Union Hockey Official off Season Thread: Can U Three Peat?

[ADK11]

Re: Union Hockey Official off Season Thread: Can U Three Peat?

Nice try

Vech will prob be at center
Pont not ready to play with Carr, couldn't keep up with him
Cruice will play
Taylor will be next ghost but a habit more reserved

Has Vecchione played center? Right now Novak is the only one with center experience in the top 6. Agree that Vecch is probably more ready for the top 2 lines and would be surprised if they moved Pont to center as a frosh - he'll have plenty to adjust to as it is. My thoughts were that Novak would move to 1st line with Carr and beyond that will probably see the chess pieces moved around in the first couple months of the season to get the best combos on the top 3 lines.

Have to say I'm getting very excited for the season to start. Adding Mr. P really boosts the recruiting class, as I love the idea of him and Vecchione playing together for (hopefully) the next 4 years. And as Hokydad mentions, this class brings real depth up front and on the backend. Also agree with those that said that expectations for Pontarelli need to be kept in check, at least in the short term. I know he would say that he was training hard to go back to Cornwall, but NCAA is a whole different ballgame and the grind of playing & practicing against larger players that are at his skill level & going to a rigorous college will be a tough adjustment.

[Ralph Baer]

Re: Union Hockey Official off Season Thread: Can U Three Peat?

RPI blog Without a Peer's annual post about Union http://www.withoutapeer.com/2013/08/...emy-union.html.


I have no connection WaP except as a reader.

[GameOn]

Re: Union Hockey Official off Season Thread: Can U Three Peat?

Doesn't appear that the WaP piece considers Pontsy. Most likely written before his commitment. I'm 100% ok with the perception that this will be a down year or that it's not the same team that made the NCAAs. RB will have them ready. There's a ton of heart and a whole lot of talent that's hungry for those roster spots.

[Ralph Baer]

Re: Union Hockey Official off Season Thread: Can U Three Peat?

Doesn't appear that the WaP piece considers Pontsy. Most likely written before his commitment. I'm 100% ok with the perception that this will be a down year or that it's not the same team that made the NCAAs. RB will have them ready. There's a ton of heart and a whole lot of talent that's hungry for those roster spots.

Tom answered the Pontarelli question on the RPI thread.

[Dutchfan]

Re: Union Hockey Official off Season Thread: Can U Three Peat?

I think a fair expectation for Pontarelli's point total will be somewhere between what Laliberte put up in his first year ( albeit injury riddled) and what the Spinks put up at Colgate last year. You can't realisitically expect much more than 15-25 points out of most freshmen, even those as accomplished as Pontarelli. Anything over 25 points is golden.

I think the guy who will make the biggest jump this year is Wilkins. He really turned it on in the second half of the year once he got adjusted to the faster pace of the college game.

I also expect big things out of Hatch and Novak, and if Sullivan can figure out how to get off to a hot start he could easily reach 20-25 points.

[Wholin1]

RPI blog Without a Peer's annual post about Union http://www.withoutapeer.com/2013/08/...emy-union.html.


I have no connection WaP except as a reader.

I thought this was an objective analysis and hit on the big question marks that will be answered one way or another as the season plays out.

Union and RPI were very closely matched last season and if possible, the margin may have narrowed or even swung to an edge to RPI this upcoming season. Union however has become the seasoned post season performer and RPI has much to prove in that regard.

[GameOn]

Re: Union Hockey Official off Season Thread: Can U Three Peat?

I agree as well. There are more questions this year than years past however I like some of the potential answers. There's a culture around this team now that knows only about winning. Gone are the days of one league win and missed playoff opportunity.

I like Stevens in goal this year. We know more about him than we did about Troy a few years ago. We also have some experienced D in front of him to help out. Scoring will come around and I believe we'll actually have more weapons than last year as the season progresses.

8 weeks from opening night!

[Hokydad]

Re: Union Hockey Official off Season Thread: Can U Three Peat?

Kind of objective but with a jaded spin

"Although there's not a great deal of buzz about Union's freshman class outside of Vecchione,"

Maybe not by him but the real hockey world looks at Taylor as a potential very, very good player in the league. He had 27 points and was a +41 in USHL last year, as an 18 year old.. Second in USHL for all Dmen. From what I saw, better at same stage than Shayne G, not saying he will develop as quickly first 2 years though.

RPI has not won a tournament game since 1985, has not scored a goal in NCAA's in over 28 years and you would think they have BC's resume. Worst performing team in ECAC playoffs over last 10+ years, relative to regular season seed. Who is now looked at as the joke of the league. Have gone 3 times in 30 years, never won a game, never scored a single goal. Union has scored 14 goals in the NCAA tournament in the last 2 years alone, RPI zero in over 28 years. ZERO

Over past decade


Union is 164-135-42 with 4 straight years of having over 20 wins, going 95-43-27, missing out the previous year with 19 wins. Making NCAA's last 2 years in a row, including Frozen Four and last year beating defending natl Champ BC 5-1. RPI had 20 wins once in past decade, than immediately lost in first rd of playoffs to dead last Colgate.

