Union College Dutchmen Hockey 2010-11: There's one way and that's to Atlantic City!

[Wholin1]

Re: Union College Dutchmen Hockey 2010-11: There's one way and that's to Atlantic Cit

Some good news. Ken Schott reports that Prez is cleared to return to action. It's not clear however if he is in "game shape" and will actually play this weekend. Thankfully, I would assume he'll be ready to resume league play come January.

http://cms.dailygazette.com/weblogs/...-union-lineup/

[unionbob]

Re: Union College Dutchmen Hockey 2010-11: There's one way and that's to Atlantic Cit

lets hope this doesnt affect them too badly....

http://www.dailygazette.com/weblogs/...g-travel-woes/

[PBDutchman]

Re: Union College Dutchmen Hockey 2010-11: There's one way and that's to Atlantic Cit

Well...it's prime time for Union. A win tonight would be huge. A loss, after the last misfortune in Kalamazoo, consigns the Dutchman to wannabe status for some time to come.

[Dutchfan]

Re: Union College Dutchmen Hockey 2010-11: There's one way and that's to Atlantic Cit

Great win for Union tonight! We skated with one of the most talented teams in the country tonight and took the win!

[LTsatch]

Re: Union College Dutchmen Hockey 2010-11: There's one way and that's to Atlantic Cit

Nice win Union

[union07]

Re: Union College Dutchmen Hockey 2010-11: There's one way and that's to Atlantic Cit

Happy New Year to the dutchmen! Great win to end out 2010.

[brianvf]

Re: Union College Dutchmen Hockey 2010-11: There's one way and that's to Atlantic Cit

Great win for Union tonight! We skated with one of the most talented teams in the country tonight and took the win!

You do realize you were playing Minnesota, right?

Nice win, Union.

[Mike Rane]

Re: Union College Dutchmen Hockey 2010-11: There's one way and that's to Atlantic Cit

You do realize you were playing Minnesota, right?

Nice win, Union.

The curse of the Zajac...

[Mike Rane]

Re: Union College Dutchmen Hockey 2010-11: There's one way and that's to Atlantic Cit

Wow. That win by Union just knocked UM down big time in the PWR and also catapulted Union up.

[4four4]

Re: Union College Dutchmen Hockey 2010-11: There's one way and that's to Atlantic Cit

Great win for Union tonight! We skated with one of the most talented teams in the country tonight and took the win!

Talented? Yes. Good or even mediocre? No.

[sshablak]

Re: Union College Dutchmen Hockey 2010-11: There's one way and that's to Atlantic Cit

WTG Union !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[jstadts]

Re: Union College Dutchmen Hockey 2010-11: There's one way and that's to Atlantic Cit

Congrats to U! Has to be the biggest OOC win ever for the program.

[Wholin1]

Re: Union College Dutchmen Hockey 2010-11: There's one way and that's to Atlantic Cit

Congrats to U! Has to be the biggest OOC win ever for the program.

Even though Minnesota isn't at the top of the heap right now, I think I'd have to agree. Can anyone else think of a win OOC that might have been bigger? Winning today would really mean a lot too. Happy New Year all. Go U!

[ADK11]

Re: Union College Dutchmen Hockey 2010-11: There's one way and that's to Atlantic Cit

Well Saturday's game kinda puts a damper on the good vibe after Friday.. but I would agree that the win over the Gophers has to be considered U's best win OOC. Last year's convincing win against Maine in the 2nd game in Schenectady is a pretty close second, but going into one of the toughest barns in the country against a storied program like U Minn tops it in my book. And from the longer view of things, if you had told me 20 years ago that U's program would get to a point where they could beat the Minnesota in Minneapolis I would have thought you crazy. However.. I'm not convinced that this was exactly the win of the century. The Gophers were short-handed a couple top forwards and a goalie, from a team that looks to be middle of the pack in the W. Not saying it isn't an excellent win, but am greedily hoping for more..

The Bemidji game also continues a disappointing trend of playing well but getting outscored lately, so there are things to be concerned about. But I also feel there are plenty of positives to take out of these close losses, and while there is no use in complaining about it, I do think that this has been a bizarro schedule. Record against teams from Atlantic or with losing records is 9-1-1, while against teams that are ranked/TUCs it's 2-5-2. All but one of the games against TUCs was on the road or neutral ice.. and the one home game U won. The games against the easier teams were mostly at home. Not a good road record, it is tough to be a ranked team and go into another ranked team's barn that is playing their A game and get a win. This is another very tough hurdle that the team & program has to surmount and unfortunately has struggled so far. But I do think the boys are getting great experience and this should help going forward. And further good news is that of the remaining 16 league games, 10 are at home. While I'm not expecting U to run the table another 9-10 wins are not out of the question, which should get a first round bye and would be a 20-win regular season.. pretty nice stuff.

