Seniors Dominate Awards At End of Season Banquet

On Sunday at the Mohawk Golf Club, Union held their end of the year banquet and handed out post-season awards. The awards were pretty much swept by the senior class.

Here are the results:

Most Valuable Player: Adam Presizniuk (third time)
Coaches' Award: Brock Matheson
Charles N. Morrison Award: Luke Cain
Thomas VanArden Dukehart Award: Stephane Boileau (third time)
Rookie of the Year: Mat Bodie
Scott Richardson Unsung Hero Award: Andrew Buote (fourth time)
Most Improved Player: Justin Pallos

I can't disagree with any of these selections. But, I also think that Daniel Carr could have been selected for ROY, John Simpson for Unsung Hero, and Wayne Simpson for MIP. You could also make an argument for Keith Kinkaid and Kelly Zajac for MVP. Either way, I bet it was a very tough decision to make for each award.

For more check out Union Athletics.com.

Congrats to the seven players who received an award!

ECAC Quarterfinals vs. Colgate Preview

Finally, the playoffs have arrived in Schenectady! This weekend the Dutchmen host the Colgate Raiders for a best-of-three series after the Raiders upset fifth-seed RPI in Troy last weekend. Union had a bye last week and used the time to recover from injuries and get ahead (or maybe catch up) on their schoolwork.

While the Raiders have been hot of late (6-3-1 in last 10 games) and are probably the best last-place team in the country, the Dutchmen are absolutely on fire. They haven't lost in 11 games (10-0-1), which is tied for the nation's longest unbeaten streak with Holy Cross, and are 14-1-1 in the winter term. Union has also been almost unbeatable at home this season going 15-1-2.

I think the Dutchmen saw what Colgate is made of this past weekend at RPI and won't let them succeed in the Capital Region for the second weekend in a row. It will definitely be a tough series, but Union is great at home so I have confidence that they won't lose twice in one weekend at Messa Rink.

So Union students, put down your study guides, leave the lab, and take a break from your thesis and come see the best team in Union Hockey history in their final weekend at Messa Rink this season. YOU DO NOT WANT TO MISS THIS!!! Remember, the first 300 students get in free.

Here are some players to watch:

Colgate
Eric Mihalik: the freshman goaltender was outstanding in net last weekend at RPI where he made a combined 92 saves, including 40 saves in Game 3. He was named INCH's Player of the Week for his efforts. After going winless in his first 10 career starts, he's gone 6-3-1 in his last 10 starts. He was in goal for both losses to Union this year.

Francois Brisebois: the senior forward leads the team in scoring with 15 goals and 31 points, as well as power-play goals (6). He scored twice in Game 2 last weekend in Troy.
Austin Smith: led the Raiders with four points (1 goal, 3 assists) last weekend and has 10 career points in post-season play (6 goals, 4 assists). Smith it tied for the team lead with 20 assists and is second with 29 points. He currently has a four game point streak.
Robbie Bourdon: the sophomore is the only forward on the team besides Brisebois with double-digit goals (10). He scored the game-winning goal in double overtime in Game 3 last weekend, and has tallied a point in five of his past six games.

Union
Adam Presizniuk: in the playoffs your best player needs to play his best. Prezie is Union's best player and will be a major reason why Union advances or falls.
Keith Kinkaid: the same can be said about goaltending, which is arguably the most important thing in the playoffs. A hot goaltender can bring a team to a championship. Kinkaid is one of the best netminders in the country and if he catches fire who knows how far Union will go.
Daniel Carr: special teams is also extremely important in the playoffs. Carr is tied for the nation's lead in power-play goals, so he will be the go-to guy on Union's PP.

Andrew Buote & Justin Pallos: on the same note, penalty killing will be very important throughout the playoffs. Personally, Buote and Pallos are the two best penalty killers on the team and their leadership will be very important during the playoff run.
Mat Bodie: the younger Bodie is just one point away from breaking Mike Schreiber's '10 record for most points in a season by a defenseman (29).
Kelly Zajac: Zaj leads Union in scoring with 38 points, and has picked up 12 points (4 goals, 8 assists) in his past eight games. He will be featured in the game program this weekend (I wrote the feature story).

For more check out:
Union Athletics
Go Colgate Raiders.com
Daily Gazette - Ken Schott
Times Union - Sean Martin
Inside College Hockey

Union Wins The Cleary Cup on Senior Night

Last night was such a great feeling. The emotions of when the final buzzer sounded, all the way to the post-game celebration was perfect. I am so proud of the guys for everything they accomplished, and everything the seniors have done in their four years. The reception the seniors received from the fans was awesome and well deserved. I was also honored and shocked when Andrew Buote gave me a shout out during his speech. I really appreciated it and am just honored to be a very small part of this amazing senior class and Union Hockey.

