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.

AUDIO: Former Union goalie Kris Mayotte

by Ryan Fay

Mayotte in his Union days

In advance of Friday's game against St. Lawrence, I chatted with Saints assistant coach Kris Mayotte, a goaltender at Union from 2002-2006.

In his four years between the pipes for Union, Mayotte won 46 games, a number still unsurpassed in the program's Division I era. Prior to joining St. Lawrence's staff this season, he spent a year as a volunteer assistant coach at Cornell.

Mayotte discusses his budding coaching career, his time at Union, St. Lawrence star Greg Carey, Friday's tilt, and more.

Listen/download via the player below or click here if you can't see the player.

The interview, which was conducted yesterday afternoon, runs just under 12 minutes.

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

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.

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.

ECAC Media Make Their Top 4 Picks

by Ryan Fay

While Quinnipiac has run away with first place, the other three first round byes remain just about anyone's to take. With only six points separating the team in second place (Yale) from the team in tenth place (Colgate), it's shaping up to be a wild final three weekends in the regular season.

I polled several ECAC media members and asked how they see the top four finishing up. I threw my two cents in for good measure.

For the consensus finishes, I added up each predicted finish. A first place prediction meant four points, a second place prediction meant three, a third place prediction meant two, a fourth place meant one point, and unranked meant no points.

The consensus top four is: Quinnipiac (1st, 36 points), Yale (2nd, 21 points), RPI (3rd, 14 points) and Dartmouth (4th, 11 points). Princeton and St. Lawrence, and Union finished with two points.

Individual ballots are below.

WHAT THEY SAID

USCHO.com ECAC correspondent Brian Sullivan on Quinnipiac: "The Bobcats need two points in their remaining six games to clinch the Cleary Cup. I'm almost positive my beer-league team could accomplish that. But only if we get to wear those yellow sweaters."

Sullivan on Yale: "I'm not putting any money on the Bulldogs to hold onto No. 2. In my eyes, that bet went sour with Yale's 1-0 loss at Brown on Tuesday. Goalie Jeff Malcolm is still out - not sure when or if he'll return this season - and the rest of Yale's game has gone all pear-shaped as well."

Anonymous ECAC broadcaster on RPI: "Surging at the right time and they have the right guy between the pipes. They should have gone to Jason Kasdorf much earlier.

USCHO.com ECAC correspondent Nate Owen on Dartmouth: "The Big Green have dealt with some injuries and inconsistency, but I think they'll have enough to hang on."

Anonymous ECAC broadcaster on craziness of league: "Pretty interesting to note that there's a decent chance that three of the top four from last year (Union, Cornell, Harvard, Colgate) could end up in the bottom four this year. And it's possible ALL four, but since Cornell/Colgate play Union, it would be pretty difficult for all three to end up 9 through 11."

KEN SCHOTT	SEAN MARTIN	MARK DIVVER	JASON KLUMP
1. Quinnipiac	Quinnipiac	Quinnipiac	Quinnipiac
2. Yale	Yale	Yale	RPI
3. Dartmouth	Dartmouth	Dartmouth	Yale
4. RPI	Princeton	RPI	Union

JOSH SEGUIN	BROADCASTER	NATE OWEN	BRIAN SULLIVAN	ME
1. Quinnipiac	Quinnipiac	Quinnipiac	Quinnipiac	Quinnipiac
2. RPI	Yale	Yale	Dartmouth	RPI
3. Yale	RPI	Dartmouth	Yale	Yale
4. Union	St. Lawrence	RPI	Princeton	St. Lawrence

AFFILIATIONS

Ken Schott - Daily Gazette
Sean Martin - Times Union
Mark Divver - Providence Journal
Jason Klump - ex College Hockey News / recent RPI radio fill-in
Josh Seguin  - College Hockey News
Anonymous Broadcaster - One of the ECAC teams
Nate Owen - USCHO
Brian Sullivan - USCHO
Me - Union Hockey News

Zajac Nets Two in Union's 5-2 Win at St. Lawrence

It seems everything is going right these days for the #7 Union Dutchmen. From the defense to the offense, everybody is playing on the same page. Our guys are all making big plays by completing the extra pass and making that one extra stride to the puck. Last night was no different as the Dutchmen took on the St. Lawrence Saints at Appleton Arena in their final regular season road game of the 2010-2011 season.

