Union Hockey midseason awards

by Ryan Fay

With the second half of Union's schedules about to start up, lets hand out awards for the first half of the season and look ahead to the second half.

FIRST HALF MOST VALUABLE PLAYER

Dutchmen: Forward Mike Vecchione

Vecchione has eight multi-point efforts this season

Vecchione had a strong freshman season last year with 14 goals and 20 assists in 38 games. But he's on pace to do even better in his sophomore campaign. The 21-year-old leads the Dutchmen in scoring and is tied for sixth nationally with seven goals and 15 assists in 22 games. Aside from his offensive prowess, Vecchione paces the team in faceoff winning percentage at .620, a mark that is fifth-best in the country among players who have taken at least 100 draws this season.

Dutchwomen: Goalie Shenae Lundberg

Lundberg has been the definition of a workhorse so far this season. The senior has been the only goalie used by the Dutchwomen and has seen 647 shots fired her way, 113 more shots faced than any other goalie in the country. She's saved 602 of those shots, good for 105 more saves than any other goalie in the country. Lundberg has been the reason why the offensive-starved Dutchwomen have been able to stay in many games this season.

ROOKIE OF THE FIRST HALF

Dutchmen: Forward Spencer Foo

Aside from being one of the Dutchmen's top players in the first half, Foo has been one of the more impressive rookies in the entire country. He's tied for second among all freshmen with seven goals and is tied for tenth among all freshman with 14 points. Foo's performance has been all the more impressive considering he wasn't expected to arrive until next season. But the door opened to come a year early after forward Alex Gonye transferred to Division III Williams College over the summer.

Dutchwomen: Forward Nicole Russell

Russell has been the brightest spot in a freshman class that has yet to make a significant impact on the Dutchwomen. She ranks fifth on the team in scoring with two goals and three assists despite playing in only 15 out of 18 possible games thus far. Perhaps more impressively, the Honeybaked Hockey product is the only player on the team with a positive plus/minus rating (plus-1).

BEST FIRST HALF INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCE

Dutchmen: Forward Daniel Ciampini vs Princeton

Ciampini had a night to remember during Union's 6-1 romp against Princeton on November 15. The senior recorded his second career hat trick and added two assists for a career-high five points.

Dutchwomen: Lundberg at Northeastern

Lundberg re-wrote the record books December 2. She set a Division I women's hockey record for the most saves in a shutout with 59. And Union needed all 59, as the Dutchwomen squeaked out a 1-0 win for their first-ever victory over the Huskies.

BEST FIRST HALF MOMENT (either team)

The Dutchmen's opening night banner ceremony on Oct. 10 will go down as a few moments nobody in the sold-out crowd will ever forget. With dozens of former players on hand, four banners commemorating last season's various accomplishments were raised to the Messa Rink rafters. The main event was the banner for the program's first national title, which was slowly raised at center ice from underneath the scoreboard.

SECOND HALF BREAKOUT PLAYER

Dutchmen: Forward Matt Wilkins

Wilkins enters the second half red hot.

Union fans have been waiting for Matt Wilkins to fully break out for awhile, as the former AJHL scoring champion has yet to translate that kind of offensive success to the collegiate ranks. But now in his junior season, that time may be coming. Wilkins scored nine goals over his first two seasons, but already has five this season, four of which came in his last five games. If it's a sign of things to come, it will be another asset to a Union team that already ranks sixth nationally in goals per game at 3.50.

Dutchwomen: Forward Erica Kelly

Kelly has gotten off to a slow start with only a goal and an assist through her first 18 collegiate games. However, a breakout seems inevitable as the freshman gets further acclimated to college game. Prior to arriving in Schenectady, Kelly recorded back-to-back 100-point seasons for King's-Edgehill School in Windsor, Nova Scotia. If she can start to find that kind of offensive touch, it will be a boon to a Dutchwomen team looking to crack the ECAC Hockey playoffs for the first time.

SECOND HALF MILESTONE WATCH

Ciampini is 12 points away from becoming the 12th member of the Dutchmen's 100 career point club. Senior forward Max Novak is 19 points away.

Dutchmen senior goalie Colin Stevens is two wins away from becoming the program's career goalie wins leader. He currently has 45, one fewer than Kris Mayotte, who won 46 from 2002-2006. 

Dutchmen head coach Rick Bennett needs 11 wins to reach the 100-win plateau. He's 89-33-17 (.701) through his first three-plus seasons as head coach. 

Dutchwomen senior forward and team captain Christine Valente has 30 career assists, including two this year. With six more, she'll pass Elizabeth Flanagan (35) for the program's career assists record.

With three more power-play goals, Valente will become the program's career power-play goals leader with 10. Suzy Pocock currently has the record with nine.


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