Stevens injured in season opener (with videos)

by Ryan Fay

SCHENECTADY -- Union starting goaltender Colin Stevens suffered an upper-body injury in the first period of Friday's season-opening 3-3 tie with Bowling Green at Messa Rink.

Bowling Green's Bryce Williamson barreled into Stevens at the 6:12 mark of the opening period, and subsequently received a five minute major for charging the goalie. Stevens, a Niskayuna native, was pulled from the game after getting examined by Union athletic trainer Cheryl Rockwood.

Stevens (Union)

The junior is scheduled to be re-examined Saturday morning, leaving his status for Saturday's 7:30 p.m rematch with Bowling Green up in the air.

Freshman netminder Alex Sakellaropoulos, who came to the Dutchmen from the U.S Hockey League's Chicago Steel, was summoned into his first collegiate action following Stevens' injury.

"I was nervous from the get-go," Sakellaropoulos said. "Once I stepped into the rink, I was nervous. My stomach was jittering. It was so scary out there. When I saw [Stevens] go down, I thought he would collect his thoughts and get back at it.... once Stevens headed to the bench, I guess it was my time to go."

Sakellaropoulos said the situation proved how important is to always be ready.

"You have to treat it like you're playing no matter if you're the backup or the starter," he said. "You don't know what's going to happen."

Sakellaropoulos allowed three goals on 24 shots in just under 59 minutes of action in relief of Stevens.

Senior forward Daniel Carr, who picked up a power play goal in the tie, took notice of the freshman's solid debut.

"That was a great job by Sakellaropoulos," Carr said. "He got put in a tough spot tonight with Stevens going down in the first [period]. He stepped in and made some big saves for us. It's rare to see a freshman goalie be a calming influence in net and he does that for us already. We've seen it in practice and we saw it out there today."

Third-year Union head coach Rick Bennett echoed those sentiments.

"[Sakellaropoulos] did a great job for us," Bennett said. "We're proud of the effort he put out there tonight. He gave us a chance."

OTHER FRESHMAN FIRSTS

Forward Eli Lichtenwald's first collegiate goal, a power play tally, put Union on the board at 9:52 of the first period... forward Michael Pontarelli, added to the roster after Josh Jooris signed with the Calgary Flames in late July, notched his first two collegiate assists.

POSTGAME VIDEOS









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Welsh scores in Carolina loss

by Ryan Fay

Former Union center Jeremy Welsh scored a goal but it wasn't enough as the Carolina Hurricanes lost their preseason opener, 5-4, to the Columbus Blue Jackets on Wednesday.

Welsh's tally came just under three minutes into the second period and tied the score at 2-2.

Welsh saw 13:01 of ice time and fired three shots in the losing effort. He won 29% of his faceoffs.

You can see Welsh's goal below.



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VIDEO: Postseason media day press conference

by Ryan Fay

Members of the Union men's hockey team met with the media during Tuesday's postseason media day.

From left to right in the video below: head coach Rick Bennett, goaltender Troy Grosenick, defenseman Greg Coburn, defenseman Mat Bodie, and forward Kyle Bodie.

Union hosts Dartmouth in best-of-three ECAC quarterfinal series beginning Friday at 7 pm.

Union 4, Clarkson 0 - postgame blog (with 2 videos)

by Ryan Fay

BOX SCORE

IN A NUTSHELL
Union blanks Clarkson, 4-0, in the regular season finale in front of 2,371 fans at Messa Rink.

BYE, BYE, BYE
With the win, Dartmouth's 4-1 loss to Quinnipiac, and RPI's 4-1 victory over St. Lawrence, the Dutchmen clinched a first round bye and enter the league playoffs as the fourth seed behind Quinnipiac, RPI, and Yale. Union returns to Messa Rink to face a yet to be determined opponent during the weekend of Mar. 15-17.

"It's one of those where anyone would take it," head coach Rick Bennett said of picking up the bye. "It means we can get some players back healthy. Everybody has played so much this year, so it's refreshing to have it. We have to make the best use of it. I thought we did last year, but we have to continue to do what has worked for us this year. Last year is last year, so we have to worry about this year."

