Video: Senior Athletes Appreciation Dinner

In honor of Senior Week I thought I would post this video.

Last week all Union senior athletes were honored at the annual Athletics Appreciation Dinner. Many Union hockey players won awards and some made speeches. Here is the video of the entire dinner.

Check out the speeches from these Dutchmen:
Brock Matheson (1:43:50)
Stephane Boileau (2:06:24)

Have a great week guys!

Seniors Dominate Awards At End of Season Banquet

On Sunday at the Mohawk Golf Club, Union held their end of the year banquet and handed out post-season awards. The awards were pretty much swept by the senior class.

Here are the results:

Most Valuable Player: Adam Presizniuk (third time)
Coaches' Award: Brock Matheson
Charles N. Morrison Award: Luke Cain
Thomas VanArden Dukehart Award: Stephane Boileau (third time)
Rookie of the Year: Mat Bodie
Scott Richardson Unsung Hero Award: Andrew Buote (fourth time)
Most Improved Player: Justin Pallos

I can't disagree with any of these selections. But, I also think that Daniel Carr could have been selected for ROY, John Simpson for Unsung Hero, and Wayne Simpson for MIP. You could also make an argument for Keith Kinkaid and Kelly Zajac for MVP. Either way, I bet it was a very tough decision to make for each award.

For more check out Union Athletics.com.

Congrats to the seven players who received an award!

Captain's Corner With Brock Matheson (4/1/11)

This is the last Captain's Corner With Brock Matheson. In this final segment, Brock talks about his NCAA Tournament experience, his time at Union, the future of the team, and his future.

I want to thank Brock for taking the time out every week to talk with me and giving the fans great insight on the team. He did such a great job handling the media this season. Coach Leaman has called Brock the best captain he's ever had, and it's well deserved.

Good luck on your pro hockey career Brock!

Three Questions For The Off-Season

With Union's season over, it will be a little slow here on UHB for awhile. But, this will be an interesting and exciting off-season. There are many important questions that will be answered over the next few months, which include:



Keith Kinkaid

 1. Will Keith Kinkaid leave early and sign with the NHL?
Personally, I don't think he's ready yet. He should try to work on his game more and play in more high situation games. In his short two year career, Kinkaid has only won two playoff games: the 2010 ECAC semifinal win over St. Lawrence and Game 1 against Colgate in the ECAC quarterfinals this season. He has lost important games like the 5OT game vs. Quinnipiac, the ECAC championship game against Cornell, the two games to Colgate this year, and the NCAA Tourney game against Minnesota-Duluth. I'm not saying that he played poorly in all of those losses (he was excellent against Cornell and good against UMD), but he needs to prove that he can possibly shutout an opponent in those type of games, like what Kenny Reiter did for UMD last Friday.

I hope he stays because he is an excellent goaltender and is the backbone of the team. But, deep down inside I don't think he'll stay, and will leave early like RPI goaltender Allen York did a few days ago. I still believe this even though Ken Schott and Mark McGuire reported that he will be staying.

Also, take a look how some of the latest players to leave school early to sign with the NHL turned out (College Hockey Inc.).



Rick Bennett

 2. Will the coaching staff stay?
There have been rumors circulating that Coach Leaman and Coach Bennett will leave to take other head coaching jobs. The little rumors I've heard about Leaman is that he might be up for the Harvard job. This makes sense because he was an assistant there before coming to Union, they have more finances to work with, and have recruited NHL prospects like Danny Biega. Personally, I'm more afraid that he'll take the new Penn State job. Leaman has done such a great job building a program here with very little resources, so just imagine what he could do with a new rink, new program, and new league at Penn State.That will be a very appetizing job. Right now, it's hard for me to see Coach Leaman any where else but Schenectady.

Coach Bennett on the other hand, I think will leave and deserves to have a head coaching job. There is currently a vacancy at Providence where Bennett was a great player and was just recently inducted into their athletics hall of fame this winter. He has done such a great job recruiting for Union, and I don't think fans really realize how much he has done for this program. If Bennett leaves, it also creates an opportunity for Coach Barr to be promoted, who has also done an excellent job while at Union.



