Scouting The Opposition

Tomorrow the Dutchmen start another slate of games, facing UNH and AIC on Friday and Saturday respectively.

The University of New Hampshire is an interesting opponent. Last season they finished second in the Hockey East during the regular season. They received a bid to the NCAA tournament and even won their first game, 3-1 against Miami. This season they are 0-4-1.

Perhaps a big reason the Wildcats have dropped so far is the loss of their top four scorers from the season before. Paul Thompson (52 points) , Mike Sislo (48), and Phil DeSimone (41) all graduated, and Blake Kessel (27) signed with the Flyers. Overall UNH only returns three players who scored double digit goals the previous season.

Another big factor, is the decline in their goaltender's play. Matt Di Girolamo, a senior, earned an honorable mention as a Hockey East All-Star last season after posting a .923 save pct and a 2.44 gaa. This season he has posted a .825 save pct and a 5.20 gaa. Those are huge declines from the previous season. Not exactly what you want from your senior goaltender.

Overall this season, the Wildcats rank last in the nation in goals scored with an average of 1.8 a game, second to last in defense with an average of 4.8 goals against, and last with a penalty kill of 68.4 percent.

To be fair though, their opponents have been BU, BC, St. Cloud State and Northeastern. BC is the top ranked team in the nation, Bu is 13th and both St. Cloud and Northeastern can be tough opponents. On top of that, aside from the match with BC, all their games have been away from home.

UNH has been a team known to start out slowly, and despite the poor production, there are still people who believe they will turn things around. It should be an interesting game for the Dutchmen.

One last note: Keep an eye out for Nick Sorkin and Stevie Moses. Last year as a freshman Sorkin didn't make a huge impact, but he has already tallied four goals this season. He is the only player on the team with more than one goal. Moses is the top returning scorer from the previous season and is second on the team in points.

Moving on to AIC. AIC resides in the Atlantic Conference, and is currently 0-5 on the season. Last season Union beat them 8-1. Like mentioned earlier on the blog, Union is 41-5-7 against the Atlantic Conference, and 4-0 against AIC in its D-I era.

AIC does return its top four scorers, but their top scorer last season only managed 28 points, and there were only three total players to tally at least 20 points.

Their starting goaltender, Ben Meisner, had a .905 save pct last season, and a 3.70 gaa. This season he has played in four of the five games and has posted similar numbers, with a .907 save pct and 3.52 gaa. Their other goaltender to see time in net is Ryan Kerpan who posted a .846 save pct and a 4.02 gaa.

You hate to assume anything in sports, but Union should pull out the win. Union will be presenting their banner for winning the ECAC last season at the game, and it would be a shame to celebrate that with anything other than a win.

Should be a fun weekend.