ECAC Hockey Power Rankings (and playoff schedule)

by Ryan Fay

Before we get to the power rankings, here is a look at the ECAC playoff schedule:

FIRST-ROUND (Friday, Mar. 8 - Sunday, Mar. 10 - Best-of-three games - campus sites)
No. 12 Harvard at No. 5 Dartmouth
No. 11 Colgate at No. 6 St. Lawrence
No. 10 Clarkson at No. 7 Brown
No. 9 Cornell at No. 8 Princeton

Quinnipiac, Rensselaer, Yale, and Union have first round byes.

QUARTERFINALS (Friday, Mar. 15 - Sunday, Mar. 17 - Best-of-three games - campus sites)
Lowest remaining seed at No. 1 Quinnipiac
Second lowest remaining seed at No. 2 Rensselaer
Third lowest remaining seed at No. 3 Yale
Fourth lowest remaining seed at No. 4 Union

SEMIFINALS (Friday, Mar. 22 - Boardwalk Hall, Atlantic City, New Jersey)
Semifinal No. 1 - 4 p.m

Semifinal No. 2 - 7:30 p.m.

CHAMPIONSHIP/THIRD PLACE (Saturday, Mar. 23 - Boardwalk Hall, Atlantic City, New Jersey)
Third-Place Game - 4 p.m.
Championship Game - 7 p.m.

Onto the power rankings -

1. QUINNIPIAC (24-5-5 overall, 17-2-3 ECAC) LAST WEEK (LW): 1
The Bobcats had a tremendous regular season, winning the Cleary Cup, finishing 10 points ahead of second place RPI, and racking up the most points in the regular season (37) since Cornell had 38 in 2004-2005. But don't assume Quinnipiac will go uncontested in the league playoffs. The Bobcats are only 3-2-1 over the last six games and have proven to be human after all.

2. RENSSELAER (17-12-5, 12-7-3) LW: 2
If anyone is going to knock off Quinnipiac, RPI isn't a bad choice. The Engineers went 9-1 over their final 10 league contests while outscoring opponents 35-14. Senior defenseman Nick Bailen closed his final collegiate regular season on a high note with two goals and five assists in the last three contests.

3. YALE (16-10-3, 12-9-1) LW: 5
After a five game skid, Yale ended the season strong, winning its final three games. Saturday's 2-1 win over Cornell was the most impressive of the three as Cornell came into the game riding a five game unbeaten streak. Senior forward Andrew Miller has been especially good lately with two goals and three assists over the final three regular season contests.

4. UNION (17-12-5, 10-8-4) LW: 9
Protecting its home ice is one reason why the Dutchmen ended up getting a first round bye. Union went 6-0-1 over its past seven home games, including beating the St. Lawrence and Clarkson by a combined 9-1 score at crunch time over the weekend. The arrow is pointing back up again.

5. BROWN (11-12-6, 7-9-6) LW: 4
The Bears split over the weekend, losing 4-1 to Cornell on Friday ahead of a 5-1 win over Colgate the next night. The split was good enough to give Brown home ice in the first round, something that hasn't happened since 2005. The Bears are 3-1-1 over their past five games at Meehan Auditorium.

6. ST. LAWRENCE (16-14-4, 9-9-4) LW: 3
St. Lawrence entered the weekend in the mix for a first round bye, but those prospects went out the door with a 5-1 loss at Union and a 4-1 setback at RPI. It marked the first time all season that St. Lawrence lost back-to-back road games. Getting Kyle Flanagan (appendectomy) back for this weekend's series with Colgate would only help, but they should advance anyway.

7. CORNELL (12-14-3, 8-11-3) LW: 6
The Big Red closed out the regular season with a 4-1 triumph over Brown and a 2-1 loss at Yale, the latter being their first defeat in three weeks. Sophomore Joel Lowry, who was drafted by Los Angeles in the fifth round of the 2011 NHL draft, is playing some of his best hockey of the year with three goals and three assists in the final six regular season games. Goalie Andy Illes has come on strong as well, not allowing more than two goals in any of his last seven starts.

8. HARVARD (9-17-3, 6-14-2) LW: 10
Harvard became the second ECAC team to beat Quinnipiac this year after the Crimson held on for a 2-1 victory on Friday. Despite playing much better hockey of late (two losses in past six league games), Harvard couldn't escape the league basement and enter the tournament as the 12th seed. The Crimson will take on fifth-seeded Dartmouth and I'll go out on a limb and say Harvard wins in three.

9. DARTMOUTH (13-11-5, 9-9-4) LW: 8
In order to win in the playoffs, you need to string wins together. But the last time Dartmouth won back to back games was way back in mid January. A lot is made of Dartmouth's home dominance (10-4-1 on the year) but the Big Green are just 2-3-1 in their past six games at Thompson Arena.

10. PRINCETON (10-14-5, 8-10-4) LW: 12
Getting home ice in the first round may not be the best thing for the Tigers. Princeton is 0-4 in its past four home contests, but hold a 3-0-1 mark its last four road games. Speaking of road games, Princeton went into overtime in both weekend road games, tying Dartmouth, 2-2, and prevailing, 2-1, over Harvard. In the latter game, Princeton pulled goaltender Mike Condon late in overtime, but Andrew Calouf netted an extra skater goal with 37 seconds left on the clock to win it.