It was also great to see Luke Cain and Stephane Boileau score goals on Senior Night. They both don't dress every game, so it was awesome to see them capitalize. You could tell how excited they were to score, especially Boileau (check the highlights). John Simpson also added an empty netter.

Union's power-play once again did a great job last night as they scored twice with the man advantage. They lead the nation with a 30.97% conversion rate. Union went 3-for-4 last night and 4-for-6 on the weekend. Daniel Carr netted a PP goal and added an even strength goal later. He is now tied with New Hampshire's Paul Thompson and Colorado College's Tyler Johnson for the nation's lead with 12 power-play goals. Thompson and Johnson are both seniors, while Carr is a freshman. His two first period goals gave Union an 3-0 first period lead. Three has been the magic number this season as the Dutchmen are 21-1-2 in games where they've scored at least three goals.

Keith Kinkaid had another great weekend once again. He made 35 saves (including 17 in the second period) last night to pick up his third shutout of the season. Kinkaid leads the nation with a 1.93 GAA and 24 wins.

Well, now it's on to the playoffs. Union gets the weekend off with the first round bye. Here are the first round matchups:
(5) RPI vs. (12) Colgate
(6) Princeton vs. (11) St. Lawrence
(7) Clarkson vs. (10) Harvard
(8) Quinnipiac vs. (9) Brown

For more on the game check out:
USCHO
Union Athletics
Ken Schott's Blog
Times Union (Sean Martin)
Times Union (Mark McGuire)

I also want to make a special shout out to former Union College president Roger Hull. In January 2004 he said:

"Let me tell you of my idea of being competitive: fielding a team that has a reasonable chance of winning every time it steps on the ice... And when they got to 40 percent [winning percentage], I was proud, and when they reached nearly 50 percent a few years ago, I was tremendously proud of them."

I wonder if he's super-tremendously-ridiculously-doing hand stands proud of this team.

Union Travels to Two Tough Buildings This Weekend

Prior to the beginning of the season I thought that the trip to Colgate and Cornell would be one of the most difficult one's of the year. I thought both of these teams would be competing for an ECAC championship (and so did the Coaches and Media). But, both the Raiders and Big Red have struggled to begin the ECAC season as both are in the bottom half of the standings with Colgate being in dead last. While I am more confident about Union's chances this weekend there are still reasons to worry. I do think Union will pick up two wins this weekend, but I would not be shocked if they lost one or both of these games for these two reasons:

Starr Rink

1. The Starr Curse: The Dutchmen have played 22 games at Colgate's Starr rink and they've only picked up ONE WIN going 1-20-1. The last time Union won a game at Colgate was in 1998 when Trevor Koening was in net (Check out Ken Schott's article about the win here). No player on Union's current roster has ever won a game at Starr. There is really no rhyme or reason to this trend, but the Dutchmen will have to find a way to break the curse... and this would be the perfect time to do so considering the Raiders have only won one game in their past 16 (1-14-1), including a seven game losing streak (three loses in OT).

Lynah Rink

2. Lynah Rink's atmosphere: Maybe a reason why Union has had so much trouble at Colgate is because they are looking ahead to playing at Cornell the next night, which is a pretty daunting task. Cornell's Lynah rink is the toughest building to play in the ECAC and one of the toughest in the country. The Big Red fans always pack the place and are extremely loud. They have some of the best fans in the country as they have a great pep band and entertaining chants. If you come out without alive without a loss at Cornell, you've done a good job. Cornell might be down as of this moment, but they are extremely dangerous. They just beat Quinnipiac and Princeton on the road.

Here are some players to look out for this weekend:

Colgate:
Austin Smith (forward): leads team with 12 assists and 17 points. He was named All-ECAC this preseason.
Francois Brisebois (forward): second on the team with 16 points.
Brian Day (forward): leads the team in goals (8), power-play goals (4), and penalty minutes (28). I picked him as All-ECAC this preseason and predicted that he would have a huge year.

Cornell:
Nick D'Agostino (defense): leads the team with six goals, tied for second with five assists, and is second with 11 points... AS A DEFENSEMAN! This actually comes as no surprise to me since I picked him to my Preseason All-ECAC team.
Greg Miller (forward): leads team with 10 assists and 12 points.
Joe & Mike Devin (forward & defense): the two senior brothers are big powerful players. Joe is tied for second on the team with five goals and is thrid with 10 points, wile Mike leads the team with 24 penalty minutes. Their younger sister Molly-Kate is a sophomore on Union's Women's Hockey team.