Adam Presizniuk

 3. Where will the seniors sign?
If you look at the roster, there are only two seniors which really standout to me that will definitely play some sort of pro hockey next season: Adam Presizniuk and Brock Matheson. Prezie is one of the greatest players in Union's DI history and is definitely skilled enough to play in the pros somewhere. The big question with him is where that somewhere is. Will it be in the States or in Europe? Is he good enough for the AHL? Maybe he'll go the same route as Mario Valery-Trabucco and play in a high-level league in Europe.

I know that Brock is getting some looks, but I'm not sure where. If I had to guess it would be somewhere in Europe. I can see him playing in the same league as Mike Schreiber in Germany. Brock is undersized for defender, like Schreiber, but he will be valuable because of his defensive and leadership skills.

Of the other six seniors (Boileau, Cain, Pallos, J. Simpson, Milan, Buote), I'm not sure if they're getting any looks. There are very serviceable players like John Simpson and Andrew Buote who could play some pro hockey, but I don't see them lasting in the pros. You also got to remember that of these six seniors, five of them made the 2010 ECAC All-Academic team, so it is very likely that these guys might want to pursue their career outside of hockey after graduation. Actually, out of all six of this group I see Corey Milan as having the best shot of playing pro hockey. He might be overlooked because of his lack of playing time this season, but has put up some good numbers in his career. This might depend on how well he recovers from his injury.

Hopefully, all of these answers will prove beneficial for the Dutchmen.

Captain's Corner With Brock Matheson (3/24/11)

It was an incredibly busy day in Bridgeport today, but Brock was nice enough to save some time for Captain's Corner this week. The media was all over the team today, which must have been cool but intimidating. I think Brock, Coach Leaman, and the rest of the Dutchmen did a great job today handling everything.

Also, Jeff Weinstein and Eric McDowell did a great job handling the "big time atmosphere." But, they've both been in these situations before with Boston College and the Golden State Warriors, respectively. It was also nice seeing some of the local media (ex. Ken Schott) in Bridgeport, which helped it feel like home. This was definitely a new experience for me with all the media, protocols, the big media room... the free lunch spread! It was such a great experience.

Anyways, here's Brock (his playoff beard is looking great!):

Union's Press Conference From Bridgeport

The Dutchmen had a press conference after their practice on Thursday afternoon. This was definitely the biggest press conference I've ever been a part of.





The thing Coach is laughing about in the beginning of the video is that Ken Schott asked him what he's most scared about with Duluth, and Coach said "the weather."

Dutchmen Win 5 of 7 ECAC Awards

Tonight in Atlantic City the ECAC announced their regular season awards. Of the seven awards handed out, five were given to individuals from Union.

Here were the results:

Most Outstanding Player: Chase Polacek, RPI
Ken Dryden Award: Keith Kinkaid, Union
Rookie of the Year: Andrew Calof, Princeton
Best Defensive Forward: Adam Presizniuk, Union
Best Defensive Defenseman: Brock Matheson, Union
Student-Athlete of the Year: Stephane Boileau, Union
Coach of the Year: Nate Leaman, Union

For more on each recipient check out:
ECAC Hockey
Union Athletics
Ken Schott's Blog

Congrats to Keith, Prezie, Brock, Stephane, and Coach on these tremendous honors! Also, congrats to Polacek and Calof on great seasons. It's a little weird that none of these guys will be in Atlantic City this weekend.

You can't really disagree with the selections too much. Personally, I would have give the Rookie of the Year to Greg Carey from St. Lawrence.

Captain's Corner With Brock Matheson (3/17/11)

It was a busy finals week on campus, so I was unable to catch up with Brock before I went home for Spring Break. But, he was nice enough to answer the following questions (which I would've asked him on video) through email. Enjoy!

1) What do you think was the reason why Colgate won this past weekend?
I think Colgate won because they played hard all series and kept coming. It could be argued that we didn't get bounces or calls our way but those are just excuses, at the end of the day they won the series because of great goaltending and great transition and net drives.

 2) Everybody (students and fans) was very upset after the loss. What was the feeling in the locker room? 
We were all pretty devastated. It was a heartbreaker, but after a few days now we're back and track and preparing for the NCAA's.

3) I think everyone had trouble coping with the loss. How did you? Did you talk to anybody?
After games I usually talk to my parents and they are great at putting things in perspective. But, all of us wanted some time away from the rink after the loss to kind of digest it in our way and diffuse it a little bit.

