Seniors lead Union over RPI in epic come from behind victory

Another Union-RPI game, another incredible and exciting game. I am so glad that I saw this in person! It was definitely worth the 2+ hour drive each way to see it. To be honest I was not confident heading into the game. If felt that this was the definition of a trap game for Union considering they were flying high off over their hot weekend and national ranking. It would be easy enough to overlook a struggling RPI team in a week night game during winter break. I was still on pins and needles throughout the entire game until the final horn blew, and I was so relieved to be proven wrong.

Union went up 1-0 about six minutes into the game when 'Super' Mario Valery-Trabucco scored a power-play on a five-on-three advantage, but RPI struck back with their own power-play goal a little less than three minutes later. From the time between Mario's first and second goals, the Dutchmen played absolutely awful. It was probably the worst 40 minutes of hockey Union has played all season.

Going into the third period the Engineers were up 2-1 and then extended their lead two minutes into the period on a soft goal by RPI's top scorer and the ECAC's top scorer Chase Polacek. At this point I looked over to my Dad and told him that the game was over. Down by two goals on the road and playing terribly I felt that the game was lost and it would take something "super" to get the Dutchmen back into the game. Then two minutes after Polacek's goal "super" struck twice within 1:56 in the form of 'Super' Mario as he scored two goals from the same spot. Each time he streaked down the right boards and fired a laser form the right face-off circle over the shoulder of RPI goaltender Allen York into the upper left corner of the net. This was the first time since Oliver Bouchard in February 2006 that a Dutchmen player scored a hat trick.

After the second goal my confidence rose, but not completely as the Dutchmen have been prone to taking a penalty late in the game that ends up costing them the game, just as it did when Stephane Boileau took a late penalty late in the first meeting in RPI that set up the game-tying goal. So guess what happened? Yep, Jon Lareau took a penalty with about eight minutes left, where Chase Polacek took advantage and put his team up by one with another soft goal let up by Keith Kinkaid.

This lowered my confidence, but when RPI Head Coach Seth Appert called a timeout in his defensive zone to rest his players for the final few minutes I saw this as an opening for the Dutchmen. I was actually somewhat contemplating whether or not Coach Leaman should call a timeout to rest his players and create a game plan for the final push. But Appert's surprise timeout allowed Leaman to rest his top line (Wally, Mario, and Prez) and put them on the ice for that face-off instead of the Simpsons and Andrew Buote. I personally thought this was the turning point of the game as from this point on the Dutchmen completely dominated the Engineers.

With Kinkaid pulled in favor of an extra attacker Jason Walters was able to tie the game up when he scored on a shot off of a rebound with 51 seconds left. I jumped up and down screaming after the goal, but I was honestly still unconvinced. Even after Mike Schreiber's go-ahead blast with 19 seconds left I was still unsure about victory, especially when with six seconds left Walters was called for tripping. Watch Union's two goals in the last minute here.

Now, this brings me back to my turning point as this would have been a perfect time for Appert to use his timeout. I understand that hindsight is always 20-20 but the reason why you save your timeouts in a close game is for events like this. So, with York pulled and a face-off in the Dutchmen zone the Engineers did not have the opportunity to use their timeout to create a play. Even after realizing this I was still holding my breath. But once the final horn sounded I was able to breathe again after witnessing one of the most exciting hockey games I have ever seen. In recent memory I'd rank it second behind last year's national championship game where BU came back to tie Miami in the final moments and then eventually won the championship in overtime. It was such a great feeling watching all of the RPI fans walk out of the Houston Field House with their heads down!

Points to take away from the game:

• Union is still hot! The team is riding a nine game unbeaten streak and is still the only team in the ECAC without a league loss. They are now tied with Colgate with 11 points, but the Dutchmen beat the Raiders in their only meeting this season.


