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.

Videos From Senior Night

Here are some videos I took on Senior Night:

Catching Up With Corey Milan on Senior Night

After last night's game I caught up with Corey Milan. Corey came into the game with a few minutes left and received a great ovation from the crowd when he was announced into the game. The support was well deserved since Corey has done so much for this program. I talked about it in my feature on Milan in the game program this weekend.

Congrats on a great four years Corey!

Photos from Media Day 2010

Here are some photos that I took from Media Day 2010. I had such a great time attending this year mainly because of my new Droid X. It allowed me to take some real nice photos and HD Video. Since I'm having trouble posting the videos, they will hopefully be up tomorrow. Sadly, this was my last Media Day, but it was definitely the best. SID Eric McDowell and assistant SID Jeff Weinstein put on a great show.

The view from center ice at Messa Rink

Sign outside Union's locker room

Good buddies Brock Matheson and goaltender Corey Milan take a photo with each other. Brock and Corey were roommates their freshman year (and lived on my floor).

Freshman Josh Jooris (#7) heads off the ice with senior Justin Pallos (#11), freshman Kevin Sullivan (#16), and freshman Cole Ikkala (#18)

The Dutchmen hang around waiting to get interviewed

Senior assistant captain Andrew Buote talks to the media

Coach Leaman and the Class of 2011

And here are your 2010-11 Union College Dutchmen!

Coach Leaman makes the final adjustments for the team photo

Freshman Matt Hatch will wear Mario Valery-Trabucco's number this season. As you can tell Union has made some small make overs on their jerseys adding some black trim on their jerseys and changing their socks among a few other things.

Five players remain to be told where to sit for the team photo

Senior captain Brock Matheson sits in the middle of the team photo

Freshman Mat Bodie

Head Coach Nate Leaman

Happy Fourth of July!

I hope everyone has a happy and safe Fourth of July... even my boys in Canada! While the ponds might be melted there are still plenty of roller rinks to play some puck.

Fun fact about Americans and Union hockey: all three of Union's goalies last season were from the United States (Keith Kinkaid - New York, Corey Milan - Massachusetts, Rich Sillery-Maryland). The leading American scorer on the team last season was John Simpson with 20 points (4g, 16a). Big Simpson was seventh on the team in scoring

Union's Lineup Changes Tonight; ECACHWBA Awards

According to Ken Schott, freshman Keith Kinkaid will be starting in net tonight for the Dutchmen. Kinkaid has started in both games against the Saints this year. Also, senior captain Mike Wakita will be out of the lineup because of a lower body injury he suffered last Sunday against Quinnipiac. Freshman Ryan Forgaard will take his place, meaning Union will have three freshman defensemen in tonight's starting lineup. The Dutchmen will definitely miss Wakita's presence and hard hits on the ice tonight. Hopefully someone like Nolan Julseth-White can step up and take that role.

Also, the inaugural ECAC Hockey Writers and Broadcasters Association awards were announced today. They are unofficial awards and I was even lucky enough to have a vote in the awards. And the winners are...

Player of the Year: Chase Polacek, RPI
Rookie of the Year: Brandon Pirri, RPI
Goalie of the Year: Ben Scrivens, Cornell
Coach of the Year: Nate Leaman, Union
Defensive Forward of the Year: Travis Vermeulen, SLU
Defensive Defenseman of the Year: Justin Krueger, Cornell

First Team: Polacek, Mario Valery-Trabucco (Union), Broc Little (Yale), Mike Schreiber (Union), Tom Dignard (Yale), Scrivens
Second Team: Sean Backman (Yale), Austin Smith (Colgate), Blake Gallagher (Cornell), Krueger, Brendon Nash (Cornell), Allen York (RPI)
All-Rookie Team: Pirri, Jerry D'Amigo (RPI), Louis Leblanc (Harvard), Nick D'Agostino (Cornell), George Hughes (SLU), Keith Kinkaid (Union)

More Notes on This Weekend

• The CDTA will be offering a shuttle service for this weekend's games. It's $10 to park but the shuttle if free. For more on the shuttle service go to Times Union.com.


• It still hasn't been announced who will start in goal for the Dutchmen on Friday against St. Lawrence but Coach Leaman is confident that both Keith Kinkaid and Corey Milan are capable of carrying them to victory. Check out Ken Schott's article on the decision on Daily Gazette.com.