RISING TO THE OCCASION
With Troy Grosenick on the sidelines following an injury sustained in Friday's 5-1 win over St. Lawrence, sophomore Colin Stevens stepped in and stopped all 24 shots that came his way. It was Stevens' third shutout of the season and first since blanking Penn State, 2-0, on Nov. 24.

Grosenick was listed first on the line chart released earlier Saturday, which usually indicates a start, but Bennett said Stevens was the guy all along.

"I had a pretty good idea that I was going to be playing after what happened [to Grosenick] last night," Stevens said. "I went about it like any other game. Preparation is huge and I'm glad we got the two points."

Grosenick's status for the playoffs is to be determined.

LIGHTING THE LAMP
With five goals Friday and four more Saturday, Union scored nine goals over the weekend. It marked the best offensive output for a single weekend since scoring 11 goals in a sweep of RPI Nov. 2-3.

"Overall balance on the lines," Bennett said when asked about the increased offensive production. "It was really nice to get three lines going and the fourth line put up some productive shifts. [Fourth liner] David Roy is going to be a heckuva player for us. Once he gains a step here and there, it's really going to help us for the future. [Fourth liners] Sam [Coatta] and Cole [Ikkala] did a tremendous job."

100 POINT CLUB
With an assist on Josh Jooris' third period goal, junior Daniel Carr became the 10th player in the program's Division I era to reach the 100 career points milestone. Senior Wayne Simpson joined the exclusive club earlier this season.

SENIOR NIGHT
Postgame ceremonies were held for the five seniors on the roster. Greg Coburn, Wayne Simpson, Kyle Bodie, Ryan Forgaard, and Shawn Stuart will be graduating this spring. With two more wins, the group will go down as the winningest class in program history.

"Since I've been here, it seems like senior night has been a great night all around," Bennett said. "It's nice that our guys played so tremendously hard for our seniors. That's what we ask as a coaching staff -- to play as hard as you can for them. Not that you're playing any different, but there's always something extra you like to give seniors... a nice going away present, per se."

WEEK TO WEEK
Sophomore defenseman Charlie Vasaturo was injured in the first period of Friday's win and is considered to be "week to week." The blueliner has two goals and two assists in 20 games this season.

PLAYOFF TICKETS
Information on playoff tickets can be found here.

THREE STARS
1. Stevens - The Niskayuna native came through in a pinch and helped Union clinch a first round bye in the ECAC playoffs.

"He had a great game tonight and I'm really happy for him," Bennett said.

2. Kevin Sullivan - The junior scored two goals for his first multigoal game of the season. Sullivan played his best hockey as the regular season drew to a close with three goals and three assists over the final nine contests.

"The first [goal] was basically all Hatch using his speed coming in," Sullivan said. "Just threw it in front and luckily it went on my stick. I took a couple whacks and it went in."

As for the second goal, "Carr and Jooris were working it pretty well up top," Sullivan added. "I just got a lucky bounce on my stick."

When asked for a reason behind the late season scoring surge, the forward said "bigger games, I guess."

3. Carr - The forward had two assists, both in the third period. The second helper was the 100th point of his Union career.

POSTGAME

Union 5, St. Lawrence 1 - postgame (with 2 videos)

by Ryan Fay

BOX SCORE

IN A NUTSHELL: Union jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first 4:05 of the first period and never trailed en route to a commanding 5-1 win over St. Lawrence Friday night at Messa Rink.

Some thoughts:

PLAYOFF POSITIONING
At the worst, the win clinched home ice in the first round of the ECAC playoffs.

But a top four finish and a first round bye are still possible. Yale is in third place with 23 points while Union, Dartmouth, and St. Lawrence are in a three way tie for fourth with 22 points.

To get a first round bye, Union has to win tomorrow night against Clarkson and then get some help.

According to Jason Klump, if Union wins, they need one of following two things: a Yale loss/tie or a Dartmouth loss/tie.