St Lawrence would take the early lead at 15:42 of the first period with Union forward Jeremy Welsh in the penalty box for slashing. Jacob Drewiski scored on the ensuing power play, lifting a backhander over the shoulder of sophomore goaltender Keith Kinkaid.

Union would then even up the score just two minutes later off Wayne 'Serious Flow' Simpson's goal. Simpson received a pass from freshman forward Kevin Sullivan and firing a low wrist shot past Weninger.

With the game tied at 1-1, Union scored three second period goals to take command of a game that was evenly played through the first 30 minutes. The Dutchmen took their first lead of the game on the power play, with Jeremy Wick in the penalty box for boarding.

Just over a minute into the man advantage, sophomore forward Jeremy Welsh took a pass from freshman forward Josh Jooris and fired a shot between Weninger's pads at 13:28 of the second period

Union quickly extended its lead to 3-1 on the next shift on a two on one at even strength when senior forward Adam Presizniuk fired the initial shot into Weninger's pads, but the puck kicked right to Zajac, who tipped it into the net at 14:33.

Zajac would strike again on another odd man rush at 19:06. Freshman forward Matt Hatch sent Zajac off on a two-on-one. Zajac cut into the shooting lane and fired a shot into the top corner for a 4-1 Union lead.

Sophomore forward Kyle Bodie scored his seventh goal of the season at 18:02 of the third period, taking a pass from younger brother Mat on the play. Mat Bodie recorded his 21st assist, tying a school record for a defenseman set by Mike Schreiber ('10) last season.

St. Lawrence forward Kyle Esserly scored with 13 seconds remaining in the game on a 5-on-3 to account for the final score.

The Dutchmen defeated St. Lawrence by a final score of 5-2 in front of 1,471 fans at Appleton Arena. The win was Union's ninth in a row, extending a school record winning streak in the Division I era.

Sophomore goaltender Keith Kinkaid (23-7-2) made 25 saves for his 23rd win of the season. Weninger made 18 saves on 22 shots in two periods, while Joe Spadaccini made two saves in the third period. Union went 1-for-5 on the power play, and were outshot 27-25 in the contest.

The Dutchmen will return home to face Quinnipiac on Friday at 7:00 pm.

For more game recap on last night's win at St. Lawrence, please visit the following links:

Union Athletics

Times Union

Ken Schott's Report

St. Lawrence Athletics

Thanks for reading!

-JZolot

Players To Watch This Weekend

This weekend the Dutchmen travel to the North Country to take on Clarkson and St. Lawrence. Union won both meetings with these teams earlier this season as they topped the Golden Knights 8-1 and the Saints 3-1. The Dutchmen have outscored Clarkson 24-4 over their past three meetings.

Union has won seven straight games, which is the longest streak in the country. Also, if they win Friday they will set the record for longest win streak in Union's D-I history.
Clarkson
Brandon DeFazio: the senior captain leads the team with 11 goals and 20 points.
Allan McPherson: the freshman forward is second on the team with 11 assists and is tied for second with 19 points.
Jake Morley: the junior forward leads the team with 15 points.

St. Lawrence
Greg Carey: the freshman forward is a very serious candidate for ECAC Rookie of the Year. He leads the Saints with 15 goals and averages a point per game. Carey also leads the team with six power-play goals.
Kyle Flanagan: the sophomore forward leads the team with 20 assists and is tied with Carey with the team lead in points with 30.
Aaron Bogosian: the senior captain is second on the team with 11 goals, and has scored three goals in his past four games.

