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.

Route 7 Rivalry: Parts 2 and 3 Take Place This Weekend

It's that wonderful time of the year where two schools get to hate each other for an entire weekend. Isn't it awesome?!

The Union-RPI rivalry is one of the fiercest rivalries in all of college hockey, and it has become even more energized due to Union's recent surge from cellar dweller to a national ranked team over the past few years. Heading into Friday's matchup at Messa Rink the Dutchmen are ranked 12th in the country, while RPI is 18th making this weekend even more important. Both rinks should be rocking all weekend, and are each hosting a "Blackout" night.

The two teams met two weekends ago at Lake Placid and tied 3-3 thanks to Mat Bodie's game-tying goal with about 30 seconds left in regulation. For more on the game click here.

You should expect shis weekend's games to be the same since every game between these teams in recent memory have been absolute classics.

All-time RPI holds a 44-22-10 advantage in the rivalry, including a 28-19-9 record in Division I play. But, over the past few years Union has dominated going 7-1-2 in their last 10 games. Also, Head Coach Nate Leaman is 12-5-3 all-time against the Engineers. The first game of this rivalry took place on February 26, 1904 where the Engineers topped the Dutchmen 6-2. Union won their first game of the series on February 23, 1924 with a 7-0 win in Schenectady.

Union is currently riding a seven game unbeaten streak (4-0-3), while the Engineers come off of a win at Dartmouth (4-1) and a loss at Harvard (1-0) last weekend.

RPI is currently has the top ranked defense in the nation among teams that have played at least three games as they are averaging just 1.67 goals allowed per game. Union on the other hand is third in overall defense among teams that have played at least three game (1.80 goals allowed per game), fourth in overall offense (4.20 goals per game), and has the best power-play unit in the country (17-of-44, 38.64%).

My prediction: A weekend sweep for the Dutchmen... 2-1 Union, 3-2 (OT) Union

Players To Look For: RPI
Pretty much the same cast of characters here:


Nick Bailen '13



Chase Polacek: is the reigning ECAC Player of the Year... leads RPI in scoring with five goals, six assists, and 11 points... scored two goals last weekend in a win over Dartmouth... one of the fastest players in all of college hockey.

Nick Bailen: leads all ECAC defensemen in scoring with two goals and six assists.

Allen York: allowed just one goal last weekend to begin ECAC play... fourth in the nation among goaltenders with at least four games in GAA (1.62) and save percentage (.939).

Players To Look For: Union
Once again, the same cast of characters:

Adam Presizniuk: is third in the nation with 17 points... needs just one point and one assist to become Union's D-I all-time points and assists leader passing Jason Walters '10 and Joel Beal '05, respectively.

Keith Kinkaid: also allowed just one goal last weekend to open up ECAC play... tops in the nation among goalies with at least four appearances with a 1.38 GAA and is second with a .943 save percentage.

Stephane "The Professor" Boileau '11



Stephane Boileau: leads all current Dutchmen with 10 points (3 goals, 7 assists) against the Engineers.

For more go to Union Athletics.com.

RPI's D'Amigo leaving RPI

It looks like the RPI's Jerry D'Amigo, who was last season's ECAC Rookie of the Year, will be leaving Troy to sign a contract with the Toronto Maple Leafs. D'Amigo follows Cornell's Riley Nash and Harvard's Louis Leblanc as the latest ECAC stars to leave for the NHL.

The Binghamton, New York native was drafted in the sixth round by the Leafs in the 2009 NHL Draft. This past season he averaged slightly less than one point a game for the Engineers (35 GP, 10 G, 24 A, 34 Pts), and played a major role in leading Team USA to a gold medal at the 2010 World Junior Hockey Championships.

Bleacher Report ranks D'Amigo as Toronto's #6 prospect, but also say he will not make it to the big club this upcoming season.

D'Amigo's departure is a HUGE blow to RPI and their hopes to making a ECAC Final Four appearance. They are losing their third leading scorer and a major play-maker with lots of jump. I'm sure a line of D'Amigo, Chase Polacek, and Brandon Pirri would have been arguably the best line in the ECAC and one of the best in the country.

In three games against Union, D'Amigo registered three assists. Maybe if Union fans are lucky, Pirri will follow D'Amigo out of RPI.

For more check out Yahoo! Sports.

Also, be sure to check out what RPI Head Coach Seth Appert has to say about D'Amigo and his decision on Ken Schott's Blog.

All-USCHO teams announced

Even though no Dutchmen were named to either of the All-USCHO teams, there were some familiar faces on each team. Maine's sophomore superstar and Hobey Baker hat trick finalist Gustav Nyquist was named to the first team. Nyquist and the Black Bears traveled to Schenectady to take on Union in the first two weekends of the season. Also, two of Union's biggest enemies this season were named to the second team: ECAC Player of the Year Chase Polacek (RPI) and ECAC Goalie of the Year Ben Scrivens (Cornell). Polacek led the league in scoring, while Scrivens was one of the nation's top goaltenders.