Just the past 2 years alone, Union is 6-0 against RPI outscoring them 32-13.
Over past decade, Union is 18-5-4 against RPI. losing only once in the yearly series

Union has a better incoming freshmen class this year and will have better results for next several years.

All talk, RPI has great freshmen class every year, ranked high and nothing comes out of it. Even losing recruits such as Light to Union. Even though RPI has scholarship money to throw out there.

Union program is in far better shape

[Wholin1]

Re: Union Hockey Official off Season Thread: Can U Three Peat?

Hoky and RPI do not mix, but a lot of what he says actually makes sense. Union's recruits rarely if ever included "blue chippers". Without scholarships, they were impossible to entice to Union especially when they were the doormats of the ECAC for the better portion of 15 or so seasons. I've said this before, but Union's recruiters were tasked with bringing older and under the radar players to the program and molding them and developing them into "Union" hockey players. Not enough credit can be given to Nate Leaman, RB and their staffs for dragging this program by its bootstraps to the upper echelons of college hockey. That being said, I am cautiously optimistic that things may be a little different this season in as much as Vecchione, Taylor and Pontarelli may have "blue chip" potential. Only time will tell.

[UnionFan4Life]

Re: Union Hockey Official off Season Thread: Can U Three Peat?

What's everybody think of this potential lineup?

1: Carr---Novak---Wilkins
2: Ciampini---Hatch---Sullivan
3: Ikkala---Pontarelli---Vecchione
4: Lichtenwald---Roy---Gonye

Would RB convert Hatch to center?

[Hokydad]

Re: Union Hockey Official off Season Thread: Can U Three Peat?

Cruice will be in lineup. Will have a good season.
Vech will prob be a center, which is where he always played. Even played last 15+/- GMs there last season. He will be top 2 lines

[ADK11]

Re: Union Hockey Official off Season Thread: Can U Three Peat?

Cruice will be in lineup. Will have a good season.
Vech will prob be a center, which is where he always played. Even played last 15+/- GMs there last season. He will be top 2 lines

Was hard to tell from the USHL vids what position Vech played, but did look like he was in more of a center position at times in those later games.. as a center I too would be surprised if he didnt' get a good hard look on the top 2 lines. Lichtenwald & Gonye also have played center and would guess they will get a crack at 3rd line. Hope you are right about Cruice too, he plays with a lot of jam and is a Bennett type of player that makes things happen.

As for WaP's prognostication, all I'll say is that with all the question marks on U's roster I would expect most preseason picks will be for 5th-7th, and reality is that if a couple things don't go right, that's how it could end up. But I definitely like this recruiting class and think that Pontarelli's addition moves it from a C+/B- to a B+/A-. There is talent and depth at all positions now, what is missing is NCAA experience. How the team gels and how certain players respond to new roles/increased responsibilities will determine if expectations are exceeded.

..and while I'm not going to step too far into it, I will mention that Union COULD achieve a significant historical milestone this season in it's series with a certain ECAC rival.

[rdf8585]

Re: Union Hockey Official off Season Thread: Can U Three Peat?

But I definitely like this recruiting class and think that Pontarelli's addition moves it from a C+/B- to a B+/A-. There is talent and depth at all positions now, what is missing is NCAA experience. How the team gels and how certain players respond to new roles/increased responsibilities will determine if expectations are exceeded.

Even without Pontarelli, this recruiting class was better than C+/B-. Now with Pontarelli, it's arguably the best recruiting class since the one that just graduated. I know there are some who think this could rival that class in the end... and that one was the most successful in program history.

[GameOn]

Re: Union Hockey Official off Season Thread: Can U Three Peat?

For fear of looking too far ahead it will be interesting to see what other positions are focused on to fill out next years class.

Going forward this year I think the incoming freshman have a good group of returnees to look up to.

[rdf8585]

Re: Union Hockey Official off Season Thread: Can U Three Peat?

For fear of looking too far ahead it will be interesting to see what other positions are focused on to fill out next years class.

Currently known 2014 commits:
D Connor Light (Of the 9 defensemen on this year's roster, only Bodie is a senior.)
F Roman Ammirato (a Pontarelli-type player, but not quite to his level.)
F Tyler Hynes (originally supposed to come this year, but deferred a year)
F Ryan Scarfo (more on him soon)

Others
F Mark Dufour may come next year, or could be held back to 2015.
G Joe Young, originally set to come next year, is now apparently coming in 2015.