Dutchmen officially release 2010-2011 schedule

Toady Coach Leaman and the Union College Dutchmen officially announced thier schedule for this upcoming season. If you have been following the blog lately there should be no surprises. As I reported earlier, Union will be playing in the Brice Alaska Goal Rush, the Dodge Holiday Classic hosted by Minnesota, and at Lake Placid to take on RPI. Also, they will be playing out of conference games against Niagara, RIT, and Western Michigan.

What I did miss were other OOC games. Union will open the season at home with a weekend series against Sacred Heart, who came into Schenectady last season and shocked the Dutchmen with a 6-5 win in overtime in one of the most exciting games of the season. They will also welcome in Atlantic Hockey foes UConn, AIC, and Army.

I have mixed feelings on the schedule. When it comes to the tournaments, Leaman and the Dutchmen did a great job scheduling competitive tournaments. Last season Union played in the RPI tournament and UConn tournament where they played Lake Superior State, RPI, UMass, and UConn, which makes up a pretty weak group of opponents. This year things are different. In the BAGR and DHC the Dutchmen are scheduled to play Alaska-Fairbanks, Alaska-Anchorage, Minnesota, and Bemidji. Alaska-Fairbanks finished in the Top 20 last season, Minnesota is consistently a national contender, and Bemidji made the Frozen Four two years ago and are on the rise. These tournaments will be great tests for the Dutchmen.

But, when it comes to the non-tournament out of conference schedule Union's schedule looks weak. These opponents are SHU, RIT, UConn, AIC, and Army of Atlantic Hockey, and Niagara of College Hockey America. Besides RIT, who made the Frozen Four this past season, these are all pretty weak opponents. Atlantic Hockey and College Hockey America are consistently the worst conferences in college hockey, and AIC and UConn are usually two of the worst teams in all of college hockey. Where are the Hockey East opponents? I guess they spent all the travel money on the tournaments to Alaska and Minnesota. RPI has games against Northeastern and Boston University. While the Terriers are playing RPI in Troy, the Dutchmen will be playing Army just down the road. Even though this part of the schedule is weak, it's always good to have some "easy" games on the schedule so some of the players that don't play much can play.

For more on the schedule check out Union Athletics.com.