11. CLARKSON (9-18-7, 8-11-3) LW: 7
If Clarkson has any chance to beat Brown, they're going to need to score some goals. It sounds simple enough, right? However, scoring goals has been far from simple for the Golden Knights lately. Clarkson enters the league playoffs with scoreless drought of 141:29, the second longest in program history (167:45, set in 2002). You can thank the Clarkson Hockey Blog for that stat.

12. COLGATE (14-16-4, 6-13-3) LW: 11
The Raiders are the definition of limping into the playoffs. Colgate has all of one victory in the past 10 games and they don't appear all that likely to be playing in two weeks. The Raiders drew St. Lawrence in the first round and will be going on the road, where they have two wins all season. The last time Colgate won a league game on the road was Dec. 1 at Clarkson.

ECAC hockey power rankings (2/25/13)

by Ryan Fay

It all comes down to this. The upcoming weekend marks the end of the regular season, but much is yet to be decided. Remarkably, the only lock is Quinnipiac finishing first. Just about everything else is up for grabs with many teams having a wide range of possible finishes.

Lets take a look at how the teams stack up as the regular season is set to close:

1. QUINNIPIAC (23-4-5 overall, 16-1-3 ECAC) LAST WEEK (LW): 1
Saturday's 3-3 tie against Brown will keep the #1/1 Bobcats from being the first ECAC team with 40 points since Harvard finished with 40 during the 1988-1989 campaign. Even with two wins to close out the regular season, Quinnipiac would max out at 39 points, which would rank as the highest single year point total in the league since Cornell racked up 39 in 2002-2003.

2. RPI (15-12-5, 10-7-3) LW: 2
RPI's eight game winning streak in league play came to an end with Friday's 4-1 loss at Cornell and the four goals allowed were the most given up by RPI in a single game since surrendering four at Princeton on Jan. 12. The weekend was salvaged when Matt Neal scored with ten seconds left in overtime to propel the Engineers to a 3-2 win at Colgate on Saturday. The second place Engineers remain in possession of a first round bye.

3. ST. LAWRENCE (16-12-4, 9-7-4) LW: 3
The Saints have a first round bye to lose and going on the road to conclude the regular season isn't the worst thing. With nine road wins, the Saints have the second most victories away from home in the league (Quinnipiac has 10). Additionally, St. Lawrence is the only team in the league with more road wins (9) than home wins (7).

4. BROWN (10-11-6, 6-8-6) LW: 6
Is there a peskier team in the league than the Bears? According to Dartmouth men's hockey SID Patrick Salvas, Brown has not lost a game to the eventual regular season champ last season (Union) or this season (Qunnipiac). The Bears went 2-0 against Union a year ago and are 0-0-2 versus Quinnipiac this season. On Saturday, the Bears used two late third period goals to tie the Bobcats, 3-3.

5. YALE (14-10-3, 10-9-1) LW: 5
The best news for #13/14 Yale over the weekend was the return of netminder Jeff Malcolm, who stopped 17-of-20 shots in Saturday's 4-3 triumph against Princeton. His return couldn't have come soon enough as the team lost all five games he missed. Another encouraging sign was scoring four goals on Saturday, which was as many as Yale had in the previous four games combined.

6. CORNELL (11-13-3, 7-10-3) LW: 11

That horrific stretch from late December through early February looks like a thing of the past. The Big Red are unbeaten in their past four games (3-0-1) and look like they could be peaking at the right time. Cornell handed RPI its first league loss in six weeks on Friday and used three early goals to take Union out of Saturday's game only 10 minutes into play. Greg Miller, who leads Cornell with 14 goals, has been particularly hot lately with six tallies in the past four contests.

7. CLARKSON (9-16-7, 8-9-3) LW: 7
Which team is tied with St. Lawrence for the second highest goals per game (GPG) average in league play? Quinnipiac? Nah, they comfortably top the list at 3.40 GPG. RPI? Nope, the Engineers are seventh at 2.60. It's Clarkson at 2.90 GPG. The Golden Knights wouldn't have been my first guess, either. According to USCHO.com ECAC columnist Brian Sullivan, Clarkson can finish as high as third and as low as 11th after next weekend. The Knights travel to RPI and Union to wrap up the regular season.

8. DARTMOUTH (13-10-4, 9-8-3) LW: 8
#19/RV Dartmouth is tied with Yale for the final first round bye and return home for a chance to solidify their positioning. The good news? The Big Green protect their home as well as anyone in the league, as evidenced by a 10-3 mark in games played at Thompson Arena this season. The bad news? The clubs coming in, Princeton and Quinnipiac, are 2-0 against Dartmouth this year.

9. UNION (15-12-5, 8-8-4) LW: 4
After two home wins last weekend, there was a feeling the team had righted the ship and looked poised for a strong finish. But this past weekend erased those thoughts. On Friday, the Dutchmen lost, 4-1, to a Colgate team which entered the game on a six game winless streak. The next night, Union essentially lost the game in the first ten minutes after falling behind 3-0 at Cornell. There were some strong spurts later in the contest, but it was an inconsistent effort that left a desire for a full sixty minute effort. I don't think there are many people who know what to expect from #20 Union going forward.