Union
Matt Hatch: the freshman forward scored twice last Friday against Cornell and has been a great asset to the first line. The games in the North Country are very close to his hometown (Massena, NY), so I assume a lot of family and friends will be there. He should have some extra jump.
Mat Bodie: the freshman defenseman is very close to breaking Mike Schreiber's '10 record for assists in a season by a defenseman (21) and most points in a season by a defenseman (29). The younger Bodie currently has 20 assists on the season.
Daniel Carr: the freshman has 18 goals on the season which is tied with Chase Polacek for most in the ECAC. He also leads the league with 11 power-play goals. Carr has scored six goals in has past seven games.
For more on the weekend check out:
Union Athletics
Clarkson Athletics
St. Lawrence Athletics

Clarkson's Bonesaw Brigade:


Puck Art With SLU's equipment manager:

College Hockey Video of the Week (1/10/11): Former St. Lawence goaltender Mike McKenna makes amazing save

While this video is not of a college hockey game, it does feature a former college hockey player. The player featured is former SLU and current Albany Devils goaltender Mike McKenna.

McKenna played for the Saints from 2001 to 2005 where he went 32-44-8 and put up solid stats. He was selected 172nd (6th round) in the 2002 NHL Draft by the Nashville Predators. McKenna has appeared in 17 NHL games, including two appearances with the New Jersey Devils this season. For McKenna's complete stats check out Hockey DB, and for more about him check out his page on Wikipedia.

This clip is from the Albany - Syracuse game (AHL) that took place this past Friday night at the Times Union Center in Albany. With the game tied in the third period Syracuse's Nick Bonino (who is a former star at Boston University) had a chance to give his team the lead. But, McKenna was up to the task and made an acrobatic save to keep the game tied. The Devils would score the game-winning goal just moments later.

For more on the game and quotes from McKenna go to the Hockey Spoken Here blog on Times Union.com.

Presizniuk Breaks Record in 3-1 Win Over SLU

Adam Presizniuk

Last night the Dutchmen opened up the Winter term with a 3-1 win over the Saint Lawrence Saints. The game was very reminiscent of last year's ECAC semifinal game where Union beat SLU 3-1. It was a very good hockey game with a lot of hard-hitting action and solid goaltending play. Keith Kinkaid has one of his better performances of the year as he stopped 26 shots.

The most important play of the night came when Union took a 2-1 lead early in the third period for a number of reasons:

1. Union just allowed SLU to tie the game very late in the second period, so the Saints had a lot of momentum going into the period. The goal halted any momentum the Saints had.
2. The goal was scored by Kelly Zajac, who has been on a bit of a cold streak. Also, the upperclassmen haven't been scoring too much, so it was nice to see Zajac and Justin Pallos score Union's first two goals.
3. Adam Presizniuk assisted on the goal; giving him 116 points on his career. This is the record for most points by a Dutchman in the D-1 era. Jason Walters '10 set the record last season. Congrats Prezie! Keep it up!
4. Matt Hatch made a great pass to Zajac in the slot to set up the goal. Coach Leaman has been looking for the missing link on that line, and Hatch is off to a good start to filling that hole.

The Dutchmen were also excellent on the penalty kill as they stymied all six of SLU's power-play opportunities. They blocked tons of shots and were great positionally. I was especially impressed with Andrew Buote, Kyle Bodie, and Pallos on the kill.

Justin Pallos (#11)

Speaking of Pallos, I just want to say that he has done an excellent job this season and has been a very valuable member of this team. Even though he is undersized, he works his butt off every night and is always in the right place at the right time. In the beginning of the season when I did my "projected lineup" I didn't even give Pallos a shot to crack the lineup. Obviously, I was wrong. Keep it up Justin! Also, he is the featured player in this week's Dutchmen Game Day, so make sure you pick up your copy at the rink and read a very interesting article about Pallos.

Tonight, the Dutchmen look to make it a weekend sweep of the North Country teams when they welcome in Clarkson. Last night, the Golden Knights upset RPI 3-2 in overtime.

