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Union College: 2021-2022

During the 2013/14 championship season, Bennett got into an altercation with the RPI coach. We had a president at the time, Stephen Ainlay, who skillfully managed the media crisis. The team rallied around their coach and went on a tear and went on to win their third consecutive ECAC crown, made their second "frozen four" appearance, and won a national championship. That championship brought enormous positive name recognition to the school and benefited admissions, academics as well as the hockey program. Stephen Ainlay spent his academic administrative career at Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts before coming to Union.

Our current president, David Harris, spent his administrative career at Tufts and Cornell, two schools noted for being extremely progressive and "woke". One of Harris's first actions as Union's President was to paint his fingernails pink so he could be in solidarity with a gay student whose feelings were hurt when he pushed his gayness at a Schenectady working-class bar and was made fun of. Harris comes from the woke world of non-binary people and pronouns, not the world of working-class Schenectady.

Bennett was committed to his players, their professional career aspirations, their athletic development, academic success, fundraising, and support for the local Schenectady community humanitarian causes. I feel bad for the players who had bonded with Bennett and whose career and athletic expectations are now in doubt. I wonder how they will be motivated going forward.

For Union to be a big success and compete in D1 hockey, so many constituencies all have to come together to support and champion the program. However, if the school's new goal is politically correct mediocrity, then not so much. Sometimes I wonder if Union should just slip back to DIII hockey and just focus on pronouns.

Sad
 
Dutchman said:
During the 2013/14 championship season, Bennett got into an altercation with the RPI coach. We had a president at the time, Stephen Ainlay, who skillfully managed the media crisis. The team rallied around their coach and went on a tear and went on to win their third consecutive ECAC crown, made their second "frozen four" appearance, and won a national championship. That championship brought enormous positive name recognition to the school and benefited admissions, academics as well as the hockey program. Stephen Ainlay spent his academic administrative career at Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts before coming to Union.

Our current president, David Harris, spent his administrative career at Tufts and Cornell, two schools noted for being extremely progressive and "woke". One of Harris's first actions as Union's President was to paint his fingernails pink so he could be in solidarity with a gay student whose feelings were hurt when he pushed his gayness at a Schenectady working-class bar and was made fun of. Harris comes from the woke world of non-binary people and pronouns, not the world of working-class Schenectady.

Bennett was committed to his players, their professional career aspirations, their athletic development, academic success, fundraising, and support for the local Schenectady community humanitarian causes. I feel bad for the players who had bonded with Bennett and whose career and athletic expectations are now in doubt. I wonder how they will be motivated going forward.

For Union to be a big success and compete in D1 hockey, so many constituencies all have to come together to support and champion the program. However, if the school's new goal is politically correct mediocrity, then not so much. Sometimes I wonder if Union should just slip back to DIII hockey and just focus on pronouns.

Sad
Click to expand...

Wow, tell me you’re a homophobic dinosaur without actually telling me you’re a homophobic dinosaur…

The idea that the Bennett is the victim of some new woke Union president is a joke. College hockey has evolved and Bennett is no longer coaching the 24-year olds that stacked his championship. He was out of touch with his players and paid the price; when confronted with the facts (whatever they were), he didn’t defend his actions, but instead walked away. I think the parting will be good for both sides. Bennett will likely find a gig in the pro ranks that is a better fit, and Union will find a coach better suited for the younger scholarship players they can hopefully lure to beautiful working class Schenectady.
 
BU fan here who has been paying particular attention to this matter, given how Bennett flirted with the BU job in 2018 after David Quinn's left for the Rangers. I've wondered on multiple occasions how Bennett might have fared at BU, given its resources and culture (hockey-wise and beyond).

My impression of Bennett has always been he's polarizing - either you love or loathe him b/c of his intense, demanding coaching style. A reputable source told me that the first words they'd use to describe Bennett is "old school". Would his personality, communication and coaching style have worked at BU, both on and off-ice (especially with its hockey alums and donors)?
 