10. HARVARD (8-16-3, 5-13-2) LW: 10
You want your best players to step up late in the season and that's happening for Harvard. Top scorer Alex Fallstrom has a point in six straight contests, his longest streak of the season, and Marshall Everson has scored seven of his 11 goals in the same six game run. In that span, the Crimson are 5-1.

11. COLGATE (14-14-4, 6-11-3) LW: 12
If Colgate has a run in them, it will come from their underclassmen. Five of the team's top seven point getters are either freshmen or sophomores. The top three goal scorers, Kyle Baun, Tylor Spink, and Darcy Murphy are all freshmen. Even if the rest of the season fails to yield desirable results, a nice foundation is in place in Hamilton.

12. PRINCETON (9-14-4, 7-10-3) LW: 9
The Tigers haven't had much roar lately. Princeton has lost its past four contests, and worse yet, all four losses have been at home. Before the slide, Princeton was beaten at home just two times in the first four-plus months of the season. Their regular season ends with trips to Dartmouth and Harvard.

Colgate downs Dutchmen, 4-1

The following was provided by the Union College Sports Information Office:

==========

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

HAMILTON, NY – Sophomore defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere scored a power play goal, but No. 20 men’s ice hockey (15-11-5, 8-7-3 ECAC Hockey) fell, 4-1, to Colgate (14-13-4, 6-10-3 ECAC Hockey) in front of 1,903 fans at Starr Rink.

Colgate’s Kurtis Bartliff scored on the Raiders’ first shot of the night, Spiro Goulakos and Taylor Spink scored power play goals in the second and third period, and Robbie Bourdon added an empty net goal for Colgate, which snapped a six game winless streak.

Colgate’s Eric Mihalik made 35 stops in net for the Raiders, who were outshot 36-32 for the night by the Dutchmen.

The Raiders finished the night 2-for-5 on the man advantage, while the Dutchmen went 1-for-4 on the power play.

Colgate got off to a fast start, scoring on its first shot of the night in the opening minutes. Thomas Larkin fed Bartliff in the slot, and Barliff beat junior goaltender Troy Grosenick (28 saves) from three feet out at 2:58 to put the Raiders up 1-0.

Union controlled play for much of the frame before and after Colgate’s opening goal, establishing their forecheck early on in the contest.

Minutes after Bartliff’s goal, Colgate’s Joe Wilson tripped up Mat Bodie in the Union zone, giving the Dutchmen their first power play opportunity of the night. Union would take advantage, as senior forward Kyle Bodie fed cross-ice to sophomore defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere.

Gostisbehere fired over the shoulder of Mihalik at 6:56 to tie the game at 1-1.

Union continued to carry the play, as senior defenseman Greg Coburn hit the post on a one-timer off a feed from junior forward Josh Jooris at the 9:00 mark, and later in the period, Mat Bodie fired into the chest of Mihalik as the trailer on a Union odd-man rush.

Early in the second period, Colgate regained the lead after Jooris was sent to the penalty box for charging in the opening minute. Colgate’s Spiro Goulakos fired a slapshot from straightaway past Grosenick in the final second of the man advantage at 2:37.

Union’s best chance to even the score came at the 9:13 mark after good sustained pressure by the fourth line. Sophomore forward Sam Coatta fired a low turnaround shot from the slot on net, and freshman forward David Roy had his rebound chance deflect high over an open goal.

Grosenick was at his best on another Colgate power play later in the period, with Jooris again in the penalty box. Grosenick kicked his right pad out to make a stop on Colgate’s Kyle Baum, then stopped a long drive by Goulakos after the Jooris penalty expired at 17:00.

Colgate went on an early power play in the third period, as Mat Bodie went to the box for interference at 3:24. Tylor Spink was at the goal mouth to put in a rebound of a Jeremy Price shot from the point at 4:30, giving Colgate a two goal lead.

Union’s best chance to cut into Colgate’s lead came with 5:57 to go, as junior forward Josh Jooris put a rebound of a Charlie Vasaturo shot into the pads of Mihalik.

Union will take on Cornell tomorrow night at Lynah Rink in a contest that starts at 7:00 p.m.

Union lines at Colgate (2/22/13)

by Ryan Fay

Opting to stick with what worked last weekend in wins over Yale and Brown, Rick Bennett will be trotting out the same lines for tonight's game at Colgate.

(Union Athletics)

Union Hockey Soundbytes (2/21/13)

by Ryan Fay

Men's hockey head coach Rick Bennett and forward Kyle Bodie addressed the media this afternoon.

Hear what they said via the players below:





Can't see the embedded players?

To listen to Kyle Bodie, click here.

To hear Rick Bennett, click here.

ECAC Hockey Power Rankings (2/18/13)

by Ryan Fay

There are only two more weekends of regular season action. But there's a lot more yet to be decided. Lets see how the teams stack up right now:

1. QUINNIPIAC (22-4-4 overall, 15-1-2 ECAC) LAST WEEK (LW): 1

It finally happened. #1/1 Quinnipiac suffered its first league loss of the season after St. Lawrence held on for a 2-1 victory on Friday. There were some close calls earlier this season (i.e 1-1 ties against RPI and Brown) but it was Saints who finished the job. While the loss ruined a chance at an undefeated league season, it wasn't all that damaging. After Union knocked off Yale, the Bobcats clinched the Cleary Cup on Friday anyway. Concerns about a letdown performance on Saturday versus Clarkson were quelled with a 2-1 win.

