The Dutchmen hockey team survived a scare against Brown on Saturday night to remain undefeated in ECAC play.
The scoring began in the first period, when Sebastian Vidmar threw one from behind the net that deflected off a Brown defender and into the net. Union expanded the lead after Spencer Foo rung a shot off the post and in from the high right circle. Both goals were on the power play. Union led 2-0 at the end of the first, but trailed 12-10 in shots.
In the second, Brown would come out firing. They played up-tempo, and outpaced Union for much of the period. They got a goal back after Zach Pryzbek deflected Josh McArdle’s shot from the point through the legs of Union goalie Alex Sakellaropoulos. The goal was reviewed for a potential high sticking on Pryzbek, but ultimately was upheld. Brown kept pushing after that, trying to get the tying goal, but some nice saves by Sakellaropoulos kept the Dutchmen in front.
This next goal was so filthy it deserves its own paragraph. Spencer Foo took the puck into the offensive zone by the left boards, and Mike Vecchione came in on the right side charging to the net with no man around him. Foo whipped it across to Vecchione, who spun around in front of the net while putting the puck through his legs, and scored.
If you were wondering how good 21 is – he's this kind of good @Buccigross #SCtop10 @espn #GoU pic.twitter.com/73kZobVERN
— Union Hockey (@Unionmhockey) November 6, 2016
“It was a great play by Foozie [Spencer Foo] to draw the defender to him, the pass was a little behind me so I didn’t try to do too much by going to my forehand or anything, so I just went with it and it turned out to be a pretty cool goal.” Mike Vecchione said about his goal, which landed on the Sportscenter Top 10 plays.
That goal made it 3-1 Union, and that would hold as the score after 2 periods. Shots were 26-18 Brown at that point.
In the third period, Brown kept pushing and playing well, but in this frame they actually got some bounces to go. Charlie Corcoran cut the lead to 3-2 after he buried a wrister past Sakellaropoulos on a Brown power play. After Foo and Pryzbek each took hooking penalties to give us some 4-on-4 hockey, Max Willman put home a rebound to tie the game. The shot bounced off Sakellaropoulos’ pad and right to Willman, who had a great look at the net. Brown wasn’t done yet, though. Charlie Corcoran scored another goal, this one on a shot from the point to give Brown a 4-3 lead. They scored 3 unanswered goals early in the third. Union, however, wasn’t done yet. Eli Lichtenwald cleaned up a mess in front by burying a puck home to tie it 4-4, and then Cole Maier scored off a nice pass from Brett Supinski for the second goal in 50 seconds. Cole Maier scored again on an empty net goal to seal the game. The final was 6-4 Union.
The Dutchmen improve to 8-2-1 on the season with the win, and 4-0-0 in ECAC play. Brown falls to 0-4-0 this season. It was a big relief for Union to get this one, as Brown outplayed them for much of the second and third period. However, they showed grit by not being deterred by Brown’s 3-goal third period.
“Yeah, it was let’s get it right back, let’s get it right back, which was really good for us.” said Cole Maier when asked about the mood on the bench after Brown took the lead. Head coach Rick Bennett seemed to agree with the sentiment that his team was outplayed. “I just want to be perfectly clear, we swiped this one.” Bennett said. “We got lucky. It was important to [Brown]. It wasn’t really important to us until we were down. Then it became important.” He would eventually elaborate on that and explain that after Union went up 2-0, they thought it would be easy, and sort of took their foot off the gas, allowing Brown back into it.
Either way it’s a win, and that concludes Union’s 2-0-0 weekend, with this win and a 5-3 win over #16 Yale on Friday. Mike Vecchione scored 4 goals over the two games, and Alex Sakellaropoulos got the win both nights, stopping 33 shots on Saturday, and 35 saves on Friday. He’s 7-0-0 in net this season, the longest undefeated streak to start a season by an Union goaltender.
Mike Vecchione leads the country in goals (14) and points (23). Second in the nation is linemate Spencer Foo with 18 points, and he also leads the nation in assists with 13. Their third linemate, Sebastian Vidmar, is tied for 3rd in the country in points, with 16. It’s a pretty incredible achievement to have an entire line in the top 5 in points, and if they keep it up, they can take Union far.