For more on last night's game check out:
Union Athletics.com
USCHO
Ken Schott's Blog


Here's video from last night's post-game press conference with Coach Leaman (and his 13-month old son), Kelly Zajac, Justin Pallos, and Adam Presizniuk:


Also, here's a video from the Hot Harry's burrito eating contest featuring my friend John Russell (he lost):

Tonight's Lineup vs. SLU

Here's Union's lineup tonight:



Matt Hatch

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

Forgaard - Ingoldsby
Coburn - Stuart
M. Bodie - Matheson

Kinkaid
Milan
Grosenick

Notes:
- Matt Hatch will get his shot to flill the missing link on the Prezie-Zaj line. I think it's worth a try considering Hatch is a hard-working and speedy player. Let's see if it works out.
- The Simpson brothers are back on the same line. It seems that Leaman is unsure if this is a good combo since they are separated and put back together every few games.
- Mike Ingoldsby returns tonight from his concussion.
- Stephane Boileau and Nolan Julseth-White are both out of the lineup tonight.

#15 Union Opens Up Winter Term Against St. Lawrence and Clarkson

Mess Rink

This weekend the Dutchmen welcome in ECAC foes St. Lawrence and Clarkson on Friday and Saturday night, respectively. Both games begin at 7pm. The Dutchmen will finish off the regular season with 16 straight ECAC games, 10 of which are at Messa Rink.

Union's last meeting with both the Saints and the Golden Knights were very memorable games. Union last met St. Lawrence in the ECAC semifinals last season where they won 3-1, while the last Union-Clarkson game saw Union score a program record 11 goals.

The Dutchmen come off of a second place finish at the Mariucci Classic in Minnesota where they beat the University of Minnesota, but fell to Bemidji State in the championship game.

Players To Watch:

St. Lawrence (6-8-3 overall, 3-4-0 ECAC):
Kyle Flanagan (forward): has nine points (five goals, four assists) in just seven league games... leads team with 15 points
Sean Flanagan (forward): tied with his younger brother Kyle in the team lead in assists with 10... third on the team with 12 points
George Hughes & Peter Child (defense): are both very good offensive defensemen... Hughes has one goal and eight assists, while Child has three goals and three assists on the season

Fun Fact: Saints senior captain Aaron Bogosian and Union freshman forward Matt Hatch are both from Massena, New York. Aaron's younger brother Zach, is the assistant captain of the Atlanta Thrashers.

Clarkson (10-7-2 overall, 4-2-1 ECAC):
Brandon DeFazio (forward): the senior captain leads the team in goals (9), assists (tied with 8), and points (17)
Paul Karpowich (goalie): in his last meeting with the Dutchmen he was lit up as the Golden Knights lost 11-2 at Messa Rink... he's put up some good numbers this season with a 2.79 GAA and .918 save percentage

Fun Fact: You can follow DeFazio on Twitter @defazanator

#15 Union (11-6-3 overall, 3-2-1 ECAC)
Adam Presizniuk (forward): is just one point away from becoming Union's all-time leading scorer in Division I history as he's currently tied at 115 points with Jason Walters '10... he returned last weekend from a thumb injury
Josh Jooris (forward): had a great weekend at the Mariucci Classic where he scored two goals against Minnesota, including the game-winner in overtime, and was named to the all-tournament team.

Fun Fact: Jeremy Welsh and Daniel Carr are the only Dutchmen to have more than one goal in ECAC play this season (6 games).

For complete game notes go to Union Athletics.com.

Check out this weird video featuring some SLU fans:


Here are highlights of Union's 11-2 win over Clarkson last season:

College Hockey Video of the Week (12/20/10): ECAC Hockey Bloopers

Even though the ECAC is known for being a league with smart schools, they still make some mistakes. Enjoy!

RPI's Allen York and Clarkson's Nick Tremblay


SLU's Equipment Manager

Union beats SLU to go to ECAC Championship Game

Who would have picked Union to be in the ECAC Championship game in the beginning of the season? Not many. The Dutchmen were picked to finish sixth in both the Coaches and Media Poll prior to the season. But, with last night's barn-burner Union will face Cornell to decide who will take home the ECAC crown.

Last night's atmosphere was incredible. I don't think I've ever seen so many Union fans in one place! The Union faithful took up about four to five sections at the TUC. The fans were also extremely loud and easily drowned out the SLU fans with their chants. They even found ways to make the SLU cheers into Union cheers. Dutchmen fans will have to be even louder tonight as Cornell has a tremendous and loyal following and has a great cheering section.