2. RPI (14-11-5, 9-6-3) LW: 3

With all due respect to Quinnipiac, RPI may well be the ECAC team one would least want to face right now. The boys from Troy have fired off eight league wins in a row and have looked dominant in the process. RPI has allowed three goals or less in every game during the run with two shutouts mixed in. During the streak, the Engineers have outscored their opponents 30-10. You'd hate to be Colgate and Cornell this weekend.

3. ST. LAWRENCE (15-11-4, 8-6-4) LW: 4

If the Saints had any chance to beat Quinnipiac, they were going to need their best players to come up big. And that's what happened. Greg Carey, who leads the nation with 23 goals, scored both St. Lawrence goals on Friday. The junior has at least one goal in nine straight contests dating back to Jan. 19 at Clarkson. Currently tied with Union for third place, the Saints have a chance to solidify a first round bye with Dartmouth, Harvard, and Union coming up on the calendar. St. Lawrence is 3-0 against them this year.

4. UNION (15-10-5, 8-6-4) LW: 6

After starting the month on a three game winless streak, and losing grip on a first round bye, there was some concern the season may be starting to slip away from the two-time defending league champions. But the Dutchmen earned four huge points after beating #9/10 Yale 4-2 on Friday and blanking Brown 2-0 the next night. A week after getting yanked in consecutive starts, Troy Grosenick rebounded and accumulated 61 saves over the weekend. Currently tied with St. Lawerence for third place, Union once again has a first round bye to lose.

5. YALE (13-9-3, 9-8-1) LW: 2

This isn't the kind of stretch run the Bulldogs wanted to have. Yale is 1-5 over their past six games, including four straight losses. The team misses starting goaltender Jeff Malcolm, who is out for an undetermined amount of time. Backup Nick Maricic was pulled after letting up a couple soft goals against Union on Friday and third-stringer Conor Wilson allowed three goals on 21 shots in Saturday's loss at RPI. The offense isn't helping, either. Yale has scored five goals in the current four game skid. 

6. BROWN (9-11-5, 5-8-5) LW: 5

Brown's three game week began on a high note with a 1-0 blanking of Yale on Tuesday, but the weekend was a different story. A 5-1 rout at RPI preceded a 2-0 defeat at Union on Saturday. In the latter, the Bears were outhot 48-23. One concern with Brown is a lack of scoring depth. With 26 points, Matt Lorito has twice as many as any other player on the roster (Garnet Hathaway - 13). Lorito's 14 goals are more than double the next highest figure on the squad (Nick Lappin's six).

7. CLARKSON (8-15-7, 7-8-3) LW: 10

Clarkson handed Princeton just its third home loss of the season with Friday's 3-2 triumph. The next night, they hung tough with league-leading Quinnipiac, but dropped a 2-1 decision. He's no Greg Carey, but Allen McPherson has been on quite the streak himself. Of his nine goals this season, five of them have come in the past six games.

8. DARTMOUTH (12-9-4, 8-7-3) LW: 9

If you want to talk about a bad loss, #17 Dartmouth's 4-2 setback to Cornell on Friday would qualify. Not only did Cornell enter the game 1-10 over its last 11 games, the game was played at Dartmouth, where the Big Green were 9-2 on the season going into the weekend. Dartmouth rebounded on Saturday with a 5-4 win over Colgate and stand tied with Yale for fourth place.

9. PRINCETON (9-12-4, 7-8-3) LW: 7

The Tigers are a tough nut to crack. Last weekend, they picked up two wins on the road after entering that weekend with one road win all year. This past weekend, Princeton brought a 6-2 home record into home games with Clarkson and St. Lawrence. They lost both.

10. HARVARD (7-15-3, 4-12-2) LW: 11

Don't look now, but Harvard is unbeaten in its last four contests (2-0-2). It's certainly a welcome sight after the Crimson had a stretch with one win in 16 games. Harvard put up seven goals on Tuesday in a 7-4 win over #/11/13 Boston University in the Beanpot consolation game. The strong effort was followed by a 4-1 win over Colgate on Friday and a 2-2 draw with Cornell on Saturday.

11. CORNELL (9-13-3, 5-10-3) LW: 12
With a win and a tie, Cornell had its first league weekend with more than two points since picking up four points against Clarkson and St. Lawrence on Nov. 30-Dec 1. Cornell closes out the regular season portion of its home schedule this weekend against RPI and Union.

12. COLGATE (13-13-4, 5-10-3) LW: 8

With four straight defeats, the Raiders are sputtering to the finish line. The recent struggles can at least partly be blamed on a power play unit that has gone belly up after spending most of the season as one of the best in the conference. Over the past four games, the Colgate power play is 1-for-19.

AUDIO: Colgate men's hockey head coach Don Vaughan

by Ryan Fay

Vaughan (Colgate Athletics)

It will be a matchup of ranked teams on Saturday night when #17
Union (10-7-4, 4-3-3 ECAC) hosts #20 Colgate (11-7-2, 3-4-1).

In advance of the game, I chatted with Colgate head coach Don Vaughan.

