| Union College vs. Merrimack |
| Friday, October 2, 2026 • North Andover, MA • Lawler Arena • 4:00 PM |
| Live Stats • Video Stream |
| Union College vs. Merrimack |
| Saturday, October 3, 2026 • North Andover, MA • Lawler Arena • 2:00 PM |
| Live Stats • Video Stream |
STARTING OFF HOT: The Garnet Chargers are off to a strong start once more, kicking off the 2026-27 season with a perfect 2-0 record. They aim to keep their momentum going as they prepare for a two-game series in North Andover this weekend, competing on Friday at 4 p.m. and Saturday at 2 p.m.
LAST WEEKENDS RECAP: Union battled back for a thrilling 4-3 overtime victory on Friday September 25th before closing out the weekend with a 2-0 shutout win on Saturday the 26th. Friday's opener featured plenty of milestones. Junior
Karianne Engelbert scored twice, including the overtime game-winner with just 2:02 remaining, matching
Maddie Leaney's program record with eight career game-winning goals. Senior
Maddie Leaney also made history, recording a goal and an assist to become Union's all-time career points leader with 71. After Franklin Pierce took a 3-2 lead, Lily Leaney tied the game in the third period on a power-play goal before Engelbert completed the comeback in overtime. Union carried that momentum into Saturday, earning a 2-0 victory behind a 24-save shutout from sophomore goaltender Emma Rhéaume. First-year
Madi Gaines opened the scoring with her first collegiate goal early in the second period, while sophomore
Megan Duplantie added an insurance goal on the power play. The Garnet Chargers held Franklin Pierce scoreless on five power-play opportunities and finished the weekend with a perfect 2-0 record. With a pair of comeback performances, first collegiate milestones and standout efforts from both veterans and newcomers, Union heads into this weekend ready for more action!
INSIDE THE SERIES:
• Union and Merrimack have played six previous games, with the Warriors holding a slight 2-3-1 edge.
• Union went 1-0-1 last season against Merrimack, posting a 4-2 win and settling for a 2-2 tie.
• The teams have played twice in North Andover, with Merrimack earning 4-1 and 3-0 wins during the 2018-19 season.
NUMBERS TO KNOW:???????
• 71 Career points for senior
Maddie Leaney, Union's new all-time scoring leader.
• 6 Points from rookies last weekend, including first career goals from
Madi Gaines and
Evie Hanson.
• 6 Straight road games spanning four weeks to start the season for the Garnet Chargers.
A NEW ERA IN MERRIMACK: First-year head coach Courtney Kennedy brings 20 years of coaching experience, including 17 seasons in Hockey East. The Massachusetts native starts her Merrimack tenure 1-1-0 (0-0-0 Hockey East) after recently helping Team USA capture gold at the 2026 IIHF U18 Women's World Championship. Kennedy also spent time as a skills coach with the Boston Fleet of the PWHL and looks to bring a fresh energy to the Warriors this season.
LEANEY MAKES HISTORY: Senior
Maddie Leaney opened the season by making program history, recording a goal and an assist in Union's 4-3 overtime comeback win over Franklin Pierce on Friday September 25th. With her second point of the game, Leaney moved to 71 career points, becoming the all-time program leader and surpassing
Stephanie Bourque '26.
CATCHING UP: Junior
Karianne Engelbert is quickly climbing Union's record books and sits just behind teammate
Maddie Leaney with 57 career points on 32 goals and 25 assists. Engelbert already owns the program record for career power-play goals with 14 and matching
Maddie Leaney's program record with eight career game-winning goals . She entered her junior season ranked fifth incareer goals, seventh in points and 10th in assists on Union's Division I ledger, continuing her push toward the top of the record book.
MAKING AN IMPACT: Freshman
Lily Oster earned ECAC Rookie of the Week honors for the week ending in the 28th, after recording two assists in Union's 4-3 overtime comeback win over Franklin Pierce. The Calgary, Alberta, native picked up her second assist on the game-tying power-play goal, helping spark the Garnet Chargers' comeback.
SOLID BETWEEN THE PIPES: Monja Wagner earned the win in Friday's 4-3 overtime victory over Franklin Pierce, making 21 saves. Sophomore Emma Rhéaume followed up with a standout performance Saturday, stopping all 24 shots for her fourth career shutout and helping Union complete the weekend sweep.
GAINES STARTS STRONG: First-year
Madi Gaines was named Union's Highmark Student-Athlete of the Week after helping the Garnet Chargers to a weekend sweep of Franklin Pierce. Gaines recorded a goal and an assist, including the game-winning goal in Saturday's 2-0 victory.
FRESHMEN ON FIRE: Union's first-year class made an immediate impact during opening weekend. On Friday,
Evie Hanson scored her first collegiate goal, while
Lily Oster,
Madi Gaines and
Lily Leckelt each recorded their first collegiate points. The momentum continued Saturday, when
Madi Gaines netted her first collegiate goal for the eventual game-winner.
GOING STREAKING: Senior
Maddie Leaney enters her senior season having played in every game over her first three years at Union, riding a streak of 109 straight games played. Junior
Jill Willis is the only other current upperclassman to go at least two years without missing a game, having playing all 73 contests over her first two seasons in Schenectady.
TAKING (AND KEEPING) OFFENSE: Union returns its top-seven goal scorers from last season and 86 percent (68-of-79 goals) of its offensive scoring production from 2025-26.
WELCOME TO SCHENECTADY: Head coach
Tony Maci welcomes seven newcomers to the program this season, six first-years and one sophomore transfer. Among the rookies, four hail from Alberta and two are Illinois natives. Sophomore
Madison Macaulay is the lone transfer into the program this year, as the Queensbury native returns to the Empire State after one year at Saint Anselm College. The group features two pairs of former teammates, as
Madi Gaines and
Ella Skotty both skated for the Chicago Mission while
Evie Hanson and
Lily Leckelt both played for the Edmonton Jr. Oilers. The septet comprise three forwards, three blueliners and one goalie.
LOOKING TO SURPRISE: Union will look to surprise the ECAC Hockey landscape under the leadership of third-year head coach
Tony Maci, as the Garnet Chargers were picked to finish in a tie for 10th place in the ECAC Hockey Preseason Poll out of 12 teams. The team received 27 points, tied with Dartmouth College and ahead of only Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (11 points). Reigning conference tournament champion Quinnipiac University was picked to repeat, earning 112 points and six first-place votes.
FEELING RIGHT AT HOME: In their first season in the brand-new M&T Bank Center, the Garnet Chargers won a program-record nine games on home ice in 2025-26, three more wins than the previous record of six achieved on three previous occasions. Included in those nine wins was a 4-3 (OT) victory over #4/5 Cornell on November 21, which was the program's first-ever win over a top-five team.
Maddie Leaney scored the first goal in M&T Bank Center history on September 26, 2025 in Union's 3-0 victory over Franklin Pierce.
COACHES CORNER: Head coach
Tony Maci is back for his third season at the helm of the program along with assistant coaches
Shawn Skelly and
Courtney Hall. Hall is moving into a full-time position with the program for the first time in 2026-27 after two years as the team's hockey operations coordinator.
Hall's role will be filled by
Allie Kelley, who is in her first season with the Garnet Chargers following a decorated collegiate career at Quinnipiac University (2019-21), Saint Anselm College (2021-23) and Syracuse University (2023-25). Kelley finished her career with the most saves in NCAA men's or women's hockey history, accumulating 4,594 stops over her time on the ice, including the second-most saves in a season in NCAA women's hockey history when she turned aside 1,241 shots in her final graduate season at Syracuse in 2024-25.
