SCHENECTADY, N.Y. - The UConn men's hockey team dropped their third-straight game, losing in game one of a two-game set at Union College, 4-1, Friday night at Messa Rink at Achilles Center. With the game tied 1-1 early in the third period, Union scored three unanswered the rest of the way to come away with the non-conference win.
Despite generating 80 total chances and outshooting the Garnet Chargers 37-22, the Huskies managed to get just one past Union goaltender Kyle Chauvette who kept UConn off the scoreboard over the first two periods before conceding an early third period goal.
The Huskies continued to struggle in the early season on the power play, finishing 0-for-7 on the night including coming up empty on a 5-on-3 opportunity. Union took a 1-0 lead at 12:24 of the first as Caden Villegas scored his team-leading fourth on the season, with assists to Nick Young and Nate Hanley.
After a scoreless second, UConn knotted the game up just 1:31 into the final stanza as grad student Harrison Rees (Oakville, Ontario) picked up his first goal of the season, who tipped home a feed from freshman Jake Richard (Jacksonville, Fla.) who notched his team leading fifth point on the season.
Union answered the Huskies early third period offensive pressure with three-straight goals as Ville Immonen produced what would be the game-winner at 8:20, scoring on the power play goals for the Garnet Chargers from Josh Nixon and Hanley. Carter Korpi made it 3-1 with an unassisted goal at 16:40 and Ben Tupker put the game away, scoring a short-handed empty net goal at 18:20 for the 4-1 final.
UConn sophomore goaltender Arsenii Sergeev (Yaroslavl, Russia) made the start in net and finished with 18 saves on the night.
The Huskies fall to 1-3-1 to open the season and will close out the weekend series on Saturday afternoon. Puck drop is scheduled for 4 pm and the game is available to watch on ESPN+.