Now in his 20th season on the Colgate bench, Vaughan discusses
what kind of team he has this year, the Dutchmen, and more.

To listen, click here or listen via the player below. The interview runs about eight minutes.

Hosted by Kiwi6 file hosting. Download mp3 - Free Music Hosting.

Union Loses To Colgate In A Heartbreaker

Ok readers, I've been thinking about what to say here for a long time now. But, there really isn't much to say. Last night's loss and the weekend in general still hurts so much. I had such a hard time leaving the rink last night since this is not the way I wanted my last moment at Messa Rink to feel like. Everyone just feels so awful. After the game I talked to Mike Schreiber via Facebook for a long time. It was about 3am in Germany and he couldn't go to sleep. Alumni messaged me via Twitter... player's girlfriends were upset... students were shocked and angry... the list goes on. Just seeing the guys so upset in the post-game press conference was heartbreaking. Walking back to my house by myself after the loss was one of the worst feelings I've ever experienced at Union. On the way back I ran into Josh Jooris and we talked for a few minutes just trying to talk it out. I think everyone on campus is shocked and upset. I don't think anybody thought Union would lose two games at home in one weekend after only losing once at Messa all season.

Our boys played well for the first five periods of the weekend, and then all of a sudden everything was turned upside down. There really isn't much else to say besides that Colgate worked their butts off and deserved the series. Their big players (Mihalik, Day, Brisebois, etc.) really stepped up when they needed to and they should be commended. They are truly playing their best hockey right now, and are proving why many picked them as a Top 5 team in the league this year (I did). It must be pretty exciting to be a Raider fan now.

As a Union fan you just have to tip your hat to the Raiders and that's that. You can't blame the refs. Even though I didn't agree with a number of calls against the Union (and some of the non-calls against Colgate), that's hockey. The Raiders were opportunistic on the power-play, so you have to give them credit. You also can't blame any specific players. Yeah, the Welsh-Carr-Jooris trio was shut down for the most part and maybe Keith Kinkaid wasn't "lights out," but studs the Prezie-Zaj-Hatch line had a good weekend as well as Wayne Simpson. Even Andrew Buote produced well this weekend, scoring two goals to give him three on the season.

But, we have to look at the positives. In any other year in Union Hockey history the season would be over. But, we've accomplished so much this season that we will be playing in the national tournament (I guess it isn't officially confirmed, but the experts seem to believe that we're a lock). There is still more hockey to play, and we can avenge this weekend by making a run in the tourney (Yale did the same thing last season and there are other examples of this). I think we all need to refocus and begin to start thinking about the national tournament. Hopefully for the players, finals week will put their focus on something else for a few days and then they can start moving in a new direction.

I believe this team isn't done yet. This is a team of destiny, and as a student and fan I will support them to the end. Good luck on your finals guys, and I'll see you in the regionals.

For more on Game 3 check out:
USCHO
Ken Schott's Blog
Times Union - Mark McGuire
Times Union - Pete Iorizzo
Union Athletics
ECAC Hockey (Video Highlights)
Ken Schott's College Hockey Slap Schotts

Tonight's Lineups vs. Colgate (Game 3)

Luke Cain & Justin Pallos

Union
Presizniuk - Zajac - Hatch
Sullivan - J. Simpson - W. Simpson
Carr - Welsh - Jooris
Buote - Pallos - Cain

Forgaard - Julseth-White
M. Bodie - Matheson
Coburn - Stuart

Kinkaid
Grosenick
Milan

Notes: Kevin Sullivan replaces Kyle Bodie on the second line while Luke Cain replaces Stephane Boileau on the fourth line. It makes some sense to me since Bodie and Boileau didn't play much of a factor during their time on the ice. Also, it's probably a good idea to have rested guys out there during a Game 3. Hopefully Cain can bring a physical presence to the ice.

Chris Wagner

Colgate
Firman - Day - Prockow
Bartliff - Smith - Brisebois
Mayer - Wagner - Bourdon
Rivellini - McCann - Nasca

Poplawski - Larkin
Price - K. McNamara
Leidl - McPherson

Mihalik
Evin
Bessette

Check out Ken Schott's pregame report (click here).

Videos From Last Night

Here are some videos I took before, during, and after Union's disappointing 4-2 loss last night to Colgate in Game 2 of the ECAC Quarterfinals.

That third period last night was one of the most uninspiring periods I've seen Union play in my four years. Now it's down to one game. The Dutchmen better clear their heads because tonight is going to be a wild one.

We will have the weekend recap once the series is over (remember Justin and I have finals, but we're doing our best!).

Tonights Lineups vs. Colgate (Game 2)

Kelly Zajac

Union
Presizniuk - Zajac - Hatch
K. Bodie - J. Simpson - W. Simpson
Carr - Welsh - Jooris
Buote - Pallos - Boileau

Forgaard - Julseth-White
M. Bodie - Matheson
Coburn - Stuart

Kinkaid
Grosenick
Milan

Notes: Kyle Bodie replaces Kevin Sullivan on the Simpsons line tonight. Bodie usually plays with Buote/Pallos when Boileau is also in the lineup, but I guess Leaman liked the way The Professor played with Buote and Pallos last night.

