SCHENECTADY, NY—The 20th-ranked Union College men’s hockey team scored four unanswered goals, including three in the third period, to secure a 5-3 come-from-behind win against No. 16 Yale, Friday night at Messa Rink. The Dutchmen, who posted their second comeback win against a nationally ranked team this season, move to 7-2-1 overall and 3-0-0 in ECAC Hockey, while the Bulldogs go to 1-1-0 overall and 0-1-0 in conference play.
Union’s Mike Vecchione, who leads Division I with 13 goals and 21 points, tallied his second hat trick in five games, also adding an assist. Spencer Foo extended his point streak to eight games with two assists and Greg Campbell also contributed a pair of helpers. Jeff Taylor scored his third of the season and first-year forward Luc Brown tallied his first career goal to round out the scoring. In goal, Alex Sakellaropoulos made a season-high 35 saves, becoming the first goaltender in Union’s Division I era to start a season 6-0-0.
Adam Larkin gave Yale a 2-0 lead in the first with two power-play goals in a 36-second span. He opened the scoring at 14:44 when his shot from the point took a couple of fortunate bounces off Union defensemen before finding its way into the back of the net. Larkin’s second came from a one-timer at 15:20 from Frankie DiChiara and Chandler Lindstrand.
Union responded quickly in the second, cutting its deficit to 2-1 at 3:01 on a Vecchione shorthanded tally. Foo picked up the puck in the neutral zone and fed a streaking Vecchione, who made a quick deke before sliding a shot under Yale goaltender Patrick Spano’s left pad.
Ted Hart restored the Bulldogs’ two-goal advantage with a low wrist shot from the right circle at 7:37, but the Dutchmen battled back with four straight goals.
Taylor brought Union back within one before the end of the period, beating a screened Spano from the point at 14:30 from Vecchione and Sebastian Vidmar, and Brown netted the game-tying goal with a one-timer from the slot at 3:42 of the third.
Union took its first lead at 15:43 when Vecchione fired home a shot from the low slow after Foo worked his way around two Yale defensemen and poked the puck onto Vecchione’s stick.
The Bulldogs nearly found the tying goal with a power play in the dying moments of the game, but Sakellaropoulos came across his crease to deny Hart’s one-timer from the left circle.
Vecchione sealed the win with an empty net goal from center ice 13 seconds later, giving him 19 points (12g, 7a) over the last eight games.
Spano allowed four goals on 38 shots for Yale. Union outshot Yale 39-38 and went 1-for-7 on the power play, while the Bulldogs were 2-for-5. The Dutchmen have outshot their opponent in all 10 games this season.
Union hosts Brown at 7 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 5.