The Dutchmen did not play a great game as they seemed to not have enough jump and were fighting the puck a little too much. Luckily, Keith Kinkaid was stellar in net for Union as he made 29 saves on the night, including 13 in the final period. He was great positionally as he was able to catch almost every outside shot in his chest. It looks like the Coach of the Year made a "Coach of the Year" decision. Even though the Dutchmen missed the net on some good opportunities, they were still opportunistic. On only eight shots in the final 40 minuets, Union was able to score two goals.

On other notes, Kelly Zajac got hurt for the second game in a row. After separating his shoulder last weekend, he seemed to sustain another arm/shoulder injury. But, he returned in the second period and played the rest of the game. Now that's what I call a hockey player. As an old hockey friend of mine used to say, "Just Tape It Up." Also, with an assist on last night's game-winning goal, Jason Walters in now the all-time leading scorer with 115 points. But, Mario Valery-Trabucco is right on his tail.

For more on last night's game check out Union Athletics.com, USCHO.com, Ken Schott's Blog, Daily Gazette.com, and other literature you can find on the Extra Frame Blog.

Tonight's game against the Big Red will be a tough one for the Dutchmen as Cornell is one of the most fundamentally sound teams in the nation. Oh, and have I mentioned that they have one of the nation's best goaltenders? Ben Scrivens has been lights out all year and is near the top in every statistical category in all of Division I college hockey. He is tied for first with a .935 save percentage, second with a 1.83 GAA, fourth with 20 wins, and tied for first with six shutouts. He was recently named First Team all-ECAC and is a finalist for the Hobey Baker Award. Scrivens leads the second best defense in the country that has only allowed 1.91 goals per game. Besides Scrivens, Cornell's strength is its' special teams. The Big Red sports the ninth best power-play in the country (20.7%) and the third best penalty kill in the country (87.4%).

So, the keys tonight for the Dutchmen are to stay out of the penalty box and to be opportunistic. It was only two games ago that Union did not have to kill any penalties, and if they do that again they will be in good shape. Also, if they go on the power-play they're going to have to screen Scrivens and pounce on any loose pucks.

If the Dutchmen are able to come out on top tonight it will probably be by the score of 1-0 or 2-1. In their past five games, Cornell has not allowed more than one goal and have only allowed one goal in their three playoff games. Scrivens and the defense brings their shutout streak into tonight's game as they have shutout Harvard and Brown in back-to-back games. Cornell has not allowed a goal in over 170 minutes. The game will be a great battle between high-flying offense (Union is fifth in the nation in scoring) and stifling defense (Cornell is second in the nation in team defense).

Looking into St. Lawrence

Forwards: the Saints have a very balanced attack up front with many players doing their part as they have seven forwards with double-digit points. Their big time players have also been stepping up in the playoffs. The forwards will bring a lot of energy and speed to the ice.

Travis Vermeulen: in his three seasons in Canton Vermeulen tallied 18 goals (1 power-play goal), 24 assists, and 42 points in 105 games. This year he has emerged as the offensive leader on the Saints as he has put up monster numbers: 17 goals (7 power-play goals), 24 assists, and 41 points (tied for fourth in ECAC) in 40 games. He leads the team in each of these categories. Vermeulen has been a consistent scorer throughout the season. He has continued his consistency late into the season as he has registered at least one point in 17 of his last 20 games. He has not scored a goal in the playoffs, but has picked up four assists. Yesterday Vermeulen was named the ECAC Defensive Forward of the year. He has been a top penalty killer for the Saints and has been very successful in the face-off circle. He also sports a +10 plus/minus rating. He is only 5' 6" and 170 lbs, so the big Union defensemen should try to knock him around.