If Union ties, Klump says, they need two of the following three things to happen: a Yale loss, a Dartmouth loss, or a St. Lawrence loss or tie.

Klump added, "I haven't gone through every iteration yet, but I'm pretty confident Union wins a two way tiebreak over St. Lawrence."

Yale, which squeaked out a 4-3 overtime win against Colgate on Friday, hosts Cornell tomorrow. Dartmouth hosts Quinnipiac after tying Princeton 2-2 on Friday. St. Lawrence travels to RPI.

EARLY DEPARTURES
Defenseman Charlie Vasaturo left the game in the first period and never returned while netminder Troy Grosenick was relieved by Colin Stevens in the third. When asked for details, head coach Rick Bennett said both Vasaturo and Grosenick are "hurt" and are "very questionable" for tomorrow's season finale against Clarkson.

QUICK START
After falling behind 3-0 in the first 10 minutes at Cornell last Saturday, it was imperative for the Dutchmen to get off to a better start Friday. And they did - Vasaturo's second goal of the season opened the scoring only 45 seconds into the game. Just over three minutes later, Matt Hatch pushed Union's lead to 2-0 and the tone was set.

"Something we worked on in practice was coming out hard. When we played them, they came out hard against us," Hatch said, referencing St. Lawrence scoring three first period goals in a 4-2 loss on Feb. 9. "We knew we needed to match or better their tempo starting [off]. Getting those two quick goals was pretty key."

The first period was night and day compared to the effort last Saturday at Cornell. The Big Red held Union to six shots and no goals in the opening frame last Saturday, but the Dutchmen fired 17 shots on Saints goaltender Matt Weninger and put two of them by him.

STRONG FINISH
The third period has been a problem for Union at several points throughout the season, but not Friday. The Dutchmen scored two third period goals and outshot St. Lawrence, 15-8, in the final 20 minutes.

BENNETT PLEASED
Bennett was mostly pleased with the effort he saw Friday.

"I'm not going to say it's the best we're going to get because hopefully there's a lot more in the tank and I believe there is," he said. "But it was a nice effort tonight and a great team effort. A lot of guys showed a lot of heart tonight."

EVEN STRENGTH
All five Union goals came on even strength, marking the most even strength goals Union has racked up in a single game since beating Harvard, 6-2, on Nov. 9.

POWER(LESS) PLAY
If there was one area of concern on Friday, it was the power play. Union's usually strong power play unit went 0-for-6 on the night.

Mat Bodie thought the unit was "maybe" a bit discombobulated.

"There were a couple turnovers in the offensive zone where we fanned on a pass or something like that," he said. "That's something we'll clear up moving forward. [The power play] is usually one of the strengths of our team, so we'll work on that in practice some more."

THREE STARS
1. Shayne Gostisbehere - The sophomore picked up three assists and finished with a +4 rating. With a goal and five assists in his last four games, Gostisbehere is playing his best hockey from a statistical standpoint since returning from the World Junior Championships in early January.

2. Mat Bodie - The junior defenseman "sealed the deal" when his fifth goal of the year put Union up 4-1 at 13:01 of the third. The goal came just under four minutes after Chris Martin put the Saints on the board to make a 3-1 game.

"I thought it was a big goal," Bodie said of his tally. "There were around six or seven minutes left in the game and that's when you're going to get a late push by a team, especially when they're down by two. Shayne made a great play and I just saw [St. Lawrence goaltender Wenninger] was leaving that side a little bit open and luckily it went in."

3. Wayne Simpson - The senior responded to his one game benching and scored the game's final goal at 18:13 of the third period.

“He played better than he has recently,” Bennett said of Simpson. “That’s what we’re looking for.”

UP NEXT
Union closes out the regular season Saturday night at 7 pm against Clarkson, which lost 5-0, at RPI on Friday night. According to the RPI blog Without A Peer, the last time RPI blanked Clarkson was 1954.

The Golden Knights previously beat Union, 2-1, in Potsdam on Feb. 8.

Senior night ceremonies will be held after the game for Kyle Bodie, Ryan Forgaard, Wayne Simpson, Shawn Stuart, and Greg Coburn.

