Union College Men’s Hockey starts its 2025-2026 season against Army on October 4th. Union College Hockey is coming back from a successful 2024-2025 season with a record of 19-14-3. Their season ended with two tragic losses against Dartmouth in the ECAC Quarterfinals. Union College hockey hopes to start their season strong against Army at their first game in the program’s history at the new M&T Bank Arena. Their previous season was the last for their old home rink, named Messa Rink, which had been Union College Hockey’s home since 1975. Union College, in collaboration with the city of Schenectady, has undertaken a $50 million project to create the new M&T Arena adjacent to the River Casino. The new rink features 2,200 seats and has upgraded facilities and locker rooms compared to the old rink.
For their season opener, Union College Hockey is facing a potential challenge from Army. Army’s 2024-2025 record was 16-20-2, including a loss to Union College last year by a score of 3-4 in overtime. But Army is still not a pushover, being led by Sophomore Ben Ivey, who was Army’s leading scorer last season. Another formidable Army sophomore, forward Nik Hong, had 22 points with eleven goals in the 2024-25 season. The Army defense is being led by Freshman Lukas McCloskey, who played for Wenatchee Wild in the WHL, where he had 17 goals and 37 assists. Jacob Biron is Army’s starting Freshman Goaltender, and this will be the first test for his first start in a season opener against Union College. Army is a pretty young team, but it has talented underclassmen who should not be underestimated.
Union College Head Coach Josh Hague starts his fourth season for the Garnet Chargers. In his time, he has led Union College to three successful seasons in the ECAC College Hockey league. Coach Hauge has overhauled Union with five transfers coming to the Hockey team and six freshmen. Among the transfers is Goaltender Cameron Korpi from Michigan, who was named a Big-10 All-Freshman Team Member in 2024-2025. Other transfers include defenseman Will Felicio, also from Michigan, and Luke Buss from Wisconsin. The leading goal scorer from last season, Brandon Buhr, returns for his senior season, who scored 19 goals and could be a must-watch player in ECAC Hockey. Union College Hockey, with this new team, could be a strong contender in College Hockey and maybe capture the magic they had for their National Championship season in 2014. Still, the season opener against Army will be a new start to the new era of Union College Hockey.