Mike McKenzie: this senior forward has been a constant point producer for the Saints during his tenure. He has kept it up this year as he has tallied 14 goals, 21 assists, and 35 points this season. He is second to Vermeulen on the team in goals and points. He has been the offensive catalyst for the Saints during the playoffs as he has tallied a goal in the Saints last four playoff games. McKenzie has also been hot late this season as he has registered a point in eight of his last nine games (7 goals, 5 assists). He has also scored a goal in seven of his last eight games.

Kyle Flanagan: while McKenzie has been the goal scoring machine in the playoffs for the Saints, Flanagan has been the assists machine. He has registered an assist in four of SLU's five playoff games. Flanagan, a freshman from Canton, has been racking up the assists all year. He is second on the team with 23 assists in just 30 games.

Aaron Bogosian: the junior has been another key for the Saints in the playoffs. He has registered a point in all five of SLU's playoff games (3 goals, 3 assists), and has tallied a point in eight of his last nine contests. Bogosian is third on the team with 11 goals. Bogosian is from Massena, New York and is the brother of Zach Bogosian, who is an assistant captain for the NHL's Atlanta Thrashers.

Defense: the Saints defense is solid on the defensive end, but is lethal on the offensive side of the puck. They have four defesnemen with double-digit points, all of whom have scored at least six goals. This means the Union wingers will have to pressure the point and block a lot of shots.

George Hughes: the freshman leads all Saints defensemen with 18 assists and 23 points (fourth in ECAC among defensemen). He has picked up four assists this postseason, including one in each of his past two games.

Derek Keller: the senior defender leads all ECAC defensemen with nine goals. Six of his nine goals have come on the power-play so make sure to keep an eye on him when the Saints power-play unit takes the ice. But, Keller has been in a goal-scoring drought as he hasn't scored since 2/19 at Yale.

Senior defenseman Jeff Caister and sophomore defenseman Peter Child each have registered six goals and 11 assists this season. Caister scored a goal and had an assist in the Clarkson series, while Child tallied two assists in the Colgate series.

Goaltending: Kain Tisi will be in goal tonight for the Saints. He has received the bulk of the starts this season. He has started three of SLU's five playoff games where he has gone 3-0-0, where he has let up six goals. For most of the year, Tisi was one of the hottest goaltenders in the nation. Heading into his last meeting with Union (2/6) he was fourth in the nation in GAA and tield for second in save percentage. But, he has fallen back down to earth late in the season as he went winless in his last five regular season games and let up 21 goals. Because of his poor end of the season Tisi was not a finalist for the Ken Dryden Award. On the season Tisi is 11-8-3 with a 2.47 GAA (third in ECAC) and .915 save percentage (also third in ECAC).

Prediction: I'm going to have to go with Union tonight. My first reason is because they got to sleep in their own beds last night and have experience playing in the Times Union Center because they played in the Governor's Cup. Also, I feel SLU has had the easiest road to the ECAC Final Four this year. They first played Clarkson, the worst team in the ECAC by far, and it took them three games to knock the Golden Knights off. Then they traveled to Starr Rink, which is the least intimidating rink in the ECAC. It's going to be a big jump for the Saints going from those two environments to a major playoff atmosphere right in Union's backyard. It's going to be a tight one tonight but I say Union comes out on top 3-2.

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 advances to ECAC Final Four for first time in program history

Finally! Finally! Finally! Union is finally going to Albany for the ECAC Final Four for the first time in program history! The Dutchmen will face St. Lawrence next Friday at the Times Union Center.

The great thing about tonight's victory was that it was a complete team effort. The forwards fore-checked hard, the defense stepped up to the Quinnipiac forwards, beat them badly along the boards and in front of the net, and Corey Milan made all the stops he needed to. It was also great to see the freshman step up for the team as Wayne Simpson and Jeremy Welsh scored both of Union's goals tonight.

It was such an emotional battle between both teams. Bobcat goaltender Dan Clarke was throwing punches, Jason Walters and Eric Lampe were getting at each other for the fourth game in a row, and both teams worked extremely hard. I give the Bobcats a lot of credit for playing the way they did. They worked extremely hard, but just couldn't get past the tough Union defense. I also think the home-ice advantage was HUGE difference in the game. The student section was loud the entire game and the team really fed off of it, which was seen at the end of the game when Milan and the rest of the team jumped into the glass at Section Q.... I honestly thought the glass was going to shatter.