Brian Day

Colgate
Firman - Day - Prockow
Bartliff - Smith - Brisebois
Mayer - Wagner - Bourdon
Rivellini - McCann - Nasca

Poplawski - Larkin
Price - McNamara
Sinz - McPherson

Mihalik
Evin
Bessette

Notes: Rivellini replaces the younger McNamara on the fourth line tonight.

Here's a video of the Dutchmen warming up about and hour and a half before the game starts. They were also yelling and throwing around a soccer ball to get ready.

Tonights Lineups vs. Colgate (Game 1)

Wayne Simpson

Union
Presizniuk - Zajac - Hatch
Sullivan - J. Simpson - W. Simpson
Carr - Welsh - Jooris
Buote - Pallos - Boileau

Forgaard - Julseth-White
M. Bodie - Matheson
Coburn - Stuart

Kinkaid
Grosenick
Milan

Notes: Julseth-White is back in the lineup after sitting out the final weekend of the regular season with an injury... Kyle Bodie is not in the lineup tonight even though he seems to score in every game he plays lately.

Robbie Bourdon

Colgate
Firman - Day (C) - Prockow
Bartliff - Smith - Brisebois (A)
Mayer - Wagner - Bourdon
J. McNamara - McCann - Nasca

Poplawski - Larkin
Price - K. McNamara (A)
Leidl - McPherson

Mihalik
Evin
Bessette

Notes: Colgate has six NHL draft picks in the lineup tonight, while Union has none... Jack McNamara (freshman)  and Kevin McNamara (junior) are brothers.

Check out Ken Schott's pregame report (click here).

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

Taking A Look At The Rankings

Union had this past weekend off because of the first round bye. But, there were still college hockey games this weekend. The Dutchmen will play Colgate this weekend in the playoffs.

Here is where Union sits in the rankings:

USCHO: stay at 4th
INCH: stay at 3rd
USA Today/USAHM: stay at 4th
TCHB: stay at 3rd


PWR: tied for 6th with UNO
RPI: 4th
KRACH: 6th

This weekend the Dutchmen will host Colgate in the ECAC Quarterfinals. Last night the Raiders beat RPI at HFH in overtime in the decisive third game. This was the second year in a row that the Engineers were bounced from the first round of the playoffs. Last season they lost to 11th-seed Brown in three games.

You can read Jeffrey Haff's (Daily Gazette) observations from last night by clicking here.

I watched the post-game interviews with Seth Appert and Chase Polacek on YNN last night, and they were visibly upset. Even though I hate RPI (like most Union students and fans), I feel a little bad for Polacek and am a bit disappointed. Polacek is one of the best players I've seen in the ECAC in my four years, and he deserved to go out on a better note. He's probably my pick for the ECAC MVP. I was also looking forward to Union and RPI meeting up again one more time whether that were in the ECAC Final Four or the NCAA Tournament. The Engineers had a great season until they fell apart in the past few weeks. But, Polacek and York can only do so much. Besides those two stars and a few others, there really wasn't too much after that.

I admit that even a part of me last night wanted to see RPI win so we could play St. Lawrence instead of Colgate. I just feel SLU is a less dangerous team than the Raiders despite their upset of Princeton on the road (something I don't think anyone predicted).

Anyways, all of our focus is now on Colgate. The Raiders seem  to have hit their stride at the right time and have now proven that they can travel to the Capital District and win two games by close scores. Union has won both meetings with Colgate this season and have an outstanding record at home, but it's still very difficult to beat a team four times in one season. I still have the utmost confidence in our guys to win two games at Messa Rink.

SEEEE YA COLGATE - Union wins 6-3

Adam Presizniuk scored twice

Well my luck at Turningstone didn't go as well as I had hoped, but I still had a great time. Toby Keith and Eric Church rocked the place like I had never seen before, but of course as I was gettin' rowdy at the show, I kept checking my phone for Union hockey updates to see how we were doing against Colgate. I was very surprised and a bit nervous when I saw that we fell down 2-0 early but yet I was confident we would storm back. I had seen this all before in person at Princeton so I knew the boys in white had it in them.

Colgate would jump out to an early 1-0 lead when senior forward Brian Day beat Kinkaid with a low wrist shot at 10:09 of the first period. The Raiders would tack on another goal when sophomore defensemen Thomas Larkin would score on the power-play after a Professor Boileau clipping penalty.

Trailing 12-3 in shots and 2-0 on the scoreboard entering the second period, the Dutchmen score five unanswered, starting with Presizniuk’s first goal of the night. Freshman forward Matt Hatch cut into the zone and fired a shot on Colgate goaltender Eric Mihalik. Mihalik made the initial stop, but Presizniuk was there for the rebound at 6:10.

Union tied the game at 2-2 on an impressive individual effort by senior forward John Simpson. An extended period in the Colgate zone, allowed Union to change forward lines. With fresh legs on the ice, senior forward Stephane Boileau fed Simpson the puck, who jammed in his own rebound at 14:48.

With the game tied in the third period, junior forward Kelly Zajac found Presizniuk cutting into the zone for a breakaway. Presizniuk fired a shot between Mihalik’s pads that trickled over the goal line for a 3-2 Union lead at 6:15 of the third period.

Freshman forward Daniel Carr extended Union’s lead to 4-2 just 16 seconds later, redirecting a feed from freshman forward Josh Jooris at 6:31. Jooris would score one of his own on the power play at 10:01, firing a long rebound into an empty net off a shot from the point from sophomore forward Jeremy Welsh.