Time Warner Cable Sports will carry the game live.

POSTGAME VIDEOS

Union players (Gostisbehere, Hatch, M.Bodie)



Union head coach Bennett

VIDEO: Mayor's Cup Ceremony at City Hall

by Ryan Fay

A ceremony was held at Schenectady City Hall earlier today in honor of Union winning the inaugural Mayor's Cup.

Union beat RPI, 3-2, on Jan. 26 to capture the cup.

Members of the Union community presented the cup to Schenectady mayor Gary McCarthy. Men's hockey players Kyle Bodie, Greg Coburn, and Mat Bodie were in attendance. Additionally, head coach Rick Bennett and Union College president Stephen Ainlay were also present.

Friday night in Union Hockey (with video)

by Ryan Fay

It wasn't a banner night for the Union hockey programs. Neither the Dutchmen or Dutchwomen pulled out a win Friday night.

WOMEN'S HOCKEY

The Dutchwomen remain in search of their first league win of the year following a 3-1 setback to St. Lawrence (16-11-2, 11-5-1) Friday night at Messa Rink.

The game was scoreless into the second period when St. Lawrence's Jacqueline Wand opened the scoring at the 4:47 mark with an assist from Ellie Williams.

But the lead didn't last long. Forty one seconds later, a tripping penalty on Abbey McRae gave the Dutchwomen a power play opportunity. Rihanna Kurio cashed in a mere 18 seconds into the man advantage to tie the game at one.

There was some drama when the goal was briefly reviewed, but Union head coach Claudia Asano Barcomb said after the game the review was due to the goal judge neglecting to turn the light on.

It remained a 1-1 game until 8:01 of the third period when Rylee Smith put St. Lawrence up for good with an unassisted goal. A little more than four minutes later, Dayle Wilkinson made it a 3-1 game when she tacked on an insurance goal with assists from Amanda Boulier and Kayla Raniwsky.

The Dutchwomen (7-19-3, 0-14-3) were outshot 30-26 and return home at 4 pm today to host 6th-ranked Clarkson (22-7-0, 14-3-0). The Golden Knights beat RPI, 3-1, on Friday night.

This afternoon's game marks the sixth annual Pink at the Rink game and admission is free with a donation at the door to Kristin's Kause.

After the game, I caught up with Barcomb. She discussed tonight's loss and looked ahead to tomorrow's Pink at the Rink game against Clarkson.



Box Score

MEN'S HOCKEY

Clarkson (7-13-7, 6-6-3) snapped a nine game losing streak against the Dutchmen and held on for a 2-1 victory Friday night in Potsdam.

The Golden Knights scored one goal in each of the first two periods. Sam Labrecque led off the scoring at 7:46 of the opening period and Allen McPherson increased Clarkson's lead to 2-0 with a power play goal at 6:38 of the second period.

The Union offense was shutout until the 13:37 mark of the final period when Josh Jooris lit the lamp with an assist from Charlie Vasaturo. It was Jooris' first goal since a two goal game at Brown on December 7th and Vasaturo's first point since a goal at Harvard on November 9th.

After allowing two goals on seven shots, Troy Grosenick was pulled in the second period in favor of Colin Stevens. The sophomore, seeing his first action since January 5th at Lake Superior State, proceeded to stop all 11 shots that came his way.

Greg Lewis stopped 27 of 28 shots for Clarkson, which was outshot 28-18.

Union (13-9-5, 6-5-4) will look to rebound tonight at St. Lawrence, which dropped a 4-3 overtime decision to RPI on Friday.

Box Score

Union, Dartmouth skate to 2-2 tie (with 2 videos)

For postgame press conference videos, scroll down or click here. There's two from tonight. One combined video from the Union side with Rick Bennett, Mat Bodie, and Kevin Sullivan. The other is Dartmouth head coach Bob Gaudet.