Union:
Kyle Bodie (forward): played very well last weekend as he picked up four points and was named the ECAC Player of the Week. Let's see if he can follow it up with another good performance and solidify his spot in the lineup.
Andrew Buote (forward): was a healty scratch for the first time in a long time last Saturday against Clarkson. Leaman says he's "challenging the seniors," so let's see how he responds.
Adam Presizniuk (forward): he finally broke the all-time points record last weekend, which was probably nice to just get out of the way. This weekend is his third weekend back since returning from his thumb injury. Now with the record out of the way and his thumb feeling better let's see if Prezie goes on a tear.

For more on the games check out:
Union Athletics.com
Go Colgate Raiders.com
The Unofficial Colgate Hockey Blog
Ken Schott's Blog --> He has tonight's starting lineups
Cornell Big Red.com

Also, Union Assistant SID Jeff Weinstein will be live chatting tonight from Starr Rink. To access the Live Chat click here.

Good Luck On Your Finals!

Classes for the Fall term ended yesterday afternoon, so all the Union students are now diligently studying for the finals which begin on Wednesday.

A special good luck goes out to our Dutchmen who just came off an exhausting weekend. But, I doubt they need the extra good luck as 12 current Union players made the ECAC All-Academic team last season:

Jean-Sebastian Bergeron, Stephane Boileau, Andrew Buote, Luke Cain, Nolan Julseth-White, Brock Matheson, Justin Pallos, Taylor Reid, John Simpson, Wayne Simpson, Shawn Stuart and Jeremy Welsh.

I'm pretty confident that "The Professor" will have no problems with his finals considering he was a finalist forthe ECAC Hockey Student-Athlete of the Year award, was given the Thomas Vanarden Dukehard award for the highest GPA on the men's ice hockey team, and was named Union College's junior student-athlete of the year last season.

The Dutchmen will return to the ice in two weekends to play at Brown and Yale

College Hockey Video of the Week (6/28/10): Dutchmen on the Hockey Treadmill

This is a new segment that I will be adding to the blog every week. I call it "College Hockey Video of the Week." I will be showing some great goals, hits, fights, etc. from college hockey that have been caught on film. Some of these videos will be Union Hockey videos, just like the one I am presenting this week.

This is a video of some of your favorite Union players working out in the awesome hockey training facility at Athletic Republic in Clifton Park. Here Dutchmen such as Luke Cain and Andrew Buote are training on the hockey treadmill, which might be one of the coolest things I've ever seen. I definitely need to get one for my house next season! I can't wait for the 2010-2011 season to begin, and I'm sure the players are working hard this summer.

If for some reason you cannot see (I can on my computer) the video click on this link here.

16 Dutchmen named to ECAC All-Academic Team

The ECAC announced today that 181 student-athletes have been named to the ECAC All-Academic team. 16 of the 181 players are from Union. These Dutchmen are: freshman Jean Sebastian Bergeron, junior Stephane Boileau, junior Andrew Buote, sophomore (technically a junior since he red-shirted) Luke Cain, senior Jeff Christiansen, sophomore Nolan Julseth-White, senior Jon Lareau, junior captain Brock Matheson, junior Justin Pallos, sophomore Taylor Reid, senior Jason Shaffer, junior John Simpson, freshman Wayne Simpson, freshman Shawn Stuart, senior captain Mike Wakita, and freshman Jeremy Welsh.

Over half of these guys are Economics majors, which is pretty impressive to me. I took Economics 101 freshman year... and let's just say it wasn't my best class.

To be eligible for the All-Academic team one must obtain a 3.0 GPA.

Congratulations to the 16 Dutchmen and the other 165 ECAC players. The ECAC is by far the most challenging league academically in college hockey. Each team in the ECAC had at least 13 All-Academic selections, except for Clarkson who only had four (weird?).

For more check out ECAC Hockey.com and Union Athletics.com.

Ikkala latest to sign with Dutchmen

It has been announced that Cole Ikkala has committed to join Union next season. Cole is a 6' 1", 195 lbs. forward, and will turn 20 this summer. With the Vernon Vipers (BCHL) this season Ikkala has accumulated 22 goals, 23 assists, and 45 points in 58 games. College hockey runs in the Ikkala family as Cole's father played for Northern Michigan and his older brother Cody plays at Army. It will be interesting to see how the next Union-Army game turns out with Ikkala's on both sides.

