Union College: 2015-2016

[Dutchman]

Re: Union College: 2015-2016

You forgot to include one of our bigger recruits Vas Kulias

Could he develop into a "Ghost II" ?

[GameOn]

Re: Union College: 2015-2016

Let's just hope his skill is as advertised and he comes prepared to play D1 hockey. Expectations that high shouldn't be placed on anyone. Remember there were some that thought Brassard would become the heir apparent when he came in.

[Dutchman]

Re: Union College: 2015-2016

Next Year .....
Foo - Vecchione - Supinski
Walker - Scarfo - Maier
Dufour - Litchenwald - Vidmar
Ammirato - Taylor - Pontarelli
Hynes

Bassard - Light
Cambell - Taylor
Krug - DeSimone

Sak
Kupsky
Young
--------------------------------------------
Freshmen -

Brown
Burton
Foo
Harrison
Newhouse
Novak
Vas Kulias

We are only losing two defensive forwards and a starting defenseman. We are losing 14% of our scoring. The freshmen are tiny but look to be fast. We have some size already. I cannot get a consistent reading on Newhouse. He is listed as 5'6" and 5'11". Maybe he has grown? Will the new Novak fit into the shoes of his brother? Who are going to be the leaders? Sak looked very good finishing the year. Will he be able to carry that forward? Many in the ECAC are losing a lot. We are not. Just the opposite from the past two years. Vec has a shot at the school record for points. Guesstimates as to how we will do? Better than .500? Top 4 and first-week tournament bye?

[Dutchman]

Re: Union College: 2015-2016

Let's just hope his skill is as advertised and he comes prepared to play D1 hockey. Expectations that high shouldn't be placed on anyone. Remember there were some that thought Brassard would become the heir apparent when he came in.

Brassard came right from prep school. That is a tough transition.

[GameOn]

Re: Union College: 2015-2016

100% agree which is why you can't predict anything. Kulias is coming in after a few years in the USHL so maybe he will be ready to go.

As for next year we need our young players to continue to develop and we need to have an unexpected JR or SR step up to support the top line guys. I think top 4 isn't out of the question considering how we played at times this year. Can Sak be a consistent #1?

[Dutchman]

Re: Union College: 2015-2016

In looking at the 2014 team, my natural assumption was that players always get better with experience. That was not always the case last year. We need more offense from our blue line. In looking at SAKS final numbers, they were not all that bad but will have to get better to make it to Lake Placid. His numbers were about the same as Kasdorf's (GAA) and he finished 25th, one behind Kasdorf. I would like to see Maier, Dufour, Litchenwald and Vidmar step up. I hope they are on weight machines as we speak.
GP+W-L-T+MIN+GA+SV+SV%+GAA
24 Jason Kasdorf, Sr, Rensselaer 30 12-12-5 1777:19 68 916 .931 2.2956
25 Alex Sakellaropoulos, Jr, Union 30 11-11-7 1730:22 67 786 .921 2.3232


Read more: http://www.uscho.com/stats/overall/d...#ixzz44aLcwMlT

[ADK11]

Re: Union College: 2015-2016

Next Year .....
Foo - Vecchione - Supinski
Walker - Scarfo - Maier
Dufour - Litchenwald - Vidmar
Ammirato - Taylor - Pontarelli

Hynes

Bassard - Light
Cambell - Taylor
Krug - DeSimone

Sak
Kupsky
Young
--------------------------------------------
Freshmen -

Brown
Burton
Foo
Harrison
Newhouse
Novak
Vas Kulias

I'll be very surprised if Novak and Foo come this Fall. They both have a year or 2 of junior eligibility left and had very unremarkable seasons this past year. Novak was essentially in Junior B and Foo was a 3rd liner in AJHL. Brown, Rinaldi, Burton & Harrison pretty much have to come this year as they are aging out of Jr. Since only need to replace 4 roster spots, wouldn't anticipate any more forwards unless losing someone I don't know about. Would expect Brown, Rinaldi & Burton to see icetime right away. Brown is a bigtime sniper and Rinaldi & Burton are very fast. Rinaldi may have more offensive upside and Burton sounds like a Match Hatch type.