For the complete list check out USCHO.com.

Frozen Four: Day 2

Today, my family and I enjoyed our off day. It started off with some glow-in-the-dark mini golf and then we headed to the Frozen Four Fan Fest, which was in the Renaissance Center. The fest was cool as it had some interactive hockey games and a time line of NCAA Hockey. I also got interviewed by a local website about the Frozen Four. After that we headed over to Windsor, Canada for a few drinks and then headed back to the States for the Skills Competition.

The competition was nice as always, but the only bad thing about it was that you couldn't get right up to the boards. I also miss Barry Melrose hosting the whole thing. Union's Jason Walters was a member of the East squad, who lost to the West once again. Even though it doesn't matter at all, Wally was pretty disappointing and was probably the worst player on the ice statistically (but once again who cares). He put his team behind in the puck control relay, didn't score once in the rapid fire shootout, and failed to get a shot off in the penalty shot competition. At least he wasn't as embarrassed as former Union goaltender Jason Mrazek was two years ago when he took part in the competition (see video here). Other ECAC representatives included Harvard's Alex Biega and Cornell's Ben Scrivens. Also, at the competiton I saw my first Union jersey (besides mine) at the Frozen Four. It was a vintage Josh Coyle jersey.

Friday was also the day when the Hobey Baker Award was given out and the All-American teams were announced. Sadly, no Union player was awarded. The Hobey went to Wisconsin's Blake Geoffrion, who will be playing for the national championship tomorrow. He is the first Badger to win the award.

You can check out the All-American teams here. Cornell's Ben Scrivens and Brendon Nash, along with RPI's Chase Polacek were named to the East First Team, while Yale's Broc Little and Sean Backman were named to the Second Team.

Tomorrow we will be heading to Comerica Park to see the Detroit Tigers take on the Cleveland Indians. The ballpark looks awesome from the outside and I'm really excited to see the inside. After that we might head to Cheli's Chili Bar (owned by NHL legend Chris Chelios) and then on to the national championship game. Hopefully, the final game of the Frozen Four will be a good one (it can't be any worse than either semifinal game). I think it's going to be a high scoring affair as each the Eagles and Badgers sport top ranked offenses. I'm going to go with Wisconsin 5-3 because BC has lately been prone to let up a ton of goals to top ranked offenses. They let up six goals to Maine (#4 offense) in the Hockey East championship game and allowed seven goals to Yale (#1 offense) in the regional final. The Eagles won both of those games, but I think that streak will come to an end. Either way, I just want to see an awesome hockey game and wouldn't mind a 50t game.

Rest of ECAC Awards handed out

• RPI's Chase Polacek was named Player of the Year


• Cornell's Justin Krueger named best Defensive Defenseman


• RPI's Jerry D'Amigo named Rookie of the Year


• St. Lawrence's Travis Vermeulen named Defensive Forward of the Year

Also, according to Ken Schott, captain Mike Wakita is questionable for Friday's game against SLU. He left the bench sometime in the third period with a lower body injury, but I'm pretty sure he returned later in the period. There has also been no announcement on who will be starting in goal for the Dutchmen tomorrow. SLU Head Coach Joe Marsh has announced that Kain Tisi will start for the Saints.

Union in the National Rankings

• The Dutchmen move from #17 to #15 in the USCHO.com National Poll... they have been in the poll for the past 13 weeks


• They also jump back into the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine Poll at #15


• Union is #20 in the PairWise Rankings


• Also, Union has rocketed up four spots to #8 in the INCH Power Rankings

In other news, the ECAC Player of the Year Finalists have been announced... and Mario Valery-Trabucco is not one of them. The finalists are RPI's Chase Polacek, Cornell's Ben Scrivens, and Yale's (yep you guessed it) Sean Backman. You already know how I feel on the Mario vs. Backman argument. I'm not really sure how a guy like Backman can be dominated for the league's MVP after he made the bonehead mistake of going swimming after hours and breaking his ankle the week before the league playoffs started. You would think that the players would be extra careful in the time leading up to the biggest part of the season. But, I highly doubt Backman will win the award. I already predicted that Chase Polacek would win the award.

Three Dutchmen selected to All-ECAC teams

The All-ECAC teams were announced today and three Union players were selected. Senior defenseman Mike Schreiber was named to the First Team, senior forward Mario Valery-Trabucco was selected to the Second Team, and freshman goaltender Keith Kinkaid was named to the Third Team and All-Rookie team. For more on Schreiber, 'Super' Mario, and Kinkaid check out Union Athletics.com.

First off, congratulations to all three players on being named to All-ECAC teams. Here is my analysis on each of the selections:

Schreiber was an obvious choice for First Team. He leads all ECAC defensemen with 28 points, is second with eight goals, first with 20 assists, first with a +23 rating, fourth with a .129 shooting percentage, and is towards the bottom of the list when it comes to penalty minutes (18). He is the top defenseman in the league and is one of the best in the nation.

