What's new
By:
USCHO Fan Forum

This is a sample guest message. Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

  • The USCHO Fan Forum has migrated to a new plaform, xenForo. Most of the function of the forum should work in familiar ways. Please note that you can switch between light and dark modes by clicking on the gear icon in the upper right of the main menu bar. We are hoping that this new platform will prove to be faster and more reliable. Please feel free to explore its features.

Union College: 2018-2019

Re: Union College: 2018-2019

ecachawkeyfan said:
Liam Morgan has left Union after two seasons to sign with the Belfast Giants: https://www.belfastgiants.com/2019/07/31/liam-morgan-joins-giants-from-friendship-four-champions/

He would have been the top returning scorer.

Between this, and Adams blowing his knee out, this has been a horrendous offseason for the program. It was going to be a tough offseason even without those things considering a large graduating class.
Click to expand...

Bad news .... very bad news. Not sure it can get any worse.
 
Last edited:
Re: Union College: 2018-2019

He joins Bobby Farnham, Brown '12 who left AHL Springfield to sign with Belfast. I can see Farnham signing with Belfast but surprised by Morgan. Thought he would try an ECHL team if he were going to leave U.
 
Re: Union College: 2018-2019

Union has finally announced its incoming class - and it's a big one at 12 players.

https://unionathletics.com/news/201...V5nBHzkiX5yrYXvWzM7czJSG-7XF5DNJ-tRhxbifzvbyY

On first glance, one name that is a surprise is Chaz Smedsrud. I don't think I've ever seen him associated with Union in the past - not on Heisenberg, not on College Commitments.

So, 9 seniors graduated. Morgan left. That's 10. Is Adams redshirting?

I wonder what other surprises the roster (not out yet) might have? Blake Heyward is someone I've wondered about after this was written in the Gazette back in March:

Another freshman, forward Blake Hayward, was in the lineup for the first three games, but that was it, and Bennett said it was a coach's decision, not an injury, so "we'll just have to wait and see where he stands within this program."
 
Last edited:
Re: Union College: 2018-2019

ecachawkeyfan said:
On first glance, one name that is a surprise is Chaz Smedsrud. I don't think I've ever seen him associated with Union in the past - not on Heisenberg, not on College Commitments.
Click to expand...

Heisenberg lists him in his old (2019) list under Union as of 8/1/19.
 
Re: Union College: 2018-2019

Last year we were 20-13-6, 12-3-3 at home and 10-10-2 in the ECAC. We scored 112 goals.
If my numbers are correct we are losing players (including Adams and Morgan, who contributed 24 goals in total) who scored 67 of those 112 goals and returning players who score 39 (Rinaldi 11, Estes, Foo and Harrison, 5 each .... ) or about 35% of last year's goal scoring. We are returning 7 defensemen and picking up two. The coaching staff really has their work cut out for them. I don't see this coming year as anything other than rebuilding and could be the worse year we have had in some time.
 
Last edited:
Re: Union College: 2018-2019

Expectations last year were not overly optimistic, yet the Dutchmen hit the 20 win mark. What's on paper does not always translate into results, good and bad. The Union staff has cultivated a reputation for developing players as well as any in the country. Yes, on paper Union looks like a dubious candidate for success given the losses incurred through graduation, injuries, and departures. Every team is subject to similar vicissitudes at one point or another. Bennett & Co. are among the best dealing with them.
What remains a bit puzzling is the seemingly slow progress in getting the renovation of Achilles underway. With the team's now well established reputation for success, one would think that fundraising would have ignited quickly. Perhaps there is talk of building a brand new rink, which may make more sense. Whatever, the team's best interests would be well served by a decision sooner than later.
 
Re: Union College: 2018-2019

Miami Ice said:
Expectations last year were not overly optimistic, yet the Dutchmen hit the 20 win mark. What's on paper does not always translate into results, good and bad. The Union staff has cultivated a reputation for developing players as well as any in the country. Yes, on paper Union looks like a dubious candidate for success given the losses incurred through graduation, injuries, and departures. Every team is subject to similar vicissitudes at one point or another. Bennett & Co. are among the best dealing with them.
What remains a bit puzzling is the seemingly slow progress in getting the renovation of Achilles underway. With the team's now well established reputation for success, one would think that fundraising would have ignited quickly. Perhaps there is talk of building a brand new rink, which may make more sense. Whatever, the team's best interests would be well served by a decision sooner than later.
Click to expand...

I have to disagree with part of this. Expectations were pretty high going into last season. In 2017-18, Union finished second in the league with a 16-5-1 record. Going into last year, pretty much everyone of significance was back except for Ryan Scarfo who had graduated. Instead of building upon that season with a large senior core, Union floundered to a 10-10-2 record in league play. Going into last year, the expectation was at least getting back to Lake Placid and maybe winning a game in the NCAA tournament. Neither happened. Last year was one of the more disappointing seasons in recent memory for Union.

What I agree with is fixing up Messa Rink, which is a woefully inadequate facility to house two Division I hockey programs. It's a 45-year-old facility designed for a D3 team. Fan amenities are not good. Pretty much nothing has been said publicly about the renovations in quite some time. At one point, they had wanted to a $10-12M expansion/renovation of it. Meanwhile, plans have been announced to fix up Cheel and Appleton, and Colgate's new rink is only a few years old.
 
Re: Union College: 2018-2019

I would agree. Last year the rankings at the beginning of the season had Union quite high. The team had some moments of brilliance but lost to teams that they should have beaten. They floundered to a mediocre record and didn't quite put it together at the end. This season they have a very large first year class. 12 student-athletes is amongst the largest of any of the top 40 D1 schools. The should present some excellent opportunities for some freshman and sophomores to get more ice time than they would normally see and in some key situations. It will be interesting to see if any of the first years step up to grab some top 6 spots.

Now that the schedule is posted and the incoming class has been announced, is it possibly time to start the new season's thread?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top