BELFAST, Northern Ireland – The Sacred Heart University men's ice hockey team is set to battle No. 20/RV Union in the first game of the 2025 Friendship Four, hosted by the Belfast Giants at the SSE Arena in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The Pioneers will meet Union at 9 a.m. eastern time on Friday, Nov. 28, before playing either RIT or Miami (Ohio) the following day. 

2025 Friendship Four
    Friday, Nov. 28 vs. Union – 9AM ET (2PM GMT)
    Saturday, Nov. 29 vs. RIT or Miami (Ohio) – 10AM or 2PM ET (3PM or 7PM GMT)
SSE Arena – Belfast, Northern Ireland
LIVE on FloHockey

SAME FELIX, NEW HAT TRICK
Just one week removed from his first career hat trick, Felix Trudeau did it again on Saturday against LIU. He scored three of SHU's season-high seven goals in a 7-2 win over the Sharks. With his second hat trick of the year, Trudeau joined Penn State's Matt DiMarsico as the only Division I players with multiple hat tricks this season. It also gave him the solo lead in the AHA with 12 goals and 15 points. In recognition of his second hat trick, Trudeau was named the AHA Forward of the Week for the second straight week on Tuesday.

ICE ICE BREAKER
Sacred Heart and UConn will co-host the 2026 Ice Breaker Tournament, announced in conjunction with College Hockey Inc. on Tuesday. The 30th edition of the tournament will take place at two of the newest arenas in the sport, as a pair of games will be played at SHU's Martire Family Arena and two more at the Huskies' Toscano Family Ice Forum. Bowling Green and Penn State will make the trip to Connecticut for the event, which will take place Oct. 9-10.

LAST TIME OUT
SHU heads into the Friendship Four after rolling to a 7-2 win over LIU on Saturday at the Martire Family Arena, the team's third consecutive win. On top of Trudeau's hat trick, Vitaly Levyy, Ethan Wolthers and Joshua Barnes all scored for the Pioneers, while nine players tallied assists. Ajeet Gundarah made 33 saves on 35 shots to pick up his sixth win of the season. The Pios' seven goals is a new season high for the team, as the team last hit seven goals in last season's 8-2 win over Yale in CT Ice. 
 
SCOUTING THE GARNET CHARGERS
Heading into this weekend's tournament, Union owns an 8-3-2 overall record and is 2-3-1 in the ECAC. With their hot start to the season, the Garnet Chargers are ranked No. 20 in the latest DCU/USCHO.com Division I men's poll and are receiving votes in the USA Hockey/The Rink Live poll.

Union is coming off an eventful ECAC weekend that began with a 2–1 loss at No. 19/17 Cornell on Friday and ended with a 4–4 tie and shootout win at Colgate on Saturday evening. The Garnet Chargers enter Friday's opener ranked in the top 10 nationally in multiple categories: they are third in the country in penalty kill percentage (91.7%), ninth in power play percentage (25.9%), ninth in scoring defense (2.08 gpg), and 10th in scoring offense (3.77 gpg).

Seniors Brandon Buhr and Parker Lindauer pace the team with 17 points this season. Buhr leads Union with 11 goals, while Lindauer has a team-best 13 assists. Between the pipes, sophomore Cameron Korpi has played 723:19 this year and owns a 7-3-2 record with a 1.82 goals-against average and a .920 save percentage. 

ALL-TIME SERIES
The Pioneers and Garnet Chargers have played eight times entering Friday's game, with Union holding a 5-1-2 lead in the series. Despite the advantage, the matchups have been tightly contested: four of the eight meetings have gone to overtime, with two of those ending in ties. The two most recent clashes were both ties, the latest being a 4–4 deadlock on Oct. 15, 2016, in Connecticut.

UP NEXT
The Pioneers head back to the States for a weekend AHA series against Army on Friday-Saturday, Dec.5-6. Friday's opener against the Black Knights is slated to start at 7 p.m.