• For more about the teams in the ECAC Final Four check out Brian Sullivan's "This Week in ECAC Hockey" on USCHO.com.


• You can check out Union's ECAC Tournament Guide here.

Union advances to ECAC Final Four for first time in program history

Finally! Finally! Finally! Union is finally going to Albany for the ECAC Final Four for the first time in program history! The Dutchmen will face St. Lawrence next Friday at the Times Union Center.

The great thing about tonight's victory was that it was a complete team effort. The forwards fore-checked hard, the defense stepped up to the Quinnipiac forwards, beat them badly along the boards and in front of the net, and Corey Milan made all the stops he needed to. It was also great to see the freshman step up for the team as Wayne Simpson and Jeremy Welsh scored both of Union's goals tonight.

It was such an emotional battle between both teams. Bobcat goaltender Dan Clarke was throwing punches, Jason Walters and Eric Lampe were getting at each other for the fourth game in a row, and both teams worked extremely hard. I give the Bobcats a lot of credit for playing the way they did. They worked extremely hard, but just couldn't get past the tough Union defense. I also think the home-ice advantage was HUGE difference in the game. The student section was loud the entire game and the team really fed off of it, which was seen at the end of the game when Milan and the rest of the team jumped into the glass at Section Q.... I honestly thought the glass was going to shatter.

The emotions at the end of the game were incredible to see. Will Friedman and the rest of the student section were jumping up and down and hugging each other while popcorn was thrown into the air and the players could not wipe the smiles off their faces. Union Athletic Director Jim McLaughlin also looked extremely happy, and I even caught the Daily Gazette's Ken Schott with tears in his eyes.

For more on the game check out USCHO.com, Union Athletics.com, Ken Schott's Blog, and Times Union.com.

I was shocked to hear that Brown beat Yale 1-0, which makes all the difference in the world for the Dutchmen. I was even more shocked to see that the only goal was shorthanded and came midway through the first period. Cornell is an incredible team and Union won't have to see them until the ECAC finals. Brown deserves a ton of praise after beating a very good RPI team and then beating the top seed and defending champs on the road in back-to-back weekends. Bears goaltender Mike Clemente has now pulled off three upsets in the past two years. Their hard hitting defensive style has really worked for them. If I were Yale's Sean Backman I would be apologizing to my team for letting them down.

Let's just hope enough students stick around next weekend to see if their team can make more history. Also, good luck to the players and their fans on their upcoming finals.

Union lives to see tomorrow

Thanks to two goals by Adam Presizniuk and 27 saves by Corey Milan, the Dutchmen topped Quinnipiac 3-1. Luke Cain scored Union's second goal which was the eventual game-winner.

It was a very solid game all across the board. Union was able to get some good offensive pressure and played good team defense. Also, Milan made the stops he needed to make while the Union defense didn't allow many great scoring opportunities.

Due to last night's epic affair John Simpson, Kyle Bodie, and Stephane Boileau were not dressed in favor of Justin Pallos (who assisted on the game-winning goal), Brian Yanovitch, and Jason Shaffer. Yanovitch looked especially good tonight. I wonder if Leaman will stick with this winning formula tomorrow.

I got to watch the game from Section Q for the first time in a long, long time. It was a lot of fun and the students were very loud and in to it.

Tomorrow night is win or go home, so it should be a very emotional and exciting game. This is the last game at Messa Rink for the seniors so expect them to step up in a big way. Also, if the Dutchmen win they will head to the ECAC Final Four for the first time in program history. This year is the last time the final four will be held in Albany.

For more on the game check out Union Athletics.com, USCHO.com, Times Union.com (Mark McGuire), Ken Schott's Blog, and Troy Record.com.

Also, Cornell topped Harvard and St. Lawrence beat Colgate to clinch a berth to the ECAC Final Four, while Yale bounced back and scored six goals against Brown to force Game 3 tomorrow.

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.

Cain's first goal of the season lifts Union over Quinnipiac in overtime and into first place

THE UNION COLLEGE DUTCHMEN ARE IN FIRST PLACE IN THE ECAC!

Luke Cain's wrap-around in overtime was the difference. Also in the game Corey Milan made 23 saves and Jason Walters tallied his 100th career point when he assisted on Mario Valery-Trabucco's goal. You can read the game summary on Union Athletics .com , Quinnipiac Bobcats.com, USCHO.com, Times Union.com, and on Ken Schott's Blog and post-game video.

