Looking into the RPI Tournament

The Dutchmen come into the tournament having swept the weekend in the North Country for the first time since 2002-03 two weeks ago and having just finished their finals, so the team should be very refreshed and have no academic distractions. Union will face Lake Superior State in the first round on Friday at 4pm. This will be the first meeting between the two programs. Depending on the outcome against the Lakers the Dutchmen will either face RPI or Bentley. The Dutchmen have gone unbeaten in their past five outings at the Houston Field House dating back to November 2004.

LSSU (6-7-1 overall, 3-6-1-0 CCHA) currently sits in 8th place in the CCHA, which is only 2 points out from last place. Offensively the Lakers are 8th in the league averaging 2.64 goals per game. The offense is led by junior forward Chad Nehring (8-3-11), junior forward Rick Schofield (5-6-11), and senior forward Zac MacVoy (2-9-11). Nehring leads the team with 5 power-play goals, which is also tied for tops in the CCHA. Junior Brian Mahoney-Wilson has started in goal for the Lakers in 13 of their 14 games and has posted a 6-6-1 record with a 2.79 GAA and .911 save percentage. The Lakers have been a team of streaks this year. They won 5 of their first 6 games to start the season, but then went on to go 6 games without a win. In their past three games they have won two games having beat Nebraska-Omaha on the 14th and then split a weekend series with Alaska-Fairbanks last weekend. Last year LSSU went 2-1 against ECAC opponents beating Harvard 6-2 and then splitting games with Colgate as they lost 5-4 and then won 6-1. The Lakers have won the NCAA championship 3 times (1988, 1992, 1994) and were the runners up in 1993.

Here's a link to a preview for the tournament from UnionAthletics.com:
http://www.unionathletics.com/news/2009/11/23/MICE_1123094548.aspx