[ADK11]

Re: Union College Dutchmen Hockey 2010-11: There's one way and that's to Atlantic Cit

Time for the long awaited update on Union's recruits (Sorry, I can't do a daily Ralph Baer report )

’11 Recruits:
- Drew Brown C Kent (NE Prep), 5-11 185#, 7-7-12-19: Had huge numbers in Michigan HS and off to a big start at Kent this season, currently one of the top scorers in NE Preps. Kent is very good and is currently USHR’s #1 ranked team, having recently beaten last year’s champ Avon who was undefeated. Drew is reportedly the whole package of skating, playmaking & finishing.

- Trevor Mingoia C Berkshire (NE Prep), 5-11 170#, 9-7-6-13: I saw Trevor play a few weeks ago at Albany Academy and was pretty impressed. Thought he stood out in this game as one of the better players, a plus skater with a good stick and very hard working. Nice playmaking skills or, as Leaman likes to say, a "smart player". Chris Warner of USHR (the resident NE Preps guru), saw Mingoia in a preseason tournament and predicted Trevor will be one of the top forwards in NE Preps this season.

- Tyson Fulton RW Waterloo (USHL), 6-1 185#, 25-5-8-13-18: Put up big numbers in Minnesota HS last year and was on the NHL’s watch list, but has struggled to hit the score sheet in the USHL. Waterloo is not a very good team and lacks offensive depth, so could be some of the reason. Currently 5th on the team in scoring, Tyson is reportedly a hard working, gritty player that is not afraid to make plays in the "dirty" areas of the rink.

- Max Novak C Jersey (ECHL),6-0 176#, 26-17-15-32-10: The ECHL looks like a very weird league this season. There are 3-4 teams that are very good and are killing everyone else. Jersey is undefeated and has only had a couple games that were competitive. Max started slowly but has put up 19 points in his last 11 games and is in the top 20 in league scoring, though is only 7th on his team in scoring. While I'm not sure he is exactly progressing as well as he could, he is reportedly a very fast skater and has a good stick.

- Daniel Ciampini LW St. Michaels (OJHL), 6-0 183#, 38-22-38-60-52: Currently tied for 8th in league scoring, had 42 goals in 46 games last season for St. Mikes (a team record), so has goal scoring abilities. Reportedly a hard working physical player.

- Mark Bennett RW Oakville (OJHL), 6-0 192#, 36-5-18-23-12: Had 57 points in 45 games for Oakville last season, so a bit of a drop-off this season though Oakville is not as good this year. Reportedly a good two-way player with some size.

- Charlie Vasaturo D Salmon Arm (BCHL), 6-3 200#, 36-2-13-15-53: Big & physical, reportedly one of the top defensemen in the BCHL. Numbers are solid but likely don't tell the whole story of what he does on the ice game-in and game-out.

’12 Recruits:
- Shayne Gostisbehere, D, South Kent (NE Prep), 5-11 170#, 10-2-8-10: A very mobile offensive defenseman, one of the leading D scorers in Preps. Would expect him to spend a year in juniors next season before coming to U.

- Colin Stevens, Jr. Bruins (ECHL), 6-2 162#, 18-2.54-92.9%, 4 shutouts: Leads league in shutouts and top 5 in GAA and save%. Having a very good season as one of the younger goalies in the league. If he doesn't come next fall, would not be surprised to see him mover to the USHL.


Next year's class is a very important one, as the graduating seniors IMO really put U on the map and gave the team talent, depth and most importantly speed. Prez, Simpson, Boileau, Buote, Matheson, etc. will be hard to replace. If Luke Cain does not come back for his red-shirt season, then will need 6 forwards, 1 d-man and a goalie. It looks like the coaches have done a great job on this class. Brown, Mingoia and Novak have speed & skill. Fulton, Ciampini & Bennett will bring grit & energy, and Vasaturo adds size on the blueline (always nice when the Big Red come to town). Will need to bring in another goalie for next season and not clear if Stevens would be accelerated.

As for the '12 class, will need at least 2 d-men and 2 forwards. The big replacements will be for Zajac & White. Gostisbehere should be another terrific puck moving d-man and Vasaturo should be ready to fill White's role on the blueline, so look for at least one more d-man and a couple forwards to come.