Well as I posted earlier this week I would have been happy with two points from this weekend and anything more would be icing on the cake... well we have that icing on the cake and it tastes wonderful! After winning games at Princeton and Quinnipiac this weekend the Dutchmen now sit on top of the ECAC standings by themselves. All Dutchmen fans should be extremely excited and show their support of the team next week when RPI comes to town on Saturday. I expect the student section to be packed.

Even though this is a great feeling and accomplishment, we should all put this into perspective considering the Dutchmen haven't even played half of the league schedule yet (13 more games). They also have to travel to Cornell, Colgate, and Yale along with playing Quinnipiac one more time. Also, they have yet to play Harvard and Dartmouth. The team and their fans should celebrate this week but once Saturday comes around it should be back to business. We should not be too cocky and from what Coach Nate Leaman has been saying they are not taking the standings too seriously and are just taking it one game at a time.

Even though the Dutchmen should not pay too much attention to the ECAC standings or the National Rankings (which come out tomorrow) they should still keep and eye on the PairWise Rankings. Your positioning in the PairWise Rankings is a major indicator if you are able to obtain an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. Currently Union is sitting at #13 and if they stay around there they have a realistic shot of making the tournament. 16 teams make the tournament and if you win your conference tournament you receive and automatic bid. For an explanation of how the PairWise Rankings work click here.

Congratulations to Jason Walters on his 100th career point as a Dutchmen. He has been on fire of late and if he keeps up the pace he could break the all-time Union Division I scoring record (Jordan Webb '05, 114). Also congrats to Luke Cain on his goal last night. It's been a long road for Cain since he had his devastating and pretty gruesome injury (from what I remember) two seasons ago. It's nice to see him still working hard and making the most of his opportunities since he doesn't play every game.

It was also great to see Corey Milan have another strong outing. He is definitely making a case for getting more playing time in between the pipes. It is funny how everyone has been raving about Keith Kinkaid lately even though Milan has better statistics in almost every category while playing more minutes. In 630 minutes Kinkaid has posted a 6-2-2 record with a 2.76 GAA and a .904 save percentage, while Milan as posted a 6-2-3 record with a 2.07 GAA(seventh in the nation) and a .916 save percentage in 665 minutes.

It will be exciting to see where the Dutchmen end up in the National Rankings tomorrow. I predict that they will move up in the rankings and crack the top-15 at #15 and that Quinnipiac will drop out of the top-15 and land at #16. If they keep up their play against RPI next weekend and for the rest of the season it would definitely not be out of the question to say that the Dutchmen have a good shot of making the ECAC Final Four or winning it for that matter.

Union sets up battle for first place with win over Princeton

With two goals from each Andrew Buote and Kelly Zajac the Dutchmen were able to beat the Tigers 7-3. Jason Walters also stayed hot with another goal and Mario Valery-Trabucco also kept up his scoring touch with a power-play goal. Keith Kinkaid made 37 saves in the victory as well, and will sit tonight against Quinnipiac in favor of junior Corey Milan. The Dutchmen are just one point behind the Bobcats heading into tonight's matchup, so if the Dutchmen win tonight they will take over first place in the ECAC standings. Tonight should be a fun game as Union and Quinnipiac both have prolific offenses which are both top-10 in the nation along with top-10 power-play units. The difference in the game will be goaltending and penalty killing. Union's Corey Milan has played well of late and it will be interesting to see if he keeps it up. If he does have a big game it will give him a strong case to start playing more consistently. The team has been getting some attention on campus (many students were talking about last night's win throughout the night), and by moving into first place tonight they should get a big reception in their home game against RPI next weekend.

You can read some literature about last night's game on Union Athletics.com, Go Princeton Tigers.com, USCHO.com, Times Union.com, and on Ken Schott's Blog. You can also see video interviews courtesy of Ken Schott.

Milan blanks UConn in Leaman's 100th win

As expected the Dutchmen spanked the Huskies 7-0. It was an all around effort with six different players scoring goals and 13 of the 18 skaters registering a point. It's nice to see Adam Presizniuk tally two goals, and hopefully this could be the game to get him out of his long scoring slump. It's also great to see Corey Milan get the shutout even though he was relatively untested. Also note that Union went 3-for-7 on the power-play, and captain Mike Wakita scored his first goal of the season. And a special congratulations to Coach Nate Leaman on his 100th career win. He has done a great job with this program with the small amount of resources he has and deserves a ton of credit. You can read summaries about the game on USCHO.com, UnionAthletics.com, and UConnHuskies.com.

