Union College Athletics

SCHENECTADY, N.Y. – First-year Luke Garry scored two goals and had an assist in the Union College men's hockey team's 7-1 home-opening win over University of Alaska Fairbanks on Saturday night as the Garnet Chargers scored seven straight goals in front of 2,148 fans at M&T Bank Center. 

Garry, who made his collegiate debut against Army West Point, scored his first collegiate goal early in the second period to put Union ahead 2-1, assisted on senior Tyler Dunbar's power-play tally at the 11:54 mark in the second, and knocked in a second goal early in the third. His three points on the season are tied for the second most among rookies in the conference, and he is the only ECAC Hockey first-year with a mutli-goal game so far. 

While Union (2-0-0) enjoyed another offensive outburst, the Garnet Chargers did concede the first goal of the game to the Nanooks (1-3-0) who were coming off an upset win over #11 Boston College on Friday. The Garnet Chargers have now let up the first goal in its last four matchups against Alaska but are 3-1 in that span.

Union was a player down when it allowed the Alaska goal because of a major penalty and game misconduct on sophomore Troy Pelton. However, a penalty on the Nanooks bailed Union out of having to kill a full five minutes, and sophomore Tommy Cronin soon after redirected in a shot from classmate Alex Laurenza to tie game up at 13:38 in the first.

After Garry and Dunbar's second-period goals, Union put the game out of reach with four more in the third. Junior Lucas Buzziol, newly minted as the team's captain, scored on a 2-on-1 thanks to an unselfish pass from Cronin. Buzziol had a wide-open net to work with as Cronin notched his second point against his former team. 

Garry got his second of the evening at the 6:44 mark of the period, junior Connor Smith scored for the second straight game on the power play, and junior Luke Buss capped off the evening with his second career goal (with both coming against the Nanooks).

Had Union not scored its most regular-season goals since a 7-6 win over Colgate on Feb. 13, it still would have been in good shape thanks to another stellar performance between the pipes from sophomore Brayden Gillespie. The Oakville, Ont. netminder made 28 saves, including eight while a man down. Union killed off five penalties as well.

The Garnet Chargers have another single-game weekend when they host Providence on Friday, Oct. 16 at 7 p.m.