An old friend is willing to help

by Ryan Fay

If Union ends up facing North Dakota in the NCAA tournament, they can count on help from an old friend.

Cain (Manitoba)

But that old friend, former Union player Luke Cain, doesn't expect to be getting a call.

Cain, back playing college hockey for the University of Manitoba, played an exhibition against North Dakota on October 6th. North Dakota won, 5-3.

"I don't expect Rick Bennett to call me for a scouting report if they do end up playing North Dakota," Cain said. "The video analysis that the Union staff does would be far superior to the scouting report that I would be able to give them. However, if Rick does reach out to me, I would be more than willing to help him in any way that I could."

Cain admits North Dakota may be a different team than they were in October, but has vivid recollections of what he saw from the Fighting Sioux earlier this season.

"They were a fast team with a tremendous amount of skill," he recalled. "The place that I found them vulnerable was their arrogance on the ice. Some of their players seemed unwilling to make the simple or easy play and would instead try something fancy.

"This led to turnovers and scoring chances. They are a good team, with extremely fast, dynamic, players who have the ability to score if you give them the chances. A smart, structured, strong defensive game is needed to beat them."

In 24 games for Manitoba, Cain has five goals and three assists.

I'll have much more from Cain in the near future.