4) What do you guys do now? How do you refocus?
We've already started to refocus. What's done is done and now were focusing on something greater than our league championship: the national tournament. It's now about us getting better in practice each day and addressing the individual areas of the game that we need to improve in and that we weren't successful in the past weekend.

5) What do you have to do as the captain of the team to make sure you guys refocus?
It's up to myself and the other captains, and all the seniors to make sure that we're using practices to get better and to improve. We can't take a day off now because if we lose, we're done, so it's up to us to send that message to everyone and demand the best everyday.
 

6) It looks like you guys are a lock for the NCAA Tournament. How does it feel to be a part of the first Union team to make it to the tournament?

It's a great feeling to know that we've put together a good enough season to deserve an at large bid for the tournament. That being said however, we're not juts happy to be there, we want to win it. So, it's all about preparation and focus right now. 

7) With two weeks off and unsure on who your next opponent will be, how do you prepare for the NCAA Tournament?
Like I said before we just want to focus on us and our game. We want to improve in areas that we've struggled with so that come playing time, we're firing on all cylinders.

8) Do you prefer where you guys play in the NCAA tournament?
I have no preference.

9) How did finals go?
I'm taking a study break right now to answer these questions, still have one final tomorrow (Thursday) morning and a paper tomorrow, so not quite out of the woods yet.

10) What do you guys do on campus when no one is there? Is it easier to focus on hockey with no school work and no one around?
When no one is on campus it's nice because we don't have to focus on school and it's all about hockey. Practices are early in the day and it's easier to eat good meals at good times. Away from the rink guys relax and enjoy not having homework

11) Where is your favorite place to eat on campus and off campus?
My favourite meal on campus is our pre-game meal at Reamer Campus Center. The Reamer staff is so great and the meal they prepare is delicious and they cater to our needs so well. They deserve a big thank you. Off campus I like Bangkok Bistro. My roommates and I enjoy going there from time to time

12) What is your favorite song(s) to listen to before games?
In the dressing room we listen to a wide variety of music from rock to rap to country to techno. For the past few months we've been putting on some old school Limp Bizkit before we go on the ice so lots of guys have enjoyed that.

13) Sunday was your last game at Messa Rink. Is there anything you want to say to the fans?

On behalf of the entire senior class I'd like to thank every fan who ever came to see us play over the past four years. We're incredibly grateful for the fans and support we have here throughout the school and community. You're responsible for our success at home this year and we hope to see some of you at the NCAA's.

14) Congrats on being named Second Team All-ECAC. What does it mean to you to be honored by the league?
It's a tremendous honor, there are so many great d-men on this team let alone this league. I think there are a number of other players on our team that deserve recognition for their contributions on a nightly basis. Defense is a 6-man effort including the goalies so everyone is represented in that honor.

15) Give us an inspirational quote for Union fans to live by for the next few weeks. Is there a quote you guys have to motivate yourselves this season or now?
Our motto this year has been "Anytime, Anyplace, Anyhow." This is especially applicable now as we will soon be travelling to a regional site for the tournament. Basically it means that anywhere we go, were going to get the job done by any means possible. That mentality allowed us to go into hostile environments and tough games and get wins regardless of the circumstance.

Six Dutchmen Honored On All-ECAC Teams

Sorry about posting this so late. I just got home for Spring Break.

Anyways, six Union players have been named to All-ECAC teams. Congrats to Keith Kinkaid, Kelly Zajac, Brock Matheson, Jeremy Welsh, Daniel Carr, and Mat Bodie.

FIRST TEAM
Forward - Chase Polacek, RPI
Forward - Brian O'Neill, Yale
Forward - Andrew Miller, Yale
Defense - Nick Bailen, RPI
Defense - Taylor Fedun, Princeton
Goaltender - Keith Kinkaid, Union

SECOND TEAM
Forward - Jack Maclellan, Brown
Forward - Joe Devin, Cornell
Forward - Kelly Zajac, Union
Defense - Brock Matheson, Union
Defense - Danny Biega, Harvard
Goaltender - James Mello, Dartmouth

THIRD TEAM
Forward - Andrew Calof, Princeton
Forward  - Chris Cahill, Yale
Forward - Jeremy Welsh, Union
Defense - Mike Devin, Cornell
Defense - Joel Stejskal, Dartmouth
Goaltender - Allen York, Rensselaer  

ALL-ROOKIE TEAM
Forward - Andrew Calof, Princeton
Forward - Greg Carey, St. Lawrence
Forward - Daniel Carr, Union
Defense - Mat Bodie, Union
Defense - Dennis Robertson, Brown
Goaltender - Andy Iles, Cornell

For the official release click here.