The Dutchmen now turn their calenders to 2010 as they closed out 2009 with a 9-4-5 record and an undefeated record in ECAC play. Their first test of 2010 will be on Saturday against Army at West Point. I will be there sitting in Section 11, Row A just like I've been doing since I was five years old, but this time I'll be rooting for the visiting team.

In other ECAC news Princeton topped Cornell 3-2 in the consolation game of the Flordia College Classic, and RPI was demolished by Michigan State 6-1 in the championship game of the Great Lakes Invitational.

I hope everybody has a happy and a healthy New Year! Be sure to watch the NHL Winter Classic on New Years Day!

Union first ECAC team to beat US U-18 Team

Behind a strong third period the Dutchmen were able to top the US U-18 team and become the first ECAC team to beat them... and that's basically it. This was an exhibition game, so anything that comes out of this doesn't really matter too much. But, I guess a win is better than a loss and it's nice to keep the ball rolling. It sounds like Mario was dominant again as he sniped another goal, but of course it doesn't count to his season totals. It was nice to see the Dutchmen play a strong third period, and to see Corey Milan get a start and make some saves. Personally, I would have like to seen Rich 'Pudge' Sillery play because I'm not sure if he will get a start this season, which is his final season. He has put in his time over the past four years and he deserves a chance to make his final stand. On the other hand it's great to see Jean-Sebastian Bergeron on the ice for the first time as a Dutchman. He finished +1 on the game. Justin Pallos, Nolan Julseth-White, and Luke Cain (1 goal, 1 assist) also saw some time tonight.

The team will now finally be able to enjoy their well deserved winter break and will not have another game for over two weeks. Their next game is on December 29th when they take on #15 UMass at the UConn Tournament. It's too bad that the break is coming at a time when the team is playing so well. Hopefully when they come back they can keep up the level of play that they're playing now. For a summary on tonight's game click here.

In other ECAC news, UMass-Lowell topped Princeton 4-1 and RPI came back in the third period to defeat defending national champion Boston University 5-3 in Boston . I guess all of their talk about not being affected by their loss to Union was true. It looks like it was an interesting game as RPI took a 2-1 lead after the first period while being out shot 16-5. Also, RPI did not allow any five-on-five goals as BU scored one power-play goal and two shorthanded goals. BU is definitely not as good as they were last year but they are the national champions until someone takes their title. You can read the RPI-BU game summary here.

Union takes on U.S. Under-18 team on Friday in charity exhibition game

This game is an exhibition game meaning it will not count towards the standings and will have no effect on the team's unbeaten streak or on Coach Leaman's 100th win. It should be a friendly match for a good cause (Toys for Tots). For more information on the even click here.

According to the team roster there is only one player committed to a ECAC school. This is Andy Iles a goaltender from Ithaca, New York who is committed to his home town team, Cornell. He is listed as 5' 8" so I'm guessing he relies on his quickness. All of the other players on the roster are committed to nine different schools: Cornell, Michigan, Boston University, Minnesota-Duluth, North Dakota, Notre Dame, Wisconsin, Boston College, and Denver. This should be a great showcase for future NCAA stars. For more info on the US U-18 Team check out their website here.

Hopefully Coach Leaman will play some guys who haven't played much or at all this season, and I expect that he will. We have still yet to see freshmen defenseman Jean-Sebastian Bergeron and redshirt freshman defenseman Carl Ekstrom in Dutchmen uniforms. I have still heard no word if Ekstrom has overcome his hip injury. It should be interesting to see what this Swede is made of. We also haven't seen sophomore defenseman Taylor Reid this season after he played four games last season.

I assume Keith Kinkaid will sit while junior Corey Milan and senior Rich Sillery will get some time in net. Sillery hasn't seen any playing time this season and only played twice (one start) last season. This should also give Leaman a chance to rest his stars before the UConn Tournament and feature players that haven't seen much ice this year like forwards Justin Pallos, Luke Cain, Jason Shaffer, and defenseman Nolan Julseth-White. These are all very effective players and I expect them to be impressive against the U-18 team. Personally, I am a huge fan of Jason Shaffer as he is one of the fastest guys on the team and flies all over the ice when he plays. All in all, this should be a fun game for a good cause.