=========

by Ryan Fay

SCHENECTADY -- Considering #18 Union and #16 Dartmouth (11-7-3, 7-5-2) entered play tied with 15 points in the ECAC standings, it was only fitting that the two teams skated to a 2-2 tie on Friday in front of 2,271 fans at Messa Rink.

But Union (13-8-5, 6-4-4) was minutes away from coming away with two points instead of one. 

With Union protecting a 2-1 lead, Daniel Ciampini took a tripping penalty at 14:41 of the third period. Dartmouth's Rick Pinkston quickly tied the game at two 24 seconds into the power play when his shot hit the post, bounced off Troy Grosenick, and into the net.

"I wouldn't say it was the hardest working penalty," said Union head coach Rick Bennett. "We've gotten away with some lucky ones with too many men and haven't gotten punished for it. But maybe this is like a justification. Yeah, it was lazy. We've got to curb it."

The game-tying tally was the second power play goal allowed by Union's usually unbreakable penalty kill (89.3%), which allowed more than one power play goal in a game for the first time this season.

Dartmouth's Eric Neiley tied the game at one on the power play at the 9:25 mark of the middle period. Neiley's one-timer from the left faceoff dot came mere seconds into a power play chance generated by a tripping penalty on Kyle Bodie.

Union's country-best power play, which finished 1-for-5, had a golden opportunity in overtime when Eric Robinson went off for elbowing 20 seconds into the extra frame. But outside of a jam attempt by Josh Jooris, the Dutchmen manufactured little on the man advantage.

"Our specialty teams let us down tonight. That's the bottom line," Bennett said. "We had some passengers in the top six forwards. At this time of the year, you can't have that. You just can't. All those guys have been given a great opportunity."

Added defenseman Mat Bodie, "special teams has been a huge part of our team identity so far this year. Tonight, we just didn't get it done. With regards to the power play, we were trying to force some plays. We didn't keep it simple and that's what cost us getting the win."

Following a busy-but-scoreless first period, Kevin Sullivan opened the scoring with his first goal of the year at the 3:25 mark of the second period. Matt Hatch sped down the left wing, went behind the net, and found Sullivan in front.

"I didn't have to do much there," Sullivan said in reference to his goal. "Hatch made a great play. He drove wide and Jooris went to the net. I was just lucky to be driving the net in that spot."

Mat Bodie's power play goal broke a 1-1 tie at 13:25 of the second period when he fired a pass from Matt Wilkins that went over the shoulder of Dartmouth goaltender Cab Morris and into the back of the net.

"Wilkins made a great pass to me and I believe him and Novak were in front of the goalie screening," Bodie said. "Assistant coach Jason Tapp said high on (Morris) from the point, so I shot high. It had eyes."

Since the calendar flipped to 2013, the Dutchmen have scored three or fewer goals in eight of their nine games. Bennett knows what has to change.

"I wish we would have that pack of wolves mentality around the net a bit more," he said. "That's why we're scoring two, three goals. It hasn't been four or five."

Union, which outshot Dartmouth, 39-26, resumes play on February 8th at Clarkson. The Golden Knights tied Colgate, 4-4, on Friday.

POSTGAME VIDEOS





Hockey Game Box Score (Final)
2012-13 Union College Men's Hockey
#16 DART vs #18 Union (Feb 01, 2013 at Schenectady, NY)

DART (11-7-3 (7-5-2 ECACH)) vs. Union (13-8-5 (6-4-4 ECACH)) Date: Feb 01, 2013 Location: Schenectady, NY Arena: Messa Rink Attendance:2271 Start time:7:40 pm End time:10:10 pm Total time:2:30  Goals by Period  1st  2nd  3rd  OT  Total  DART   0  1  1  0  2  Union   0  2  0  0  2  Scoring Summary #  Prd  Time  Team  Type  Scored by  Assists  Visitor on ice  Home on ice  1.  2nd  03:25  UNION   EVEN  Sullivan, Kevin/1  Hatch, Matt/2  14,25,5,4,12  16,15,6,7,3                    Coburn, Greg/13        2.  2nd  09:25  DART   PP  NEILEY, Eric/5  BULLOCK, Ryan/4  11,23,16,9,25  18,9,22,28                    SIKURA, Tyler/17        3.  2nd  13:01  UNION   PP  Bodie, Mat/3  Wilkins, Matt/6  5,4,8,29  22,9,7,18,19                    Carr, Daniel/11        4.  3rd  15:05  DART   PP  PINKSTON, Rick/3  KEENAN, Mike/9  19,7,27,22,21  18,9,16,22                    WALSH, Dustin/7