He sounds like a future third or fourth line guy, someone who is comparable to junior assistant captain Andrew Buote. From what people are saying, he's a guy that isn't flashy and won't accumulate too many points, but he does a lot of the dirty work and will get the job done. Players like that are extremely valuable, and every team has a guy or two like that. Ikkala might not see too much playing time next year considering he had a limited amount of experience in juniors, but he could replace Buote the year after. Just based on the information I have heard an read I like this signing. Role players are very important to have as stars will not be able to perform well without a supporting cast.

I'm pretty sure Ikkala's nickname is (or will be) Ikky. So, after he scores his first NCAA goal he better do the Ickey Shuffle. Also, I think the song for when he scores should be Icky Thump by the White Stripes.

For more on Cole Ikkala check out the Vernon Morning Star and this video where Ikkala is interviewed.

Awards handed out at Annual Banquet

This past evening, the Union men's hockey team celebrated the best season in their history at Glens Sanders Mansion. At the banquet the annual awards were given out. Here is who won each award:

MVP: Mario Valery-Trabucco

Rookie of the Year: Keith Kinkaid

Unsung Hero: Andrew Buote

Most Improved: Luke Cain

Coaches' Award: Mike Schreiber

7th Player Award: Mario Valery-Trabucco

Charles N. Morrison Award: Mike Wakita

Thomas VanArden Dukehart Award: Stephane Boileau

No surprises here for the most part. I thought Brock Matheson would get an award over Buote because Buote has won awards in the past, but there are no complaints here on any decisions.

For more on the awards and the banquet go to Union Athletics.com

Union stages epic comeback against Dartmouth

Going down four goals on the road 7:20 into a game is not the way you want to start out, but scoring five unanswered goals... that's character, and last night's game proves that this team has a ton of character. This is the type of game that the Dutchmen will look back on in the playoffs, and say that they can do anything. Granted they were playing an 11th placed team, but a four goal deficit at any level of hockey, no matter who you are playing, is a difficult one to make up.

The really great thing about last night's victory is how the freshmen skaters stepped up when their team needed them. Each Jeremy Welsh, Shawn Stuart, and Kyle Bodie scored a goal, and Wayne Simpson had two assists. It's also important that Union's big players showed up when they need them. The Mario-Wally-Prez line connected for a huge power-play goal in the second period, and Prez and Mike Schreiber picked up assists in the third period. You also can't forget Andrew Buote, who picked up two assists on the night. He is one of the hardest working players on the ice for the Dutchmen every game. And last, but definitely not least, Luke Cain scored the game-tying goal late in the third as he tipped a shot past the Dartmouth goaltender. He has scored a goal in five of Union's last six weekends. Cain is another hard-working player, and it was nice to see him make a huge impact in his return to Thomspon Arena after his horrific injury two years ago. The offense has been clicking lately as they have scored 20 goals in the past three games.

Keith Kinkaid had a very rough night last night, but luckily Corey Milan was able to come in and hold down the fort. Maybe Keith is suffering from some fatigue, so don't be surprised to see Milan in the net tonight against Harvard.

The Dutchmen need to take advantage of the Cornell- Yale matchup tonight as one of these teams has to lose, or they can tie so neither team could pick up two points. There is a very good chance that after tonight there will no longer be a three way tie for first place.

For more on last night's game check out Union Athletics.com, Dartmouth Sports.com, Daily Gazette.com, Times Union.com, and Ken Schott's Blog.

Union sets up battle for first place with win over Princeton

With two goals from each Andrew Buote and Kelly Zajac the Dutchmen were able to beat the Tigers 7-3. Jason Walters also stayed hot with another goal and Mario Valery-Trabucco also kept up his scoring touch with a power-play goal. Keith Kinkaid made 37 saves in the victory as well, and will sit tonight against Quinnipiac in favor of junior Corey Milan. The Dutchmen are just one point behind the Bobcats heading into tonight's matchup, so if the Dutchmen win tonight they will take over first place in the ECAC standings. Tonight should be a fun game as Union and Quinnipiac both have prolific offenses which are both top-10 in the nation along with top-10 power-play units. The difference in the game will be goaltending and penalty killing. Union's Corey Milan has played well of late and it will be interesting to see if he keeps it up. If he does have a big game it will give him a strong case to start playing more consistently. The team has been getting some attention on campus (many students were talking about last night's win throughout the night), and by moving into first place tonight they should get a big reception in their home game against RPI next weekend.

You can read some literature about last night's game on Union Athletics.com, Go Princeton Tigers.com, USCHO.com, Times Union.com, and on Ken Schott's Blog. You can also see video interviews courtesy of Ken Schott.