Colgate’s Kevin McNamara would score at 17:38 to cut Union’s lead to 5-3, but the Dutchmen would seal the game with an empty net goal from sophomore Wayne Simpson at 18:48.

Union finished the night 1-for-2 on the power play and 2-of-3 on the penalty kill, while outshooting the Raiders 36-27. Kinkaid (21-7-1) made 24 stops for his 21st win of the season.

The win was Union’s seventh in a row, tying a school record in the Division I era, set in January 2008. The Dutchmen also set a new school record for overall wins in the Division I era. They are also very close to securing a first round bye in the ECAC playoffs (I think the Magic Number is 1). The team will travel to the North Country next weekend to take on Clarkson and St. Lawrence.

Oh yeah, and those losers from Cornell defeated #8 RPI in overtime 3-2. Always great to see RPI take the dive! With two overtime losses suffered by RPI this past weekend, I expect us to move up to the #8 spot in the national polls. We will find out tomorrow afternoon so check in with us then!

Great weekend in Union hockey!! For more info on last night's 6-3 win over Colgate, please visit the links below:

Union Athletics
Ken Schott's Blog
Dan's USCHO Report
Times Union
Colgate Athletics

Thanks for reading!
-JZolot

CONTINUED...
Hey readers, it's Dan. I hope you're all enjoying Justin's posts. I think they're awesome and are a nice change of pace from my writing.

Anyways, just wanted to share some things about my experience from last night's game.

Once the Dutchmen went down 2-0 after the first period some people were nervous. I was not nervous and neither was team manager Phil Cohn. He texted me after the period saying that he expected Union to come back because the team responds well to bad periods. He was right!

Some of the biggest news of the evening came during a verbal altercation between the ECAC's director of officiating Paul Stewart and CHN's Jason Klump. It happened in the first period in the press box. Klump attended the RPI game and I guess said something that upset Stewart. When the two saw each other again at Messa Rink things got wore. I can't officially say what was said since I was trying to stay out the argument since it wasn't my business. Klump has been tweeting about the event all last night and today, and should have a story about it up on Without A Peer sometime soon.

Also, special thanks to Jeff Weinstein and Ken Schott for letting me use their voice recorders after the game for my USCHO recap after mine broke.

Check out some other interesting links I found:

Coach Leaman talks to TU's Mark McGuire about preparing for a weekend, and how more importance is placed on the Friday night game. (Times Union)

Check out what the probability is for each ECAC team winning the league championship. Union is currently at 24%. (Playoff Status.com)

See what the Magic Number for each ECAC team is. (ECAC Playoff Possibilities Script)

Here's a video from Union's third goal last night:

Tonight's Lineups vs. Colgate (2/12/11)

John Simpson

Union
Carr - Welsh - Jooris
Presizniuk - Zajac - Hatch
Boileau - J. Simpson - W. Simpson
K. Bodie - Pallos - Buote

Forgaard - Julseth-White
Coburn - Stuart
M. Bodie - Mathson

Kinkaid
Milan
Grosenick

Note: Kyle Bodie replaces Kevin Sullivan in the lineup. Stephane Boileau moves to the third line with the Simpson Brothers while Bodie plays left wing on the fourth line.

Francois Brisebois

Colgate
Bartliff - Smith - Brisebois
Bourdon - Wagner - Prockow
Firman - Day - Long
Rivellini - McCann - Nasca

McPherson - Larkin
Price - McNamara
Sinz - Poplawski

Mihalik
Evin
Bessette

Draft Picks: Smith (Dallas '07, 5th round), Wagner (Anaheim '10, 5th round), Day (NY Islanders '06, 6th round), McPherson (New Jersey '07, 3rd round), Larkin (Columbus, 5th round), Price (Vancouver '09, 4th round)

Take a look at the pre-game report on the Unofficial Colgate Hockey Blog and Ken Schott's Blog.

Players To Watch This Weekend/ Videos

Tonight the Dutchmen take on Cornell for the WHITEOUT! After a slow start the Big Red have picked it up lately as they've only lost once in their past 10 games (Union has also only lost once in their past 10 games). The one loss came against Union. They are now tied with Dartmouth for 4th place in the ECAC and are only one point behind third place RPI.

Tomorrow night Union welcomes in Colgate, who won their first ECAC game of the season last weekend with a 4-2 over Clarkson.

Cornell
Joe Devin: the senior forward was named last week's ECAC Player of the Week as he picked up three goals and two assists. He leads the team with 11 goals.
Greg Miller: the sophomore forward netted the game-winning goal in overtime against St. Lawrence last Saturday. He leads the team with 19 assists and 22 points.

Colgate
Francois Brisebois: the senior forward leads the team with 10 goals and 23 points. He's been very hot of late scoring a goal in three of his last four games and has picked up a point in seven of is last nine games. He accumulated a goal and assist in last week's win over Clarkson.
Kurtis Bartliff: the sophomore forward is tied for second on the team with 13 assists. He scored two goals against Clarkson.