Dutchmen Meet the Media

by Ryan Fay

The 18th-ranked Union Dutchmen host the 16th-ranked Dartmouth Big Green tomorrow at 7:30 pm on the NBC Sports Network.

Before Thursday's practice, defenseman Mat Bodie, head coach Rick Bennett, goaltender Troy Grosenick, and forward Daniel Carr met with the local media. To see what they had to say about the game (and more), watch the videos below.

If you can't see the embedded players, click here to watch.

Mayor's Cup Highlights

Here are the highlights from last night's dramatic 3-2 win over RPI in the inaugural Mayor's Cup game. From "GoUnionAthletics" on YouTube.

Same old story for RPI in 3-2 loss to Union (plus 3 postgame videos)

For postgame videos, click here or scroll down. There's three - RPI coach Seth Appert, Union coach Rick Bennett, and Union players Josh Jooris/Matt Wilkins/Troy Grosenick.

==========

by Ryan Fay

ALBANY -- There are some things that never seem to change.

Take the RPI-Union series. After losing to their route 7 rivals, 3-2, in Saturday's inaugural Mayor's Cup game, RPI's loss was just more of the same.

Earlier this week, I asked RPI head coach Seth Appert about Union's success against his team. One the things he said was "we've taken some ill-advised penalties against them and they have an absolutely lethal power play."

Saturday's loss, RPI's eighth in a row against 19th-ranked Union, was a continuation of that. RPI's Nick Bailen, a senior, took what most would call an "ill-advised" penalty when he went off for interference with 97 seconds left in regulation of a tie game. After the game, Appert offered "no comment" on the penalty.

Wilkins (Union Athletics)

At the time of the penalty, RPI had recently tied the game at two off the stick of Mark McGowan, so the last thing the Engineers wanted to do was give the country's best powerplay (27.1%) a chance to win the game.

Matt Wilkins, who turned 22 on Saturday, proved why Union's powerplay is "absolutely lethal" when the freshman forward scored the game-winning goal on the powerplay with 37 seconds left in the game. 

"I was driving the net, I saw Jooris go wide, and their defensemen was sort of flat footed," Wilkins said of the game-winning play. "I drove the net and Jooris made a great pass."

Said Appert of the goal, "at the end of the day, [Wilkins] made a play. We had two guys that didn't execute very well. It was a play that should have been pretty easily defended. We had two guys that made mental mistakes in big moments and they have to grow up from that."

It was the second goal of the night for the Union powerplay, which finished 2-for-4. After Guy Leboeuf was called for cross checking just two minutes into the game, Daniel Ciampini opened the scoring by knocking in a rebound at 3:34.

"It always seems like we take a penalty early and get scored against them, and we did,” Appert said after the game. “It played out, pretty much, how you anticipate [it]."

Earlier this week, Appert also pointed out Union's penalty kill as another reason why Union has had its run of success against his club. On Saturday night, the Dutchmen killed off all five RPI powerplay opportunities, including two in the third period. The Engineers, who outshot Union 38-20, had 15 of their shots on the powerplay including 11 in the first.

Troy Grosenick stopped all 15 powerplay shots and 36 of the 38 overall. When I spoke with him on Tuesday, Appert credited "very good" goaltending as yet another factor behind Union's recent edge in the series.

Grosenick was the biggest reason Saturday's game came down to the third period. For a good portion of the night, RPI was outskating the Dutchmen. The junior netminder kept Union in the game with several spectacular saves, including a couple on Ryan Haggerty, RPI's top goal scorer. The sophomore, who has ten goals this season, did beat Grosenick on one of his five shots, a goal that tied the game at one only 16 seconds into the middle period.

