Preview of Niagara and RIT

This weekend the Dutchmen return home from their trip to Alaska to take on two Atlantic Hockey opponents: the Niagara Purple Eagles and the Rochester Institute of Technology Tigers. Friday's game against Niagara will start at 7pm, while Saturday's game will begin at 7:30pm.

So, let's take a look at the opposition:

Niagara

Union has the advantage in the all-time series, 4-0-1.

Last season the Purple Eagles went 12-20-4 in the recently disbanded College Hockey America conference. They made it to the league championship game, but lost to Alabama-Huntsville in overtime with an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament on the line. They played 11 games against ECAC opponents and went 4-5-2. The Purple Eagles actually outscored their ECAC foes by two goals

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So far this season Niagara is 0-0-2 as they tied Merrimack and UMass-Lowell, both of Hockey East. Both of their goaltenders, junior Chris Noonan and freshman Carsen Chubak, have started a game this season so I'm not sure who will start on Friday.

The major issue for the team is scoring considering all three of their top three scorers graduated last season: Chris Moran (42 points), Ryan Olidis (33 points), and defenseman Tyler Gotto (25 points). They have lost a lot of veteran leadership and are a young team. 17 of the 28 players on the roster are underclassmen.

Players To Watch:

Bryan Haczyk: is the top returning scorer. He scored nine goals and tallied 13 assists in 2009-10.

Paul Zanette: accumulated 11 goals and 10 assists last season. He is the only player on the team with more than one goal this season.

Marc Zanette: had 20 points last season as a freshman (seven goals, 13 assists).

Prediciton: Union, 5-1

RIT

All-time, RIT holds the advantage 12-3-4, but they have not beaten Union since 1991. The Tigers and the Dutchmen were rivals back in the 80's when they were both Division III programs. Arguably the most epic game in the history of Union College Hockey took place between these two teams in the 1984 NCAA Semifinals. The game took four overtimes for the Dutchmen to take home the win. Sadly, Union lost to Babson 8-0 in the championship game.

The Tigers were the surprise team of the 2010 NCAA Tournament. After winning the Atlantic Hockey tournament they faced #2 Denver in the East Regional semifinals and beat them. They then went up against New Hampshire and upset them 6-2. Their run ended in the Frozen Four where they lost to Wisconsin 8-1. It was a magical season for the Tigers and their fans. By the way, their fans (known as the Corner Crew) are awesome! I was so impressed by them at the Frozen Four. They were the talk of tournament, and I hope they travel to Schenectady.

So far in 2010-11, the Tigers are 0-2-1. They dropped games to St. Cloud and Nebraska-Omaha at the Maverick Stampede, and then tied UMass-Lowell. It's not a good start, but they have played some tough teams. Also, the Tigers will no longer be overlooked by the out-of-conference opposition.

The Tigers lost two major components to their Frozen Four run from last season in goaltender Jared DeMichiel and defenseman Dan Ringwald. Both were First Team all-Atlantic Hockey selections last season. DeMichiel went 27-10-1 with a 2.08 GAA and .921 save percentage last season. He was also named the NCAA East Regionals Most Outstanding Player. Ringwald was a staple in the Tigers defense on both sides of the puck. He scored 11 goals and tacked on 26 assists in his senior year, and was named Atlantic Hockey's Best Defenseman. Replacing both will be tough, but especially DeMichiel. So far each of RIT's three goaltenders have had a start, once again making the starter for the game against Union a surprise.

The Tigers strength will be their offense as they return six players who scored at least 10 goals last season, and nine players who had at least 17 points.

Players To Watch:
Tyler Brenner: leads the team with three goals this season. Was second on the team last season with 15 goals.

Andrew Favot: leads the team with three assists. Is second among returning scorers as he posted 13 goals and 33 asissts last season.

Cameron Burt: led the team in scoring last season as a sophomore. He netted 16 goals and picked up 31 helpers in 40 games. He also led the team with nine power-play goals, so look out for him there.

Prediction: Union, 4-3

Players To Watch For Union:

Jeremy Welsh: leads the team with four goals, and has scored a goal in each of the past four games.

 

Daniel Carr and Josh Jooris: can they keep it rolling? The line of Carr-Welsh-Jooris has been unstoppable to start the season

Corey Milan: I'm not sure if he'll get a chance to play this weekend since Keith Kinkaid has been so good in between the pipes so far this season, but if he does let's see how he responds after his poor outing to start the season.