Men's Hockey Battles in Conference Loss at Union Friday

Friday, January 21

Schenectady, N.Y.

7 p.m.

Brown University

3-12-0, 3-7-0

Union

7-11-3, 5-6-1

Brown

Union (NY)

Photo by: David Silverman Photography

Men's Hockey Battles in Conference Loss at Union Friday

1/21/2022 10:35:00 PM | Men's Ice Hockey

Box Score

SCHENECTADY, N.Y – James Crossman scored his first goal of the season on the power play to make it a 2-1 game in the second period, but a pair of Union power play goals and an empty-net tally gave the Dutchmen a 3-1 ECAC conference win over the Bears Friday night at Messa Rink.

"We did some good things tonight; unfortunately we took too many penalties and made it far too difficult on ourselves," said head coach Brendan Whittet '94. "We have to find a way to play a complete game, we were on in terms of our work ethic, tenacity, and had some grade-A looks and chances, but have to find a way to score more than one goal or the margin of winning and losing is very difficult. We'll re-focus, get a few guys back into the lineup who were out for health and safety protocols, and see what we can do tomorrow."

Wyatt Schlaht had the game's first high-end scoring chance midway through the opening period. Schlaht received a centering pass from Connor Marshall alone in the slot following a Union turnover and rifled a shot on goal, but Union goaltender Connor Murphy (21 saves) darted to his left and robbed Schlaht with a glove save.

Schlaht had another scoring chance 13:45 into the period, catching a flip pass from Luke Krys on Union's blue line for a partial breakaway. Schlaht tried to slide a shot five-hole, but Murphy held on for the save.

Union took a 1-0 lead 18:33 into the first on its second power play chance of the game as Collin Graf blasted a one-timer from the bottom of the left circle off a feed from Dylan Anhorn to beat Brown goaltender Mathieu Caron (26 saves).

Union tallied its second power play goal of the night to double the lead at 1:05 of the middle period. Caron made the initial save on a Tyler Watkins shot from the left dot, but Josh Kosack found the rebound in the slot for his fourth goal of the season.

Brown went on its first power play of the night early in the second as Ville Immonen was whistled for interference. Crossman blasted a slap shot from the top off the right circle off a feed from Samuli Niinisaari to cut into Union's lead. Senior Michael Maloney picked up the secondary assist on the goal at 6:32 of the frame.

The Dutchmen had two more power play chances in the remaining 15:10 of the second period, but Brown's penalty kill stood tall to keep the deficit at one.

Brown killed Union's sixth power play chance halfway through the third to remain in striking distance. Less than a minute after the Brown penalty ended, Immonen was penalized for tripping to give the Bears their second power play chance of the night. However, Brown was unable to find the equalizer on the man-advantage.

Immonen sealed the victory for the Dutchmen with an empty-net goal with 1:12 remaining for a 3-1 Union lead. Liam Robertson and Brandon Estes assisted on the goal.

GAME NOTES

Niinisaari's assist on Crossman's goal marked his team-leading sixth of the season.
Sophomore Matt Sutton drew back into Brown's lineup after missing the last nine games due to injury.
Union's power play goal late in the first period ended Brown's consecutive penalties killed streak at 24. The Bears had not allowed a power play goal since November 27 and went 414:11 of gameplay between the power play goals.
Union finished the game with a 29-22 edge in shots on goal and a 30-26 edge in faceoffs won. On special teams, Brown finished the night 1-for-2 on the power play while Union finished the night 2-for-6 on the power play.

Brown hits the ice tomorrow night to take on the Rensselaer Engineers (10-13-3, 5-6-0 ECAC) at Houston Field House. Saturday night's game is set to begin at 7 p.m. and will stream on RPI.tv. Fans are not permitted to attend tomorrow's ECAC conference game per Rensselaer policy.

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