Union head coach Rick Bennett graded Grosenick's performance as "exceptional" and added Grosenick "kind of bailed us out when we needed him to."

Bennett also came away impressed with RPI (8-11-5, 3-6-3).

"That's a good hockey club," he said of RPI, which won the faceoff battle, 37-25. "They've been making strides this season just like they did last year. Whoever faces them in the playoffs better buckle up."

Greg Coburn scored Union's other goal, a long-range rocket early in the third period that momentarily gave the Dutchmen a 2-1 lead.

Union (13-8-4, 6-4-3) resumes play on Friday night at Messa Rink against #12/13 Dartmouth (11-7-2, 7-5-1). The game, a 7:30 pm faceoff, will be nationally televised on NBC Sports Network.

POSTGAME VIDEOS

Rensselaer (8-11-5 (3-6-3 ECACH)) vs. Union (13-8-4 (6-4-3 ECACH)) Date: Jan 26, 2013 Location: Albany, NY Arena: Times Union Center Attendance:5959 Start time:7:30 pm End time:9:35 pm Total time:2:05  Goals by Period  1st  2nd  3rd  Total  Rensselaer   0  1  1  2  Union   1  0  2  3  Scoring Summary #  Prd  Time  Team  Type  Scored by  Assists  Visitor on ice  Home on ice  1.  1st  03:34  UNION   PP  Ciampini, Daniel/8  Coburn, Greg/12  22,24,21,11  17,20,12,21,14                    Simpson, Wayne        2.  2nd  00:16  RPI_MHKY  EVEN  Ryan Haggerty/10  CJ Lee/5  29,15,39,22,10  9,14,18,20,19                    Nick Bailen/11        3.  3rd  01:51  UNION   EVEN  Coburn, Greg/8  Simpson, Wayne/15  23,24,3,17,19  20,21,14,12,17                    Bodie, Kyle/12        4.  3rd  15:36  RPI_MHKY  EVEN  Mark McGowan/5  CJ Lee/6  21,22,28,15,3  22,16,20,15,7  5.  3rd  19:23  UNION   PP  Wilkins, Matt/3  Jooris, Josh/10  21,22,10,11  19,7,22,18,9                    Bodie, Mat/13

Dutchwomen fall to RPI, 2-1 (with video)

by Ryan Fay

SCHENECTADY -- The Dutchwomen dropped a 2-1 decision to RPI Friday night at Messa Rink.

The game was tied at one going into the third period, but Taylor Horton's second goal of the night at 5:24 proved to be the game winner for RPI (7-15-3, 5-7-1). Horton also opened the scoring with a powerplay tally at 15:35 of the first period.

"We had a breakdown and I think it hit off a kid," Union head coach Claudia Asano Barcomb said of the game winning goal. "We didn't have [someone] on the back door. We usually don't have those kind of breakdowns, but that shouldn't be the game-winner. We should have answered back and put another one in."

The Dutchwomen (7-15-3, 0-10-3) nearly did when they strung together a few good chances at the end of the game.

"I wish we had a couple more minutes because I thought we really put pressure on them at the end," Barcomb said.

The comeback attempt was hampered when the team was forced to kill a tripping penalty on Nicole Bartlett with 24 seconds left in regulation.

"It was tough," Barcomb said of the penalty. "She was trying and making all the efforts to try to help us put the puck in the net. You can't blame a kid for trying."

Kelly McGrath notched Union's lone goal with a game-tying powerplay tally at 14:09 of the second period. Aside from the powerplay goal, Union's special teams killed four of five RPI powerplays, including back to back chances in the second period.

The Dutchwomen, who were outshot 30-24, picked up 28 saves from Shenae Lundberg.

The two schools meet for the third time this season at RPI at 3:00 pm. The winner will take the season series as Union won the first game, 3-2, on October 20th. That game was a non-league affair.

For more from Barcomb, watch my postgame interview with her. If you can't see the embedded player below, click here to watch.