• RPI is falling and falling fast. This is the Engineers fourth straight loss and sixth out of their last seven. This is a loss that is hard for a team to recover from. They had a one-goal lead three times throughout the game, but were unable to hold it and couldn't even get to overtime. Things won't get easier for RPI as they playing defending national champion Boston University on friday in Boston, then they head to the Great Lakes Invitational where they will play Michigan and then either Michigan State or Michigan Tech. After the tournament they head back east to resume ECAC play with first-place Quinnipiac and then take on Princeton. Then it's back to Schenectady for their fourth meeting with the Dutchmen this year. This game could be the end of the season for RPI.


• 'Super' Mario is super. Mario single handely brought the Dutchmen back to life with his two rockets early in the third period. The senior is leaving his mark on his final season as he's been on the score sheet all season. He is first on the team with 21 points, 10 goals, and is tied for first with 11 assists. He has scored at least one goal in six of his last seven games played, and has registered a point in nine of his last 11 games. This also includes the game where he scored the game-winning goal in the shootout against Lake Superior State, which doesn't count as an official goal. Mario was also last week's ECAC Hockey Player of the Week, and with his performance tonight he might be able to repeat.


• Keith Kinkaid did not play well. This was the first time I've seen Kinkiad during his unbeaten streak, and he was not impressive. Kinkiad, last week's ECAC Rookie of the Week did play well positionally, but he seemed a little slow laterally. Each of Chase Polacek's goals seemed to be soft. In two games against RPI at the Houston Field House Kinkaid has let up four goals each time. The question now is if Corey Milan will get a chance to play again since Kinkaid had a weak game.


• Allen York is not a good goaltender. I have never been impressed by York and I personally rank him as one of the worst goalies in the ECAC. It's been noticeable lately that he is pretty decent down low, but if you shoot up high he can easily be beaten. Mario and Schreiber each noticed that for sure. There has been some injury concern with York, but if he is going to play like the way he played tonight Coach Appert should look into giving someone else a start.


• Union has owned RPI lately. The Dutchmen are 5-1-1 (the tie came in the 2008 Governor's Cup where Union won in a shootout) in their past seven games against the Engineers, and are 6-0-1 in their past seven games in Troy. But, this year's games have all been one goal games, and two of them have gone to overtime.


• Presizniuk and Yanovitch are still on scoring droughts. Even though Prez registered three assists tonight he still hasn't been as noticible on the ice as he was last year. Maybe teams are paying closer attention this year or maybe he has just fallen into a junior jinx. Prez, last year's leading scorer, has tallied an assist in five of his last eight games but hasn't scored since October 24th against Sacred Heart. This could be the product of Mario and Wally doing all of the scoring, or just a lapse in his game. Yanovitch got off to a hot start as he scored a goal in the first three weekends of the season, but has only scored one since. Yano has also gone pointless in his last five games. Late in tonight's game Yano did not come onto the ice when the Simpson brothers did as he was sat in favor of Jeremy Welsh or Andrew Buote. Personally, I feel that these droughts are the product of Coach Leaman's lineup shift earlier in the season. Before the change each Prez and Yano were off to good starts, but after the change to new lines they cooled off. So, Leaman changed them back (Prez with Wally and Mario, and Yano with the Simpsons) hoping they would revert to their early season form, but as of now this has not happened. It looks like they have been unable to form chemistry with their linemates this season.


• Coach Leaman is one win away from 100 career wins. Tonight's victory over RPI was Leaman's 99th of his career. I don't think a victory over the U.S. Under-18 team would count as number 100 since it is an exhibition game, so Leaman's next chance will be in the UConn Tournament against nationally ranked UMass.

The Dutchmen will take on the U.S. Under-18 team on Friday in an exhibition game at Messa Rink. This game will be a part of "Shots for Tots" hosted by Union and the U.S. Marine Corps. To read more about this event click here.

To read more about the game read Ken Schott's thoughts on the game here. You can also take a look at the box score here. Game recaps can be read on RPIAthleics.com and UnionAthletics.com. Watch the post - game interviews here courtesy of Ken Schott. There is plenty of literature about the game. Read articles by Mark McGuire of the Times Union here, Tim Wilkin of the Times Union here, and Ed Weaver of The Record here.