Union advances to RPI Tournament championship game with shootout win

After a scoreless 65 minutes Mario Valery-Trabucco scored the only goal of the shootout to send the Dutchmen to the championship game where they will face the winner of the RPI-Bentley game. Freshman goaltender Keith Kinkaid made 30 saves for his first career shutout, along with stopping all three of Lake State's shooters in the shootout. The game will officially go down as a tie. LSSU's Kyle Haynes had a great opportunity to win the game for the Lakers with under one minutes left in overtime, but whiffed on his shot with an open net.

Even though I was not at the game (I'm enjoying my winter break at home), I did get to listen to the majority of the game on the radio. From what I can tell it was a pretty unexciting and sluggish game even though each team had a combined 60 shots on net. But, you have to be happy with the way Kinkaid played (it looks like most of you got what you wanted in goal), and advancing to the championship game. Hopefully this will repeat scenario of what happened in last year's Governor's Cup where Union advanced to the championship game with a shootout victory over RPI, and then won the tournament with a win over Colgate. Personally, I'd like to see RPI win tonight because Union-RPI games are always fun and it would be a stronger test for the Dutchmen considering RPI is better than Bentley on paper.

For those who haven't heard or didn't notice during the game senior captains Jason Walters and Andrew Buote did not dress tonight due to team violations. Supposedly more players violated the rule and will not play tomorrow. I haven't heard any word on what the infraction was. It is interesting that both of the players who sat out tonight were senior captains. Maybe Wakita, Schreiber, Matheson, and/or Presizniuk will be out tomorrow.

If RPI wins the Dutchmen will play at 7pm tomorrow, but if Bentley wins they will play for the championship at 4pm.

Here's the game recap from UnionAthletics.com:
http://www.unionathletics.com/news/2009/11/27/MICE_1127093453.aspx

Here's video of the shooout along with post-game interviews:
http://www.dailygazette.com/videos/2009/nov/27/319/

No games this weekend, Finals Week

For those of you who don't know today (Thursday) is the beginning of Finals Week at Union, which is the reason (I assume) that the Dutch will not have any games this weekend. The Fall 09 finals last from Thursday to next Tuesday.

Last season 11 current Dutchmen (14 if you include Potts, Caffaro, and Cook) made the ECAC All- Academic Team: Stephane Boileau, Andrew Buote, Luke Cain, Jeff Christansen, Nolan Julseth-White, Jon Lareau, Brock Matheson, Justin Pallos, Taylor Reid, Jason Shaffer, and John Simpson.

Good Luck to all the players and the rest of the student body!

Wakita named captain, 5 others to rotate as assistants

Today at the team's Media Day Coach Nate Leaman announced that senior defenseman Mike Wakita has been elected captain by his teammates and will be wearing the "C" this season. He also announced that there will be a rotation of five players as alternate captains this season. These five are senior forward Jason Walters, senior defenseman Mike Schreiber, junior forward Andrew Buote, junior defenseman Brock Matheson, and junior forward Adam Presizniuk.

I feel that Wakita is a great choice for captain. He brings so much heart and determination on and off the ice. Even though his presence isn't felt on the score sheet (eight points over three years), he is definitely noticed through out the game with his great defensive presence and bone crushing hits. He is definitely a fan favorite, and now it is obvious that he is a locker room favorite as well.

Schreiber and Walters are also great choices. Both are four-year letter-winners and they have made huge impacts on the offensive side of the puck. Walters has helped pace the Union offense over his years having scored 26 goals and posting 49 assists in 105 games, while Schreiber has helped the offense from the blueline having posted nine goals and 40 assists in 108 games. Both are also major presences on the power play.

Presizniuk is a pretty obvious choice in my eyes. He is one of the greatest forwards this program has seen and last year's stats prove that. He set the school for points in a season with 38, and has been the leading scorer on the team for the past two years. Usually just out of respect the best player is given at least an "A."

The opposite is to be said about Buote and Matheson as they are not big time point getters. Buote has five goals and two assists in 69 games, while Matheson one goal and six assists in 62 games. These guys are barely recognized for their actions on the ice, but they both play crucial roles for the Dutchmen. Buote is an excellent penalty killer and has a knack for scoring big goals, while Matheson is a great stay-at-home defenseman who has bailed out the defense numerous amount of times. Now with "A"'s on their chests they will be noticed more and appreciated for their dirty work.

See Ken Schott's video discussing the new captains with Coach Leaman, Wakita, and Presizniuk:
http://www.dailygazette.com/videos/2009/oct/05/267/