SCHENECTADY, N.Y. – Union suffered a rare home loss and saw its NCAA-leading unbeaten streak snapped in a 3-2 loss to St. Cloud State before a sold out crowd of 2,391 at Messa Rink Saturday Night. The second-ranked Dutchmen (5-1) saw their unbeaten streak halted at 22 games and their home winning streak ended at 15 games, a pair of runs that dated back to last season.
For the second night in a row, St. Cloud (2-2) finished with a shot advantage (39-24) in forcing a weekend split of the non-conference series.
Brooks Bertsch’s goal at 8:18 of the third period – the only scoring in the period – proved to be the game-winner for the ninth-ranked Huskies. Union had battled back to tie the game at 2-2 with 14 seconds left in the second period after Mike Vecchione successfully converted on a penalty shot, the result of a crease violation penalty called on SCSU. The goal was Vecchione’s team-best fourth of the season, and extended his points streak to six games.
St. Cloud received goals from Andrew Prochno and Blake Winiecki 4:03 apart in the second period to take a 2-1 lead. The tallies were in response to Union’s first goal, scored by freshman Spencer Foo at18:41 of the first period.
Sophomore Alex Sakellaropoulos made 36 saves in his first start of the season.
Union opens ECAC Hockey play next weekend with a home-and-home series against Rensselaer, starting Friday in Troy.