Thomas Kaine said:
Wow, tell me you’re a homophobic dinosaur without actually telling me you’re a homophobic dinosaur…

The idea that the Bennett is the victim of some new woke Union president is a joke. College hockey has evolved and Bennett is no longer coaching the 24-year olds that stacked his championship. He was out of touch with his players and paid the price; when confronted with the facts (whatever they were), he didn’t defend his actions, but instead walked away. I think the parting will be good for both sides. Bennett will likely find a gig in the pro ranks that is a better fit, and Union will find a coach better suited for the younger scholarship players they can hopefully lure to beautiful working class Schenectady.
Click to expand...

24-year-olds that stacked his championship?

Nobody on that roster was 24 at the time, not one player.

Look at several of the key cogs that year....

Gostisbehere was 20, Vecchione was 20, Carr 21, Stevens 20, Novak 22, Taylor was 19, Ciampini 22. Bodie was 23.

https://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/...005862014.html
 
Last edited:
ecachawkeyfan said:
24-year-olds that stacked his championship?

Nobody on that roster was 24 at the time, not one player.

Look at several of the key cogs that year....

Gostisbehere was 20, Vecchione was 20, Carr 21, Stevens 20, Novak 22, Taylor was 19, Ciampini 22. Bodie was 23.

https://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/...005862014.html
Click to expand...

I’m being glib, but fair enough, I over-stated. Though Bodie and Coatta were both 24 when they beat Minnesota in 2014; a dozen kids with 1990 or 1991 birthdays. My point was he worked and succeeded with older, mature men on his team that were probably better suited to his coaching style.
 
With Bennett gone, it's fair to speculate on replacements. The school said they want someone in place by April.

Some names that immediately popped into my mind:

John Ronan - The interim head coach is the most obvious candidate. The team is 3-1 under his watch and he's well familiar with the program from his time as a volunteer coach and assistant. The school said he will be considered.

Joe Dumais - The former longtime assistant has long been talked about as a future head coach. Could Union reunion be in the cards?

Joel Beal - Another former Union assistant that seems prime to be the head guy somewhere, soon.

Tyler Hynes - This might be a long-shot hire. Hynes is only 29 years old but unlike the three names above him, has head coaching experience at the college level (if you exclude Ronan's brief interim run so far). He's led D3 Wilkes since 2019 and has a winning percentage of about 70 percent since. I believe the team is top 10 in D3 currently. The former Union player and Capital Region native is only a few years younger than Leaman was when Union hired him in 2005. Even as a player, Hynes was one of those guys that had future coach all over him.
 
According to CHN data, the average Union player this year is 22 years, 4 months.

There were more players 23+ on the roster to begin the season this year than during the national title year of 2013-14.
 
Thomas Kaine said:
I’m being glib, but fair enough, I over-stated. Though Bodie and Coatta were both 24 when they beat Minnesota in 2014; a dozen kids with 1990 or 1991 birthdays. My point was he worked and succeeded with older, mature men on his team that were probably better suited to his coaching style.
Click to expand...

Technically you were correct as they both had turned 24 by the time they reached the Frozen Four.
 
ecachawkeyfan said:
According to CHN data, the average Union player this year is 22 years, 4 months.

There were more players 23+ on the roster to begin the season this year than during the national title year of 2013-14.
Click to expand...

Yeah, that’s an old group, so I guess they haven’t been trending younger. (Though not sure about the CHN data - off the cuff, Colin Graf’s DOB is off by two years. As much fun as a 23-year old freshman would be.)

On hires, I have to think Dumais will be at the top of the list; he was incredibly well-liked during his time in Schenectady, knows the college, knows the league, and is ready for his next move. And the Union job has to be a whole lot more appealing than it would have been a few weeks ago without scholarships.
 
NCAA watcher said:
A very nice interview with Ric Bennett. He seems like he's done a very good job of reflecting and processing this and has a positive attitude toward this.
https://www.collegehockeynews.com/ontheair/
Click to expand...

Thanks for highlighting. The interview was interesting, but I thought it was weird that the host didn't ask Coach Bennett directly what had happened--perhaps there was some understanding about whether those questions were in bounds heading into it. That said, the interviewer seemed to ask some indirect questions about hypothetical questions that drew some responses that seemed to get a bit closer to describing what might have happened.

It's also a little weird that some in the media have tweeted or commented vaguely along the lines of "if what I heard happened is true", but none of them has actually reported what it was they heard. Either work the story, or don't say/write the former part.
 
