Union faces UConn for Thursday night game

The Dutchmen are riding high after beginning the season with a 5-1-0 record. In four of the six games they have beaten up on Atlantic Hockey teams at home, outscoring their AHA opponents 29-6. On Thursday Union welcomes in another Atlantic Hockey team: the University of Connecticut.

The Huskies are traditionally one of the weakest teams in all of college hockey. They were picked to finish 11th out of 12 teams in the AHA pre-season poll. And as I've said over the past month, the AHA is by far the weakest conference in college hockey.

UConn has got off to a decent 1-1-1 start. They opened up the season with a shocking 3-3 tie at now #7 Maine, but then fell to Merrimack 7-1 the following weekend. But, the rebounded with a 3-2 win at Army.

Last season, UConn went 7-27-3 along with a 2-18-2 road record, and finished 11th in their conference. No UConn player last season scored in double digits. Andrew Olson and Justin Hernandez each scored nine goals to lead the team. Olson also led the team with 20 points. Jason Krispel had a team high 12 assists. Freshmen Garret Bartus and Jeff Larson split the majority of the time in between the pipes. Bartus had the best numbers of the two as he went 5-14-1 with a 3.26 GAA and .900 save percentage. Larson left the team in the middle of last season for personal reasons.

The Dutchmen faced off against the Huskies in the Toyota UConn Classic where they demolished the host team 7-0. Union received goals from Mike Wakita, Adam Presizniuk (2), Stephane Boileau, Jason Walters, John Simpson, and Mike Schreiber, while Corey Milan made 14 saves for the shutout. Union holds a 7-0-1 advantage in the series all-time.

You can find more game notes on UConn Huskies.com.

Players To Watch For UConn

Sean Ambrosie: leads the team with three assists and four points.

Cole Schneider: the freshman scored two goals against Army, which leads the team. It was the first time a UConn scored twice in one game since Ambrosie did so in a 4-3 loss at Bentley on October 23, 2009, exactly a year before Schneider did.

Brian Reagan: the senior defenseman accumulated three points with a goal and two assists in the win at Army. He is the first UConn player to tally three points in a game since Jason Krispel recorded three against Bentley in a 4-3 OT loss on February 16, 2008.

Rui Encarnaco: this is more of a personal thing since I grew up playing against this guy in youth hockey and in high school hockey. Rui played for White Plains HS and in the Brewster organization, two rivals of mine. He was a good player then and I'm interested how he adapts to D-I hockey.

Players To Watch For Union

Matt Hatch: scored his first two career goals and assist in the 7-2 win over RIT. Let's see if he cracks the lineup again.

Adam Presizniuk: is second in the nation in scoring.

Brian Yanovitch: surprisingly, he has not appeared in a game this season. Maybe he'll get his chance against a "weak" UConn team.

Prediction: I really believe that the leadership on this team is so strong that there is no way that the Dutchmen over look the Huskies. They should be pedal to the metal for all three periods, which is why I predict a 7-0 Union victory.

Other news from this week:

Union moves to #16 in the USCHO poll
Dutchmen get a lot of love in the INCH Power Rankings
Union jumps to 13th in USA Today/USA Hockey poll
Presizniuk and Kinkaid honored by ECAC

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.

Yanovitch questionable for Saturday

According to Ken Schott's Blog, Union sophomore forward Brian Yanovitch is questionable for Saturday's game against rival RPI due to a sprained ankle. Yano has been on a major cold streak as he hasn't registered a point in his past eight games. His last point came on 11/14 when he registered an assist at Clarkson.

Union squeaks out overtime win over Army

It wasn't pretty but in the end the Dutchmen were able to pull out a 2-1 overtime victory over the Black Knights thanks to two goals by Jason Walters. Wally scored with 11 seconds left in the first period and with about three minutes left in overtime. Army was completely outmatched by Union as the Dutchmen were bigger, faster, and stronger than the Black Knights who were getting tossed across the ice like rag dolls.

But, the Black Knights weren't intimidated as they fought hard throughout the entire game and even got the better of the Dutchmen in the second period. In the 15 years that I have watched Army Hockey I have noticed that they are one of the hardest working teams in all of college hockey and they proved that once again tonight as they skated hard to the puck, finished their checks, and blocked shots at all costs. Another thing that has been consistent over the years for Army is great goaltending, and they got that tonight from Jay Clark (39 saves) who halted the furious Union attack in the third period with some difficult saves.

To be honest no one on the ice for the Dutchmen looked great as they were unable to hold on to the puck, had poor shot selection, didn't make crisp passes, and even Corey Milan (18 saves) didn't look to sharp in the net. Even though he only allowed one goal (power-play) he had trouble controlling his rebounds in the few shots that came at him. But as a Dutchmen fan you can't be disappointed in the result.

You can read game summaries on UnionAthletics.com and GoArmySports.com. Also read an article about the game from the Times Union.

Things to note:

• Junior Brock Matheson was wearing the captain's "C" tonight. I don't know if this is a new thing, but it's the first time I saw/heard about it. I remember two seasons ago when Coach Leaman gave Lane Caffaro, who was a junior at the time, the captain's "C" in the middle of the season so maybe he's doing something like this again.


• Kyle Bodie, Luke Cain, and Justin Pallos all played tonight while Brian Yanovitch, Jon Lareau, and Jason Shaffer sat tonight. I guess the sitting of Yanovitch is a surprise since he has played in almost every game. But, looking at his stats it does make some sense. In his first four games of the year Yanovitch was on a tear as he netted three goals and two assists, but he's only registered one goal and two assists since. His last goal and point were in mid-November when the Dutchmen traveled to St. Lawrence and Clarkson.


• The same is also to be said about Yanovitch's linemates John and Wayne Simpson, who both have three goals and eight assists on the season. It looked early on that John was going to have a breakout season after making the scoresheet in seven of his first eight games this season (2g, 7a). But, in his past 11 games he has only tallied one goal and one assist. There was a long gap between his second and third goals as his second goal of the season came on October 10th against Maine and his third one came in the UConn Toyota Classic against UConn on December 30th. After tallying three goals and five assists in his first eight games, Wayne has only put three assists on the scoresheet in his past 11 games. The Simpson brothers along with Yanovitch need to get things together because the Dutchmen will need another line to produce offensively besides the Mario-Wally-Prez line. Luckily, the Welsh-Boileau-Zajac line has stepped up a bit.
• I was also very impressed with Army's Owen Meyer. He was Army's top scorer last season, but has fallen off a bit this year. With his good size and good skating ability it was obvious that he could be a dominant player in the Atlantic Hockey conference. Army defenseman Marcel Alvarez is also a pretty good player.

The Dutchmen now head back to Schenectady to begin the Winter Term on Monday, but will not stay there long as they restart league play at Princeton (10th in ECAC) and Quinnipiac (1st in ECAC) next weekend. Hopefully they can continue their unbeaten streak in the ECAC and reach the top of the standings soon.

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.