Re: Union at St. Cloud (10/16, 10/17) - Never Won vs. Never Been
A BRIEF HISTORY OF UNION HOCKEY
A RED CLOUD PRODUCTION
Part V: Coup de grâce
It doesn’t just go back to 1991. Since 2002, there have been 12 different teams to reach the ECAC’s neutral-site tournament – including both Vermont and Quinnipiac and, yes, even RPI and Brown – but not the Dutchmen. They’re one of only two teams in a “Big Four” conference that has never played in the NCAA tournament (the Alaska Nanooks are the other).
Meanwhile, the RPI obsession rolls on. Much of their fans recent delusions of wild success draw from their recent (regular season) successes against the Engineers, who have been struggling through an historically rare period of bad hockey. This obsession is displayed in their bizarre tradition of throwing oranges on the ice when they score against the Engineers at home. Much to their team’s chagrin, this habit tends to lead to delay of game penalties against the Dutchmen, which are often capitalized on by RPI. This odd ritual led to the strange sight of a Union coach climbing the glass to try and physically attack a student throwing oranges on the ice one year.
Union is the only team in the ECAC with a losing record against every single other team in the league. Tumbling with the big dogs, it’s not even close. The Dutchmen have an all time record of 2-15-2 against current WCHA teams. To be fair to the WCHA, though, both wins came in one weekend against Mankato State in 1996, before the Mavericks were in the league, as did one of the ties, in 1998. Besides the Mavericks, Union has all-time series leads over only two other “Big Four” schools: Ferris State (4-0-0) and Bowling Green (3-1-1). They do have two things in common with the great Minnesota, though – they trail the all-time series with Holy Cross (5-7-1) and RIT (4-12-3).
The Union women’s hockey team, which started playing in Division I in 2003, is continuing the proud tradition of hockey at Union. Their overall record in Division I sits at 21-165-8, their last 7 wins (and 14 total) coming against Sacred Heart.
And so, friends, the Union story continues to be written. Clearly, the prescient words that started the story, “they have no history,” do ring quite true – but the underlying story for why this is still true after almost 35 years is a tale that has to be told to be understood.
FIN
Very distracting (and a bit immature IMHO).
