with Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in the 13th edition of the Mayors' Cup on Saturday, Jan. 24 at 6 p.m. The annual game played between the regional rivals will take place at MVP Arena in Albany, N.Y. Union is 9-3 all-time in Mayor's Cup games and has won four in a row. 

RIVALRY RENEWED: Union is 8-3 against the Engineers since the start of the 2022-23 season, but Union and RPI split their two games back in October. RPI beat the Garnet Chargers 5-2 on Halloween, and Union responded with a 3-0 victory the next day at Houston Field House, shutting out RPI for the ninth time. Three of Union's shutouts over RPI have come in Mayor's Cup games. 

THE LINE STOPS HERE: Union is on a two-game losing streak for only the second time this season and has not lost more than two games in a row at any point in the regular season since December 2024. The Garnet Chargers are 4-2-1 coming off a loss this season and 2-0-2 all-time in the Mayor's Cup when entering the game coming off a loss.

REV YOUR ENGINES: RPI turned things around with a 4-1 win over Brown on Jan. 17, snapping a six-game losing streak. Rainers Rullers had a goal and an assist in the victory, marking the fourth multi-point game of his career. 

INSIDE THE SERIES
Gary McCarthy has been the mayor for all nine of Union's Mayors' Cup victories. William Patrick Madden has two victories as the Mayor of Troy, and Lou Rosamilia has one. Carmella Mantello is seeking her first Mayors' Cup victory for Troy. Union is outscoring RPI 16-5 during its four-game Mayor's Cup win streak, and Nate Hanley leads active Union players with 10 career points against RPI. 

NUMBERS TO KNOW
A total of 94 Union and RPI players have recorded at least one point in Mayors' Cup games. Daniel Ciampini '15 has the most points in Mayors' Cup games with seven (4g, 3a). Drew Melanson is RPI's all-time Mayors' Cup leading scorer with four points (3g, 1a). Union's 2025-26 power-play percentage is 23.3%, and its power-play percentage in Mayors' Cup games is 23.8%. 

GET-RIGHT GAME
Union will suit up for its 13th Mayors' Cup game, riding an active losing streak for only the fifth time in the rivalry's history. Union is 2-0-2 in those games, outscoring RPI 15-4 in Mayors' Cups when coming off a loss.

HOBEY BAKER VOTE!
Add this number to your contacts because we need you to text it daily! 844-623-9688!! Text 26024 to 844-623-9688 to vote for Brandon Buhr for the Hobey Baker Award, and text 26023 to 844-623-9688 to vote for Tyler Dunbar for the Hobey Baker Award! You can vote once per day, and voting closes at 11:59 p.m. on March 9. 

NATE "ENGINEER SLAYER" HANLEY
Nate Hanley is first among his teammates with 10 career points against RPI. He has nine assists and one goal against the Engineers, and his lone goal was a memorable one as it served as the game-winner against RPI in overtime of the 2025 Mayors' Cup. 

SEEING RED
Carter Korpi has five career goals against RPI, while Brandon Buhr and Colby MacArthur both have four. Buhr and MacArthur are tied for the second-most career points against RPI on the team with seven. 

MAYOR'S CUP LEADERS
Shayne Gostisbehere holds the Mayors' Cup record for the most shots on goal in a game with 10. Taylor Brierley '21 is the single-game blocked shots leader with six. Daniel Ciampini '15 leads the way with six points in a Mayors' Cup game and the only hat trick in the history of the contest. 

ON THE DOT
Union has posted the better faceoff percentage in all four games during their current Mayors' Cup winning streak. The Garnet Chargers have won 60% or more of their faceoffs a total of five times in the history of the Mayor's Cup and set a Mayors' Cup record with a 70.6% faceoff percentage on Jan. 24, 2015. Union won that game 8-3. 

MATINEE MISHAP
Playing their third game in four days, the Garnet Chargers visited Harvard for a 4 p.m. faceoff on Monday, Jan. 20. Union was shut out in that game for the first time this season. Nate Hanley had a career-high four blocked shots, and Tyler Dunbar led the way with four shots. 

ALL TOGETHER NOW
Union has 11 goals in the month of January from nine players. Ben Muthersbaugh and Nate Hanley lead the way with two goals each. Ollie Chessler recorded his first collegiate point with an assist against Brown on Jan. 16 and became the 23rd Garnet Charger to notch at least one point this season. 

IN PARENTHESES
Union scored a power-play goal and two empty-net goals against Brown on Jan. 16 during a 4-0 win. The Garnet Chargers had one game with multiple empty-netters last season and have four games this campaign with at least one power-play and empty-net goal. 

POWER PLAY IS HUMMIN'
Union scored power-play goals in back-to-back games for the 14th time this season on Jan. 16-17. Parker Lindauer and Ben Muthersbaugh both increased their yearly power-play goal totals to three, and Union now has eight players with multiple power-play scores this season. The Garnet Chargers' 24 power-play goals are the fifth-most in the country this season. 