The emotions at the end of the game were incredible to see. Will Friedman and the rest of the student section were jumping up and down and hugging each other while popcorn was thrown into the air and the players could not wipe the smiles off their faces. Union Athletic Director Jim McLaughlin also looked extremely happy, and I even caught the Daily Gazette's Ken Schott with tears in his eyes.

For more on the game check out USCHO.com, Union Athletics.com, Ken Schott's Blog, and Times Union.com.

I was shocked to hear that Brown beat Yale 1-0, which makes all the difference in the world for the Dutchmen. I was even more shocked to see that the only goal was shorthanded and came midway through the first period. Cornell is an incredible team and Union won't have to see them until the ECAC finals. Brown deserves a ton of praise after beating a very good RPI team and then beating the top seed and defending champs on the road in back-to-back weekends. Bears goaltender Mike Clemente has now pulled off three upsets in the past two years. Their hard hitting defensive style has really worked for them. If I were Yale's Sean Backman I would be apologizing to my team for letting them down.

Let's just hope enough students stick around next weekend to see if their team can make more history. Also, good luck to the players and their fans on their upcoming finals.

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.

Three third period goals lifts Union over SLU

On Thursday night I said: "Things haven't been going well for our Dutchmen... The main cause of this problem has been the lack of scoring... meaning that their top scorers need to start scoring... Mario along with is linemates, Jason Walters and Adam Presizniuk, need to put the offense on their backs and carry it. They are one of the most dynamic and lethal lines in the ECAC and need to play like it every game."

Well, I doubt Mario, Wally, and Prez read this but maybe they heard what I said through the grapevine haha. These guys were the reason why the Dutchmen were able to put up 15 goals this weekend. Mario registered four goals and three assists, Wally put up a goal and four assists, and Prez had two goals and five assists on the weekend. So, if you do the math this line scored seven of Union's 15 goals this weekend and had a combined 12 assists. Also, the line had their hand in nine of the 15 goals this weekend. In the six previous games the Dutchmen put up only 12 goals. It was also nice to see leaders such as Mike Schreiber and Brock Matheson and freshman such as Kyle Bodie and Wayne Simpson help with the offense this weekend.

The defense also had a good weekend as they only let up four goals. Last night's game marked the third game in a row that they let up just two goals.

It was great to see the team come back in the third period, especially after the short-handed goal just a few seconds before the second period ended. The ability to come back in the third period is a sign of a great and gritty team, which will be huge in the playoffs.

This weekend was a great way to halt the winless skid and now the Dutchmen have to keep it rolling into next weekend when they hit the road to take on Dartmouth and Harvard, both of whom came into Messa Rink and beat the Dutchmen a few weeks ago. Also, the Dutchmen are now in a three way tie for first place in the ECAC with Cornell and Yale and are ahead of fourth place St. Lawrence by three points.

Also note that Mario is now tied for 11th in the nation in points (35), Union is fifth in the nation in goals per game (3.64), tied for 14th in goals against per game (2.50), and 10th in the nation in power-play percentage (20.6%). It will be interesting to see where they end up in the National Rankings on Monday. I personally feel that they will move up a few spots. My guess is to #18.

To read more about the game check out USCHO.com, Union Athletics.com, Daily Gazette.com, Times Union.com, and Ken Schott's Blog.

Union looks to turn things around against Clarkson and St. Lawrence

Things haven't been going to well for our Dutchmen lately as they haven't won since January 16. The main cause of this problem has been the lack of scoring. In Union's past four games they have only scored seven goals, meaning that their top scorers need to start scoring. One example is Mario Valery-Trabucco, who hasn't scored since January 9th at Quinnipiac and has only picked up two assists in his past five games. Mario along with his linemates, Jason Walters and Adam Presizniuk, need to put the offense on their backs and carry it. They are one of the most dynamic and lethal lines in the ECAC and need to play like it every game. Each Mario, Wally, and Prez have only scored two goals since returning for winter term on January 8th. In the past seven games the Dutchmen have scored 19 goals, and Mario, Wally, and Prez have only scored six of them.