Being named to the Second Team is a great honor, but I feel MVT definitely deserved to make the First Team. He has been Union's best player all season and has carried them on his back for many stretches this season, including of late (seven goals in past eight games, nine points in past 10 games). You can also make a legitimate case saying that he is also the MVP of the ECAC. Don't get me wrong, Chase Polacek, Broc Little, and Sean Backman are all great players (as I said earlier this week) and are all well deserving of the honor. But, I feel MVT should have made the First Team over Backman. While Backman had a very good season (21g, 14a, 35pts in 29 games) for the league's top team, Mario is statistically better (21g, 21a, 42 points - second in ECAC) and more important to his team. MVT has more assists and points than Backman, has a better plus/minus, more points per game, and has a higher shooting percentage.

Also, Mario (19g, 13a, 32pts - second in ECAC) has been better than Backman (16g, 9a, 25pts) in league games which are the most important games of the season and when a team needs their best player the most. MVT also has the upper hand in points per game in ECAC games, and all six of his power-play goals have come in ECAC games while only six of Backman's nine power-play goals have come in ECAC contests. There is a huge disparity in each players plus/minus in league games as Mario is +13 and Backman is +8. The only statistic where Backman has the upper hand over Mario in ECAC games is game-winning goals: Backman has two while Mario has one. Personally, league stats should be the only one's taken into consideration when it comes to picking all-league teams as many teams play weaker teams where big time players can pad their stats. By just looking at ECAC stats it is obvious that MVT should be on the First Team instead of Backman. It's also interesting to note that Backman is third on his team in points overall and in ECAC games. Sophomore forward Brian O'Neill has one more point than Backman and did not make any of the All-ECAC teams. Whoever chose Backman over 'Super' Mario has some explaining to do.

Keith Kinkaid has done a very solid job in goal for the Dutchmen this season and is definitely the top rookie goaltender in the ECAC, but is he really the third best goaltender in the league? I have seen almost every goalie in the ECAC this season and I never really thought Kinkaid was a Top 3 goaltender. Harvard' Ryan Carroll and Dartmouth's James Mello each stole games where they made 40+ saves, which is something Keith has not done all season. If I had to pick the third best goalie in the ECAC I would have to go with St. Lawrence's Kain Tisi or Quinnipiac's Dan Clarke. Tisi was on fire for the majority of the season as he sported a goals-against average under two. But, Tisi ended the season on a five game win-less streak where he let up 21 goals in five games. This poor end of the season is probably the reason why he did not make an all-league team. In the same amount of games (22) and about the same time played (Kinkaid has played four more minutes) as Kinkaid, Tisi has a better GAA and save percentage, and has made more saves and let up less goals. Tisi also has better stats than Kinkaid in ECAC games. The same is to be said about Clarke, but Clarke has played in more games and has played behind an awful defense. I know I've been bashing Keith a little of late, but he needs to step up in the playoffs to prove me wrong... and I really hope he does.

A major surprise was the lack of Jason Walters on any of the All-ECAC teams. Wally (16g, 22a 38pts) has had an amazing season, which is one of the best ever by a Dutchman. It just happened to be that Mario is having an epic season that is slightly overshadowing Wally's accomplishments. He is tied with Yale's Broc Little (1st team) and Colgate's David McIntyre (2nd team) for fifth in the ECAC with 38 points, and is tied for the top plus/minus (+23) with Mike Schreiber in the league. Walters is also in the top tier in the league in goals and assists. I am shocked that Brown's Aaron Volpatti was picked for the Third Team over Walters. Volpatti has only amassed 11 goals and 10 assists this season for 21 points, while leading the league in penalty minutes by far (91, the second closest is 75) and sporting a +1 plus/minus. For comparison Walters has more assists than Volpatti has points ,and has a plus/minus rating +22 better than Volpatti. The only case you have for Volpatti is that he scored more goals in ECAC games than Walters and that he has played on a weaker team. Volpatti has been a very good forward for Brown this year and has come up big for them, but it is not fair to say that he is a better player than Jason Walters.

The picks for ECAC Player of the Year, Goaltender of the Year, Rookie of the Year, Defensive Forward of the Year, Defensive Defenseman of the Year, and Coach of the Year should be out some time in the next few weeks. Here are my predictions:

Player of the Year: Chase Polacek, RPI

Goaltender of the Year: Ben Scrivens, Cornell

Rookie of the Year: Louis Leblanc, Harvard

Defensive Forward of the Year: Blake Gallagher, Cornell

Defensive Defenseman of the Year: Mike Schreiber, Union

Coach of the Year: Nate Leaman, Union

Hobey Baker voting update; Mario in 6th

As of 5:30pm today there have been 35,035 votes tallied on HobeyBaker.com, and Union's Mario Valery-Trabucco is in sixth place with 2,122 votes. The player in first place is RPI's Chase Polacek who has 3,749 votes so far. Mario is about 500 votes out of fifth place.

To read more about Mario, Mike Schreiber, and the Hobey Baker voting you can check Union Athletics.com.