Newhouse is listed at 5-8, 168# on his USHL team website and I'd be surprised if he comes in much bigger than that. Junior teams usually exaggerate size if anything. Kolias is listed as either 5-9 or 5-10 & 160ish. He kinda looks taller from pictures & video, so maybe 5-10. We won't know for sure about either until they show up and are measured. Both are very good skaters and had decent seasons in USHL, but nothing remarkable (20 points in ~60 games). Taylor by comparison had significantly better numbers, though could have been result of playing on a very good team. From what I've seen on video, Newhouse plays a very controlled game & is an excellent passer. Despite being small, he is pretty stocky and strong on the puck, though not exactly a physical presence. Kolias takes a few more chances and plays on the edge a little more, and has good puck skills. He's played 2 seasons in the USHL with similar numbers, so is not clear if he's plateaued or has room to be the offensive force that BU obviously though he might become. He does look like he has room to get bigger/stronger.

Expecting either of them to become a Ghost or a Bodie is probably wishful thinking, as neither look that dynamic at this point, though they could become important players in their own right. My biggest concern is just that each year seems to lose size & physicality on defense, and there was a problem this past season controlling things in front of U's net and preventing bigger forwards from driving the puck into the slot. Replacing 6-2 Gingras and 6-0 Henry, who were two of U's more physical d-men last season, with 5-8 to 5-10 160-pounders is a concern. This leaves Light, who is big though not super physical, and DeSimone who is not really very physical at all. I understand that small, quick, puck moving defensemen can more than survive in college hockey, but I'm also sick of seeing bigger forwards from RPI, Cornell, etc. jamming the slot and crashing U's net all the time.

[QUAlum2004]

Re: Union College: 2015-2016

I'll be very surprised if Novak and Foo come this Fall. They both have a year or 2 of junior eligibility left and had very unremarkable seasons this past year. Novak was essentially in Junior B and Foo was a 3rd liner in AJHL. Brown, Rinaldi, Burton & Harrison pretty much have to come this year as they are aging out of Jr. Since only need to replace 4 roster spots, wouldn't anticipate any more forwards unless losing someone I don't know about. Would expect Brown, Rinaldi & Burton to see icetime right away. Brown is a bigtime sniper and Rinaldi & Burton are very fast. Rinaldi may have more offensive upside and Burton sounds like a Match Hatch type.

Newhouse is listed at 5-8, 168# on his USHL team website and I'd be surprised if he comes in much bigger than that. Junior teams usually exaggerate size if anything. Kolias is listed as either 5-9 or 5-10 & 160ish. He kinda looks taller from pictures & video, so maybe 5-10. We won't know for sure about either until they show up and are measured. Both are very good skaters and had decent seasons in USHL, but nothing remarkable (20 points in ~60 games). Taylor by comparison had significantly better numbers, though could have been result of playing on a very good team. From what I've seen on video, Newhouse plays a very controlled game & is an excellent passer. Despite being small, he is pretty stocky and strong on the puck, though not exactly a physical presence. Kolias takes a few more chances and plays on the edge a little more, and has good puck skills. He's played 2 seasons in the USHL with similar numbers, so is not clear if he's plateaued or has room to be the offensive force that BU obviously though he might become. He does look like he has room to get bigger/stronger.

Expecting either of them to become a Ghost or a Bodie is probably wishful thinking, as neither look that dynamic at this point, though they could become important players in their own right. My biggest concern is just that each year seems to lose size & physicality on defense, and there was a problem this past season controlling things in front of U's net and preventing bigger forwards from driving the puck into the slot. Replacing 6-2 Gingras and 6-0 Henry, who were two of U's more physical d-men last season, with 5-8 to 5-10 160-pounders is a concern. This leaves Light, who is big though not super physical, and DeSimone who is not really very physical at all. I understand that small, quick, puck moving defensemen can more than survive in college hockey, but I'm also sick of seeing bigger forwards from RPI, Cornell, etc. jamming the slot and crashing U's net all the time.

With regards to Foo your probably right he stays in the AJHL but he's playing on a pretty loaded team. Brooks (AJHL) has 16 D1 commitments on the roster. That is pretty impressive for an AJHL.

[Dutchman]

Re: Union College: 2015-2016

I understand that small, quick, puck moving defensemen can more than survive in college hockey, but I'm also sick of seeing bigger forwards from RPI, Cornell, etc. jamming the slot and crashing U's net all the time.

It's a shame in hockey you cannot move players around to play multiple positions. I always thought that Roy would have made a decent defenseman and he had the size at 6'3" and seemed to enjoy hitting people. At forward, he never scored a goal in his 4 years.

[ADK11]

Re: Union College: 2015-2016

It's a shame in hockey you cannot move players around to play multiple positions. I always thought that Roy would have made a decent defenseman and he had the size at 6'3" and seemed to enjoy hitting people. At forward, he never scored a goal in his 4 years.