I think the selection committee (or whoever picks these teams) did a really good job. I really have no complaints. I guess the only person I thought would be on a team but isn't is (I hate to say it but) Harry Zolnierczyk from Brown. All of the Dutchmen that were honored are well deserving. These guys are the best six players on the team (not including Adam Presizniuk, who was hurt for a good a few games this season which is probably why he wasn't named to any team). Also, congrats to the other student-athletes who were honored.

Videos From Last Night

Here are some videos I took before, during, and after Union's disappointing 4-2 loss last night to Colgate in Game 2 of the ECAC Quarterfinals.

That third period last night was one of the most uninspiring periods I've seen Union play in my four years. Now it's down to one game. The Dutchmen better clear their heads because tonight is going to be a wild one.

We will have the weekend recap once the series is over (remember Justin and I have finals, but we're doing our best!).

Captain's Corner With Brock Matheson (3/10/11)

With Week 10 coming to a close and finals approaching it was pretty difficult finding a room to film this week's segment. So, Brock and I decided to man up and film outdoors in the chilly Schenectady weather. Brock's a tough guy and didn't care.

This week Brock talks about the upcoming playoff series with Colgate and being captain, among other things.

Dutchmen Gear Up For ECAC Quarterfinals

Today at Messa Rink, the Dutchmen held a press conference to talk about their upcoming ECAC Quarterfinals matchup with Colgate.

Coach Leaman spoke first, and was followed by Keith Kinkaid, Brock Matheson, Adam Presizniuk, Kelly Zajac, and Daniel Carr. I caught up with Zajac after it was all done to talk about being a finalist for ECAC's Best Defensive Forward Award and playoff beards (if you haven't seen, my beard is in full playoff mode).

Captain's Corner With Brock Matheson (3/3/11)

Sorry for posting so late. It was a busy day on campus for me, but I was still able to catch up with Brock. It's a long segment, but it's a good one!

Enjoy!

Captain's Corner With Brock Matheson (2/24/11)

Short and sweet this week. Brock talks about the upcoming Senior Weekend.

I hope you all like the new opening and closing credits!

Captain's Corner With Brock Matheson (2/17/11)

This week's segment is very, very short because Brock and I had busy schedules this week and I had some technical difficulties filming the segment today (Damn Technology!). Luckily, Brock had a few moments to talk before practice.

We'll make up for it next week.

Captain's Corner With Brock Matheson (2/10/11)

This week's segment takes place at Bailey Hall, which is home to the Union College Mathematics department.

Once again, Brock talks about a variety of topics that pertain to Dutchmen Hockey.

Enjoy the video and be sure to come out to Messa Rink this weekend!

Captain's Corner With Brock Matheson (2/3/11)

Enjoy!

Captain's Corner With Brock Matheson (1/27/11)

This week Brock talks about the upcoming games with #1 Yale and Brown, along with other pressing topics.

If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions please write in the comment box below. Remember we want to make this blog the best it can be for the fans!

And if you haven't done so yet join the the Union vs. #1 Yale Facebook event (click here).

Captain's Corner With Brock Matheson (1/20/11)

This week on Captain's Corner, Brock talks about everything from the weather to the national tournament. We got pretty random this week, but I think that's what will make this segment the best "Captain's Corner" yet.

We filmed the segment in the Concordiensis office, which is located on the fourth floor of Reamer Campus Center. The Concordiensis is the official student newspaper of Union College and was founded in 1877. Yours truly is the Sports Editor of the paper.

Also, notice the Nott Memorial in the background which is one of the coolest buildings in the world. Pretty artistic of me right?! haha

Captain's Corner With Brock Matheson (1/13/11)

Brock is back for the second time this term talking Dutchmen hockey. Topics of interest this week include Kyle Bodie, Adam Presizniuk, the Starr Curse, and many more!

This week's segment was filmed in Reamer Campus Center on the 4th floor (just if anybody was wondering).