When Nate Leaman & Ric Bennett built the ECAC and NCAA championship teams they developed a team culture that focussed on practice, hard work, shoulder pads, and lots of forechecking drills. The team culture was defined by terms like "lunch pail" & "men at work". (In United States politics, the term lunch pail Democrat, lunchbox Democrat, or lunchbucket Democrat refers to members of the Democratic Party of a "blue-collar" or working-class background). This mapped well with players' family backgrounds and the local Schenectady community.

Many of the ECAC teams back then also had a reputation for physicality or being tough to play against, win or lose. That culture was necessary if a tiny school like Union were ever going to defeat the championship-caliber teams like those the Dutchmen defeated in 2013-2014 (Boston College, Minnesota). In addition, the team needed full and active support from all its stakeholders. The school administration, faculty, alumni, board of directors, fans, "blades", media, the public (Schenectady), athletic department, etc. Union needed this support because it had no sustainable competitive advantage when competing in DI hockey. Without scholarships and without "Ivy League" status, Bennett needed to develop whatever talent he could recruit. That meant a big commitment to his players and their families. Bennett emphasized academics and the importance that his players excelled as student-athletes. Bennetts teams were also known for their support for the local Schenectady community and other humanitarian volunteer efforts.

It's hard to imagine that Ric Bennett suddenly did something out of character after 16 years of coaching. Given the outpouring of support from his former players and their families, it's hard to visualize something sinister or out of character. More likely the administration did not want to make space for Ric Bennett's "old school" style of coaching. This is especially true given the "woke" nature of the current administration. If the current administration were around in 2013/2014, after the fight at the Mayor's Cup, I am sure Benett would have been fired, several players expelled and the rest of the team's schedule canceled. Woke v winning.
 
Dutchman said:
When Nate Leaman & Ric Bennett built the ECAC and NCAA championship teams they developed a team culture that focussed on practice, hard work, shoulder pads, and lots of forechecking drills. The team culture was defined by terms like "lunch pail" & "men at work". (In United States politics, the term lunch pail Democrat, lunchbox Democrat, or lunchbucket Democrat refers to members of the Democratic Party of a "blue-collar" or working-class background). This mapped well with players' family backgrounds and the local Schenectady community.

Many of the ECAC teams back then also had a reputation for physicality or being tough to play against, win or lose. That culture was necessary if a tiny school like Union were ever going to defeat the championship-caliber teams like those the Dutchmen defeated in 2013-2014 (Boston College, Minnesota). In addition, the team needed full and active support from all its stakeholders. The school administration, faculty, alumni, board of directors, fans, "blades", media, the public (Schenectady), athletic department, etc. Union needed this support because it had no sustainable competitive advantage when competing in DI hockey. Without scholarships and without "Ivy League" status, Bennett needed to develop whatever talent he could recruit. That meant a big commitment to his players and their families. Bennett emphasized academics and the importance that his players excelled as student-athletes. Bennetts teams were also known for their support for the local Schenectady community and other humanitarian volunteer efforts.

It's hard to imagine that Ric Bennett suddenly did something out of character after 16 years of coaching. Given the outpouring of support from his former players and their families, it's hard to visualize something sinister or out of character. More likely the administration did not want to make space for Ric Bennett's "old school" style of coaching. This is especially true given the "woke" nature of the current administration. If the current administration were around in 2013/2014, after the fight at the Mayor's Cup, I am sure Benett would have been fired, several players expelled and the rest of the team's schedule canceled. Woke v winning.
Click to expand...

+1
 
MarkEagleUSA said:
Didn't they just let the swimming coach go as well, giving the same reasons as Bennett?
Click to expand...

Yes, No idea why. Guess the New Pres is apparently cleaning house. In Bennet`s case I feel he got screwed. After 17 years of service they obviously didn`t have his back. He gets called out to defend himself against an anonymous email bitching about practices. It doesn`t matter what profession a person is in the gig is up when that weak crap happens.
 
With only six games remaining, five teams bunched in the middle, Cornell going cold and Harvard weakened by the Olympics, lots of opportunities exist for any team that gets hot. Home rink advantage for the first round will probably not be decided until the last week.
 
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