It's difficult, especially at a higher level like college, to move from forward to defense. Most forwards don't have the backward skating skills and you really have to have experience with defense positioning & passing to be good at it. DeSimone moved from forward to D in juniors, and at times it shows. He doesn't have quite the automatic instinct with his defensive positioning and stickwork that other Dmen have. Going from D to forward is easier and there have been a few players at U that have done this, though is rare that a Dman switches and becomes a really good forward.

As an aside, Middlebury College under Bill Beaney not so long ago would sometimes play what was called a 2-3 alignment with 3 Dmen and 2 forwards. They would basically line up in a standard way, but the idea was the Dmen could switch back & forth from offense to defense, with the extra Dman able to "go back" & play D when one of the other Dmen went on offense. Concept very similar to soccer, which Beaney also coached. Worked pretty well too, judging from all the NC's Beaney won in D-III. Of course it means you have to recruit more d-men, but given that there are more of these smaller, offensive types almost surprised it hasn't been tried in D-1.

[Dutchman]

Re: Union College: 2015-2016

I was following the Denver vs Ferris State game and I was very surprised to see how small the Denver's starters were both in height and weight and especially on "D". I didn't keep the starting lineup and cannot find a copy. Maybe there is hope for us. We will have to toughen up our small "D". Would love to see Light develop some offensive capability. I also looked at some of the "Dutchmen" highlight videos for 2010 and 2011. We were smallish but we were very very tought on "D". I think you could play a certain way then and not get called.

[Ronnieb]

Re: Union College: 2015-2016

Rinaldi easily the best incoming freshman. Will be immediate contributor. Top 6. Absolute steal for Dutchmen

[Dutchman]

Re: Union College: 2015-2016

Rinaldi easily the best incoming freshman. Will be an immediate contributor. Top 6. Absolute steal for Dutchmen

What do these numbers mean? Is OJHL better than BCHL?
'15-'16 Season Kingston(OJHL) 52 38 35 73 57 0 6 1 0 0
'14-'15 Season Nanaimo(BCHL) 53 22 16 38 24 0 3 0 0 0

He still has more games to play in '15-'16. Looks like a big scoring improvement over the previous year. We have had other recruits who on paper should have "lit the lamp" a lot more than they ever did. Will Rinaldi be a Hobby Baker? a Ciampini? a Pontarelli? a Carr? a dud? He will be 21 in October. If we could end up with 5 solid recruits from this class, adding to what we already have, I think we are looking at better than .500. A lot will depend on Alex.

Where do College hockey players go to training camp over the summer? We should send them to Switzerland so they can hike the Alps carrying 100 lbs cement bags on their backs What OTHER ECAC teams look to improve next year?

If we have the right attitude and get the right leadership ..... if, if, if

I have a good feeling about next year.

We always focus on winning non-conference and do a great job at it. Next year we have to translate that success and focus on winning some ECAC too

[Dutchman]

Re: Union College: 2015-2016

Great local article/interview with Mike Vechionne (C)

Former Malden Catholic hockey captain, Saugus resident Mike Vecchione reflects on Super 8 run of championships
http://saugus.wickedlocal.com/articl...81#loadComment

Mike Vecchione of Saugus is a pretty good authority on Malden Catholic’s dominance in the Division 1A Super 8 hockey tournament throughout this past decade. After all, it all started with the team he led as captain in 2011.
Since then, the Lancers have won four other state titles, just missing a fifth conquest in an overtime thriller against St. John’s Prep last year, 2-1.

How did Union's season go? The team did not make the NCAAs this year, but what are its prospects for next year?

"The season showed signs of potential greatness, but we failed to put it all together."

"It was definitely frustrating because we would come to play against top-ranked teams, but then lay an egg against teams we should be beating."

"But when everyone was going good, we were unstoppable, and I can see similarities between that team and the team we have next year if we do the things we are supposed to be doing, and play as a team".

He has a good feeling about next year as well

[FireKnight]

Re: Union College: 2015-2016

Dutch,

I'd have to agree with Vecchione on this one. I didn't get to see UC much but I did see both Clarkson games (the game at Achilles in person). In the Clarkson @ Union game, the Dutchmen outplayed us for almost the entire game but didn't seem to have that attack mentality, 18 skaters with one purpose. That's what I was used to seeing from Union in the past decade, even when they had much less talented teams than Clarkson in 07-08. A coaching change is never easy nor is losing top talent but I don't think it will be long until your program is headed back in the right direction.