Union
Keith Kinkaid: last weekend marked the first time this season where he allowed a combined six goals on back-to-back nights. Let's see how he responds.
Mat Bodie: the younger Bodie has been overshadowed by the success of Josh Jooris and Daniel Carr, but he has put together a very solid freshman campaign accumulating five goals, 19 assists, and 24 points. He is in the Top 5 of the ECAC in assists.

For more on the weekend check out:
Union Athletics.com
Cornell Big Red.com
Ithaca Journal.com
Go Colgate Raiders.com

When you get to the game be sure to pick up a game program. This week's feature article in the program is about John Simpson. Read it because I wrote it! Also, tonight I will be freelancing for the Ithaca Journal, which should be interesting. So, you can read my game recap in the Ithaca Journal with a Cornell twist.

Check out this music video made by some players from Cornell last season, and a feature on Cornell fans:

Union Sweeps Central New York Trip

Keith Kinkaid

The Starr Curse? OVER! Lynah Rink? SILENCED! This is the first time Union can say that since they swept the Central New York trip in 1998.

Friday night the Dutchmen were able to pull out a 2-1 victory at Colgate despite a poor effort. But, winning games that you really shouldn't win is a sign of a good team. Wayne Simpson and Josh Jooris scored for Union, and Keith Kinkaid put in one of his best performances of the season with 24 saves. After the game Coach Leaman said, "if it wasn’t for Keith I don’t think we win that game."

They were not discouraged or intimidated by Cornell the following night as they convincingly beat the Big Red 5-1 just one night after RPI lost at Lynah by the same score. It didn't look good for Union at first as they went down 1-0 early, but finished the game with five unanswered goals. Daniel Carr scored two power-play goals, Brock Matheson scored his first goal of the year, Kevin Sullivan picked up his second goal in as many weekends along with two assists, and Wayne added an empty netter. Kinkaid made 16 stops. The Dutchmen completely dominated as they outworked the Big Red and out shot them 42-17.

On a side note, it must have been weird to go from playing in front of under 800 people at Colgate to playing in front of a sold out crowd at Cornell. The atmosphere in the two rinks are complete opposites. Maybe that's why Union's had so much trouble during this road trip in the past.

Also, Keith Kinkaid has allowed four goals in his past four games. He is third in the nation with a 1.91 GAA among goalies with at least eight games played, and is tied for second with 14 wins. Kinkaid leads Union's defense, which is tops in the nation with 2.00 goals allowed per game.

Daniel Carr

With his two power-play goals against Cornell, Daniel Carr now has nine power-play goals on the season. Not only does this tie a Union D-1 record (Chris Ford 1993-1994), but is second most in the country. At season's end I'm sure Carr, along with Jooris and Mat Bodie, will be in serious contention of the ECAC Rookie of the Year.

Up next, Union hosts Dartmouth and Harvard. Both games (as usual) are extremely important, especially the Dartmouth game.

For more on the Colgate game go to:
Union Athletics.com
Go Colgate Raiders.com
Ken Schott's Blog

For more on the Cornell game check out:
Union Athletics.com
Cornell Big Red.com
Ken Schott's Blog
Ithaca Journal

Oh, and Union's Club Hockey team opened up their winter term schedule with a win over Mohawk Valley CC 7-3.

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.

The Starr Curse Lives On

After last night's 5-2 loss at Colgate the
Dutchmen are now 1-17-1 at Colgate. Surprisingly this year's seniors have not won a game at Starr Rink, which is the least intimidating rink in the ECAC. The crowd is always dead and no one even goes to the games. Maybe the problem is going from Lynah to Starr and how different the environments are. Either way losing two games in a row is not how you want to head into the playoffs, but the Dutchmen have a bye which will give them some time to think everything over and get their heads on straight.

Once again, congratulations to Mario Valery-Trabucco on his program record 21st goal of the season. Mario is the MVP of the team this year and is one of the top forwards in the ECAC (along with Chase Polacek, Brock Little and Sean Backman just to name a few). He is a legitimate Hobey Baker and All-American candidate. Also, Mario's linemate Jason Walters is one point away from tying the program's career point record (114, Jordan Webb).

This weekend does bring up some concern for the playoffs. First and most importantly is goaltending. Keith Kinkaid has not stepped up when he has really needed to. He, nor Corey Milan, have stolen a game for the Dutchmen even though they have had some very good games. Goaltending is the most important factor for any playoff teams as hot goaltending will prevail above everything in the playoffs. This also brings up another concern which is the amount of breakaways allowed by the Union defense. It seems like almost every game the opposition gets at least one breakaway opportunity. Also, even though there is no official statistic, it seems like Kinkaid has trouble with breakaways. Finally, it is a bit worrisome that 'Super' Mario scored two of Union's three goals this weekend (the other goal coming from Kyle Bodie). Union played two Top 4 ECAC teams this past weekend and were only able to score three goals. Offense is the strength of this team and will have to continue to be if they want to be successful in the playoffs.

We now have two weeks for Union Hockey to return, and I'm sure it will feel longer than that. Hopefully this extra time will give the Dutchmen some time to relax and tie up some loose ends. If all the top seeds win their first round playoff games Union will face RPI in the quarterfinals, which will be a very energized and exciting series. I'm not excited about this potential matchup because it is very difficult to beat a team five times in one season, especially a rival. Also, all of the regualr season games this season have been extremely tight and could have gone either way.

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