Cruice, Grosenick lead Union to 2-1 win over Colgate

For postgame press conference videos, scroll down or click here. There's two from tonight - Union head coach Rick Bennett and Union players Nick Cruice and Troy Grosenick. The latter is a bit blurry for the first 25 seconds, but is fine after. Colgate didn't send anyone down after the game.

==========

by Ryan Fay

SCHENECTADY -- For a change, Rick Bennett didn't have to answer questions about the Dutchmen not hanging on to a third period lead.

#17 Union had blown third period leads in two consecutive games, but the Dutchmen entered the final period on Saturday night with a 2-1 lead over #20 Colgate and kept it.

Freshman Nick Cruice, who sat out the previous three games, scored the eventual game winning goal at 13:07 of the second period. The forward sent a wrister off the far post that went in for his second goal of the season and first since October 26th.

"It happened pretty fast," Cruice said of his goal. "I have to give a lot of credit to [freshman forward] David Roy. He's the one that told me to shoot. It was at the end of the shift, so [we were] just trying to get pucks on net."

Bennett liked what Cruice brought to the lineup.

"He's a bigger body and he's a physical guy. When he gets in the lineup, he uses that body," Bennett said.

Cruice did take an elbowing penalty leading to Colgate's only goal as Jeremy Price's power play tally tied it at 1-1 midway through the middle period.

Bennett was ready to look past that.

"As a staff, what we're most proud of is he took a penalty, came back, and responded in a positive way," Bennett said, referring to Cruice's later goal.

Union outshot Colgate 34-26, but junior goaltender Troy Grosenick made a few spectacular saves among the 25 he collected. He robbed Joe Wilson on a one-timer at 15:04 of the second period and later made a key save on a shorthanded break led by John Lidgett with 89 seconds remaining in regulation.

"I thought this was the first weekend [this season] that this was Grosenick and how he was playing last year," Bennett said of his netminder who piled up 58 saves in two games this weekend. "He's one of the hardest working players I've ever had a chance to work with. When you have that work ethic and you're coachable, you're going to get better."

Bennett wasn't as pleased after seeing his team take a too many men on the ice penalty for the second straight game.

"Those players involved will be doing some skating," Bennett said. "It starts with me, [but] we're not the Edmonton Oilers of the eighties where we can spot people power plays. We really need to bear down in that department."

After picking up the win, Cruice said the team has a bright future.

"We're going to start rolling," he predicted. "There's a lot of chemistry building on our team right now. It's all a good feeling and we're going to come back Tuesday and do well. It's a good win going forward."

Union hosts their third home game in five days when Harvard comes to Messa Rink for a 7 pm faceoff on Tuesday.

NOTES: Wayne Simspon opened the scoring with a breakaway goal at 16:26 of the first period. It was his team-best 11^th of the season and it extended his point steak to four games.... On the women's side, the Dutchwomen nearly pulled off a signature win at #2/3 Harvard, but lost, 1-0. Harvard also beat them, 9-0, earlier this month.

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Hockey Game Box Score (Final)
#20 Colgate vs #17 Union (Jan 19, 2013 at Schenectady, NY)

Colgate (11-9-2 (3-6-1 ECACH)) vs. Union (11-8-4 (5-4-2 ECACH)) Date: Jan 19, 2013 Location: Schenectady, NY Arena: Messa Rink Attendance:2217 Start time:7:07 pm End time:9:14 pm Total time:2:07  Goals by Period 1st 2nd 3rd Total Colgate 0 1 0 1 Union 1 1 0 2 Scoring Summary # Prd Time Team Type Scored by Assists Visitor on ice Home on ice 1. 1st 16:26 UNION EVEN Simpson, Wayne/11 - 27,25,23,17 21,12,14,20 2. 2nd 10:14 COLGATEM PP Price, Jeremy/5 Bourdon, Robbie/13 20,17,25,27,15 12,3,20,21 Murphy, Darcy/3 3. 2nd 13:07 UNION EVEN Cruice, Nick/2 Gostisbehere, Shayne/10 14,17,16,27,4 8,14,23,26,20

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