Union goes down 4-0 once again, but unable to comeback

After last night's come-from-behind 5-4 victory you would think that the Dutchmen would not allow that to happen the following night. Well, we all thought wrong as Union was down 4-0 midway through the third period. They once again tried to comeback but just ran out of time as they fell 4-3. This game marked the fourth time in a row that the Dutchmen have let up the first goal of the game. Even though Union found a way to comeback and win three of these games, this is not the way you want to play hockey. Playing from behind leads to frustration and sloppy play. It is great to see that the Dutchmen have the ability to mount huge comebacks, but as we saw last night it will not always work. Scoring first is an essential aspect of winning games, and the Dutchmen need to figure out how to do this before the playoffs start.

With the loss and Yale topping Cornell, the Dutchmen are now tied with the Big Red for second place in the ECAC. These last four games will essentially be playoff games as it is a tight race for the top spots in the standings. As shown in this week's poll, the most important weekend of the season will be the last one when Union travels to Colgate and Cornell. There is a very good chance that the Cornell game will decide the final ECAC standings. Also with the loss, the Dutchmen fall into a tie for 20th place in the PWR, which is definitely not good enough for a NCAA Tournament berth.

My Dad sent me a good analysis on the ECAC playoff picture:

"If you look at the standings, Union needs four more points to wrap up a Top 4 finish. If Colgate loses to Cornell, four points gets them no worse than 3rd. If Colgate and Cornell tie on Tuesday night, it will depend on the tiebreaker with Colgate for 3rd, assuming Union gets four points and Colgate gets all eight of the points available to them over the last two weekends. Union won their first meeting. If Colgate wins the second meeting, it will come down to this tiebreaker formula. Besides Colgate, the only teams below them that can catch them if they get four more points are RPI and St. Lawrence. They swept both RPI and St. Lawrence, so they hold the tiebreaker against each of them. They need to get the four points next weekend so that they are only playing for positioning in the Top 4 during the final Cornell/ Colgate weekend." (Thanks Dad!)

To be successful in the last two weekends of the season and in the playoffs one of the goaltenders needs to get hot. This biggest thing to have in the playoffs is hot goaltending because the goaltender is the only player on the ice who can steal a game for your team, and as of right now neither Keith Kinkaid or Corey Milan has proved they can do this. Keith has had some nice stretches, but then falters after a while, and Corey has received his chances but has been prone to allowing the weak goal. The Dutchmen and their fans better pray for hot goaltending if they want to go somewhere in the post-season. Just see Jean-Sebastien Gigure's performance in the 2003 NHL playoffs to see what a hot goalie can do for a team.

This upcoming weekend will be the last regular season home games for the seniors, so expect Mario, Wally, and Schreiber to have big weekends.

You can read more about last night's game on Union Athletics.com, USCHO.com, Daily Gazette.com, Times Union.com, and Ken Schott's Blog.

Also, be sure to vote Mario and Wally for the 2010 NCAA Skill Competition. THE VOTING WILL END AT NOON TOMORROW (2/15), SO VOTE AS MANY TIMES IN THE NEXT 24 HOURS. You can vote here.