FAMILIAR FOES
The Garnet Chargers open their season against the Black Knights of Army West Point for the fourth straight season. Union is 4-1-2 in the last seven games in October against Army dating back to 2011, with the last two games needing overtime. Army finished the season 12-17-6 in 2025-26, going winless in its final four games, including a 5-4 playoff loss to Niagara.
INSIDE THE SERIES
Union and Colgate will play an exhibition against each other for the second year in a row. The Raiders beat Union 5-3 in the warm-up game last year, but Union won the real series with a 4-4 tie and a 7-6 win. John Prokop '26 scored a game-winner in OT against the Black Knights in 2024, and junior
Connor Smith had the game-tying goal last season. Union and Army have played in five overtime games against each other. The first came in 1980 when the two sides tied 3-3.
NUMBERS TO KNOW
4 - Union rattled off four straight wins last season after its season-opening tie with Army.
3.75 - Union averages 3.75 goals per game against the Black Knights with
Josh Hauge at the helm.
2 - This is the second year of Union Hockey at the M&T Bank Center.
KILLED THE KILL
The Garnet Chargers led the country in penalty-kill percentage in 2025-26 with a .904 mark. Union only allowed 11 power-play goals overall and had an 11-game stretch near the end of the season without allowing a goal while a man down.
20 AIN'T BAD
The Garnet Chargers won 22 games last season marking their most in a single year since 2016-17. It was also the program's first 20-win season since 2018-19. Union had five different winning streaks of at least three games throughout 2025-26 as well.
HAUGE HEAT CHECK
Four full years into the
Josh Hauge-era in Schenectady, the Garnet Chargers have shown marked improvement each season with him at the helm. After 14 wins in 2022-23, his squad increased its single-season win total by two the next year, three the year after that, and three more from 2024-25 to 2025-26. Hauge has also coached two All-Americans in John Prokop '26 and senior
Tyler Dunbar, and Prokop and
Brandon Buhr '26 have both moved on from Union under Hauge's guidance to sign professional contracts.
TROPHY SZN
There were plenty of Union Hockey alums hoisting hardware last season. Shayne Gostisbehere '15 won the Stanley Cup with the Carolina Hurricanes, becoming the 35th player in NHL history to win both a Stanley Cup and an NCAA Championship.
Brandon Buhr '26 and John Prokop '26 were members of the AHL's champions, the Toronto Marlies, as the team went on to win the Calder Cup.
PAY ATTENTION
The Garnet Chargers had several nationally-relevant statistical marks other than just the PK last season. Union averaged 3.78 goals per game in 2025-26, which were the third-most in the country. The Garnet Chargers also allowed the 21st-fewest goals in the country per game (2.65) and had the ninth-largest average scoring margin at 1.14. Union's 3.78 goals per game were its most in a season since 2016-17.
STEP UP
Union lost its top-three point scorers from a season ago as well as four of the top-five. Two of Union's top returning point scorers, senior
Tyler Dunbar and sophomore
Etienne Lessard, play along the blue line. Look for junior forwards
Riley Brueck and
Lucas Buzziol to take a leap in carrying the load in offensive production. Those two have combined for 67 points through their first two seasons together in Schenectady.
ALL-AMERICAN DUNBAR
Senior
Tyler Dunbar emerged as a superstar in the NCAA last season after transferring to Union from Colorado College. The 6-1 defender had 33 points as a junior in 2025-26, which were the fifth-most among defensemen in the country. He earned AHCA All-America East Second Team honors for his efforts and was recognized as an ECAC Hockey Preseason All-League Team member. His 13 goals are tied for seventh-most among active NCAA defensemen.
JUNIOR BUT MIGHTY
Union returns 17 of its 18 non-seniors from a season ago, including a large junior class. Union's nine juniors are tied for the fifth-most juniors in college hockey this season. Including transfers
Jack Henry and
August Falloon, Union's current junior class combined for 88 points during the 2025-26 campaign.
NEW U
Coach Hauge and his staff brought in seven first-year players featuring five forwards and two defensemen. Among the seven players, Gavin and
Luke Garry are twins from Excelsior, Minn., and several players had captain or alternate captain experience in juniors such as
Brady O'Malley and
Elliot Gulley.
LAND OF 10,000 LAKES AND 6 GARNET CHARGERS
Senior
Jacob Jeannette, junior
Connor Smith, sophomore
Tommy Cronin, first-year
Gavin Garry, first-year
Luke Garry, junior
August Falloon and head coach of the Garnet Chargers
Josh Hauge all hail from the state of Minnesota. The Electric City of Schenectady is located over 1,000 miles away from the Land of 10,000 Lakes.
A GOPHER, HUSKY, AND NANOOK…
Juniors
Jack Henry and
August Falloon and sophomore
Tommy Cronin transferred into Union ahead of this season after previous stops in the NCAA. Cronin has experience playing the Garnet Chargers, coming from Alaska Fairbanks. Falloon played in the Big 10 with Minnesota, and Henry comes from Northeastern and Hockey East. (Bonus, unofficial note, Henry has now lived in and played in two of the hardest cities to pronounce in New York State, being raised in Skaneateles, N.Y. (Skinny-at-liss) and playing hockey here in Schenectady, N.Y.
STILL A FAMILY AFFAIR
Despite
Carter Korpi '26 flying the nest and graduating last season, Union is still home to a pair of siblings on the hockey team. First-years Luke and
Gavin Garry will team up in Schenectady this season on Coach Hauge's squad. Unlike the Korpi brothers, this will not be the first time the Garrys have played together. The twins were on the same juniors team just a season ago in Sioux City.
SINCE STEVENS
Cameron Korpi became the first Union men's hockey goaltender to post four shutouts in a season since Colin Stevens '15 (six) and only the fifth netminder to do it in program history. After shutting out Brown in the playoffs, he tied Troy Grosenick and Kris Mayotte for the second-most single-season clean sheets in program history. Currently, Korpi's five shutouts are tied for the fifth-most among active NCAA goaltenders.
IN OTHER SHUTOUT NEWS
For the first time in program history, Union shut out the same team three matchups in a row, blanking Brown 4-0, 3-0, and 9-0 last season. While it was the first time Union accomplished that feat, Union had previously posted three shutouts against the same team within a four game span on two occasions. Union kept Rensselaer out of the net three times in a span of four meetings from Jan. 29, 2022 - Jan. 28, 2023 and did the same to Penn State in four games from Jan. 17, 1930 - Jan. 2, 2005.
LENT A HAND
Nate Hanley '26 graduated with the 10th-most assist in Union's DI history (72). Over his four years in Schenectady, he assisted on 15.6 percent of Union's 461 goals. When you factor in 25 goals of his own, he was in some way a part of 21 percent of the goals Union scored from the 2022-23 season to 2025-26.
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.
M&T BANK CENTER
The men's and women's Union hockey teams call the state-of-the-art M&T Bank Center home. The Garnet Chargers are 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.