HERE'S TO 300 MORE!
Union earned its 300th ECAC Hockey victory with a win against #20/19 Princeton on Jan. 10. The Garnet Chargers originally accepted the ECAC's invitation to join its Division I men's hockey league on Jan. 28, 1991. The program replaced Army, keeping the number of teams in the league at 12. Union played its first Division I contest Nov. 1, 1991, a 9-6 loss to Merrimack. On Jan. 17, 1992, Craig Ferrero scored with 10 seconds left in overtime as Union recorded its first ECAC victory, a 2-1 triumph at Dartmouth. Luigi Villa stopped 45 shots for Union in goal. 12,047 days later, Tyler Dunbar scored the game-winner while Brayden Gillespie made 21 saves in Union's 300th conference win.

2026 RICHTER AWARD WATCH LIST
Cameron Korpi was named to the 2026 Richter Award Watch List. Korpi already has three shutouts on the season and made a season-high 32 saves against UMass Lowell on Nov. 14. He helped Union start the season 4-0-1 and won ECAC Hockey's Goalie of the Month award for October. Of the 29 netminders listed, Korpi is one of eight Americans garnering Richter Award recognition. 

AT THIS POINT, IT'S JUST IMPRESSIVE
Brandon Buhr assisted on Parker Lindauer's power-play goal in the second period on Jan. 16 against Brown. He leads the team with 15 goals this season and has scored at least one point in every one of Union's 14 wins. The Garnet Chargers are 14-0-1 when Buhr has at least one point and 0-8-1 when he is shut out of the box score. 

PRIMARY PARKER
Eleven of Parker Lindauer's team-leading 17 assists have been the primary assist. He has also assisted on eight of Brandon Buhr's team-leading 15 goals. 

GWG
Brandon Buhr is tied with Mike Veccione '17, Max Novak '15, and Daniel Carr '14 for the third-most game-winning goals in Union's Division-I history. Buhr is five game-winners away from tying Wayne Simpson '13 for the program record.

65 AND COUNTING
Nate Hanley tied his former teammate John Prokop for the 10th-most career assists in Union's Division I history when he assisted on Tyler Dunbar's game-winning goal against Princeton. He is also tied for the sixth-most career assists among active DI players. 

GOOD HABITS BEFORE THE NEW YEAR
Union won 12 games before the calendar turned to January for the first time since the 2017-18 season. The Garnet Chargers had 14 victories before the ball dropped during the 2016-17 season.

GILLESPIE'S ISLAND
Brayden Gillespie made 31 saves during his first collegiate shutout on Dec. 12 against #8 Quinnipiac. He is the first Union netminder to shut out a ranked foe since Alex Sakellaropoulos '17 against #13 Merrimack on Nov. 28, 2015. He earned another ranked win against #20/19 Princeton on Jan. 10, making 21 saves and another shutout on Jan. 16 against Brown.

NO SOPHOMORE SLUMPS
Ben Muthersbaugh leads Union's sophomore class with 21 points (10g, 11a). Sophomore Luke Buss scored his first collegiate goal on Dec. 12 against Alaska Fairbanks, and second-year Garnet Chargers have accumulated 71 points this season. 
 
TAKING ADVANTAGE OF THE MAN ADVANTAGE
Union has scored on the power play in all but six games this season. After not scoring on the man advantage in the first two games of 2025-26, Union has not had back-to-back games without a power-play goal. The Garnet Chargers have 15 man-up goals in their last 14 games.

THE PK LEADER 
Union is 14-4-0 when its opponent does not score a power-play goal, and the Garnet Chargers have not given up a power-play goal in any of their wins this season. 

NON-CON SUCCESS
The Garnet Chargers are 9-1-1 (.864) in non-conference action so far, tying their best start ever to non-league play (1976-77) through 11 games. That Union team 49 years ago did not lose its second out-of-conference game until the final game of the season. Saturday's game against RPI represents Union's final non-conference game of the regular season

LIMITING THE Ls
Union suffered back-to-back losses for the first time against Miami and Princeton, 16 games into the season. The last time it took Union that long to drop consecutive games was 2016-17, when the Garnet Chargers didn't lose in back-to-back contests until their 21st game of the season. 

DECEMBER DOMINATION
After a 3-1 record as a team in December, Brayden Gillespie was recognized as the ECAC Hockey Rookie of the Month, and Tyler Dunbar earned Adapt Nutrition Defender of the Month honors. Gillespie was 3-0 in the final month of 2025 and earned his first collegiate shutout. Dunbar averaged 1.5 points per game in December and accumulated seven blocked shots. Dunbar has the second-most points among all NCAA Division I men's hockey defenders. Eric Pohlkamp of Denver paces all blueliners with 22 points.  

TEAM OF THE WEEK
Union was featured as College Hockey News' "Team of the Week" after a 2-0 weekend on Nov. 7 and Nov. 8 where it outscored UMass Lowell and New Hampshire 13-1 overall and improved to 8-2-1 on the season. During an interview with College Hockey News' editor, head coach Josh Hauge said, "I love our hockey team ... We believe we're good ... We're excited about trying to continue to grow the program and get it back to where it can be."

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. 

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, meaning they are tied for the seventh-oldest team in the country. 

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).

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.

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.