These problems though cannot be just blamed on the offense, as the defense has not been on top of their game either. In Union's current four game winless streak the Dutchmen have let up 13 goals. Personally, it doesn't seem like the defenseman are winning the battles for the puck in crucial areas, especially in front of the net. They also seem to be having problems moving the puck up the ice, which could be an explanation for the reduction in scoring.

All in all, everyone from the offense to the defense to the goalies and coaches need to be at their best if they want to turn things around. When everyone on this team is on top of their game they are one of the most dangerous teams in the country. But, if they're not anyone can beat them. This is a huge weekend for the Dutchmen in which they need to beat Clarkson and then at least tie St. Lawrence for it be a successful weekend. Clarkson has been a mess this year, while St. Lawrence has been surging. The Dutchmen picked up their first ECAC wins of the season at St. Lawrence and Clarkson in mid-November.

For more on the games against the Golden Knights and Saints check out Union Athletics.com.

Players to Watch:

Clarkson

• Matt Beca, forward (13g, 12a, 25p)... first on the team in goals, third in assists
  
• Scott Freeman, forward (4g, 15a, 19p)... first on the team in assists


• Bryan Rufenach, defense (5g, 11a, 16p)... leads all Clarkson defenseman with 16 points and second with five goals


• Paul Karpowich, goalie (4-13-3, 3.74 GAA, .889 save percentage)... statistically one of the worst goaltenders in the ECAC and all of college hockey, third to last in ECAC in GAA, second to last in ECAC in save percentage

St. Lawrence

• Travis Vermeulen, forward (11g, 15a, 26p)... leads team in all three categories


• Derek Keller, defense (7g, 5a, 12p)... second on the team in goals, leads all ECAC defenseman in goals


• Mike McKenzie, forward (6g, 14a, 20p)... second on the team in points


• Kain Tisi, goalie (8-4-2, 1.99 GAA, .932 save percentage)... one of the hottest goaltenders in the ECAC and the nation, 4th in the nation in GAA, tied for 2nd in save percentage

Looking into the weekend in the North Country

This is going to be a tough weekend for the Dutchmen --- just like every trip to the North Country is. Considering this I feel it will be a successful weekend if the Dutch come home with two points, but I don't think this will happen and I think that they will be lucky to get one point from the weekend. I do feel that each game will be close, and considering the way the four past games have gone I wouldn't be surprised if one (or both for that matter) go into overtime. Ken Schott predicts that Union will lose both games in overtime.

The team has to prove to the fans and themselves that they can play an entire 60 minutes (or 65 minutes as it has been lately) without taking any shifts off. They prove that the team can be in sync in all aspects of the game throughout the whole game. Recently there have been occasions where the Dutch PK has been awful but the PP has been great and vice-versa. Other times the offense has been poor and the defense has been top notch and vice-versa.

But, the one thing that the team absolutely needs to win is good goaltending. No matter who is in net this weekend there can't be any weak goals allowed or big rebounds. I hope Milan gets a chance to prove his critics wrong this weekend, but would also be interested to see how Kinkaid reacts to playing in a league game, especially in one on the road. But either way... I just want to win.

I will also be interested to see if Prez stays on the Simpson line again, and if so if he is able to produce. Last weekend he didn't seem as productive as he was when he was with Wally and Mario. But, it was their first weekend together and they've had a whole week to gain some more chemistry. I personally am not a huge fan of the move as of this moment since Pres was scoring in the first place, and the Simpsons-Yanovitch connection was on fire to start the season. I mean the team is one of the highest scoring teams in the nation so why fix something that isn't broken?

Check out the clip from UnionAtletics.com which discusses the games with St. Lawrence and Clarkson: http://www.unionathletics.com/news/2009/11/11/MICE_1111092549.aspx

If you can't make it to the game tonight make sure to follow it on Live Stats or on the radio at WRUC 89.7 pm (links on UnionAthletics.com)