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Union College Dutchwomen 2015-16 thread

Re: Union College Dutchwomen 2015-16 thread

Huh - starting next year with 2 freshman goalies. That should be interesting for them - at least they both look like they have solid backgrounds. Losing your only returning goalie and a senior forward who has been solid (if not spectacular) for you for 3 years is not a great start to the season.

Lead story has Chris Cobb from Williams heading to Union next season as an assistant coach. Nice guy.
 
HockeyEast33 said:
Huh - starting next year with 2 freshman goalies. That should be interesting for them - at least they both look like they have solid backgrounds. Losing your only returning goalie and a senior forward who has been solid (if not spectacular) for you for 3 years is not a great start to the season.

Lead story has Chris Cobb from Williams heading to Union next season as an assistant coach. Nice guy.
Click to expand...

Great get by Union.
 
Isn't that 2 goalies that leave in 2 years, both freshmen? One would expect that either Pincott or Ridding would have been the starter this year had they stayed. Strange.
 
Re: Union College Dutchwomen 2015-16 thread

Puckdrop14 said:
Isn't that 2 goalies that leave in 2 years, both freshmen? One would expect that either Pincott or Ridding would have been the starter this year had they stayed. Strange.
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Strange is pretty much always the word at Union, isn't it? Strange who they recruit, strange why they can't win more than a few games a season, strange why players and asst coaches seem to come and go, strange why Barcomb is still the head coach, .... just strange.
 
Re: Union College Dutchwomen 2015-16 thread

Puckdrop14 said:
Isn't that 2 goalies that leave in 2 years, both freshmen? One would expect that either Pincott or Ridding would have been the starter this year had they stayed. Strange.
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Three, actually. The third was Maddie Dahl, a pretty good goalie who had to retire after her sophomore year (2013-14) due to injury.
 
Re: Union College Dutchwomen 2015-16 thread

hab said:
Union seems to have quite the pipeline for goalie recruits!
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Too bad their goalies over the years couldn't score goals for them too. Defense without offense is not a formula for success of any kind in this game. Seeing how close you can keep the score isn't fun for 4 years of a player's college life. "Oooh, we only lost to (team name) by 3 goals this year...we're making progress!" That gets really old really fast. It's the same thing year after year after year and they aren't the only program with that problem.
 
Re: Union College Dutchwomen 2015-16 thread

shelfit said:
Too bad their goalies over the years couldn't score goals for them too. Defense without offense is not a formula for success of any kind in this game. Seeing how close you can keep the score isn't fun for 4 years of a player's college life. "Oooh, we only lost to (team name) by 3 goals this year...we're making progress!" That gets really old really fast. It's the same thing year after year after year and they aren't the only program with that problem.
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There have been scores of posts about the systemic problems with Union's program and I don't think that there is an easy fix (non-scholarship, non-Ivy etc. etc.). That's not the point. Without their undeniable success in recruiting competitive goalies over the years they would not have had nearly the success that they have had in keeping games close. And keeping games close is not nothing. Players have come and gone in this program over the years, received a good education, played in a lot of close, fun, competitive hockey games. Agreed that it is not the most positive environment imaginable, but it is far too easy for people to sit in their armchairs and cluck cluck about the lack of progress for this program. But this is not about you, it is about the players, and their experiences have been greatly enriched by the success the team has had in recruiting goalies. My post simply affirmed that they have had some great goalies...do you disagree?
 
Re: Union College Dutchwomen 2015-16 thread

hab said:
There have been scores of posts about the systemic problems with Union's program and I don't think that there is an easy fix (non-scholarship, non-Ivy etc. etc.). That's not the point. Without their undeniable success in recruiting competitive goalies over the years they would not have had nearly the success that they have had in keeping games close. And keeping games close is not nothing. Players have come and gone in this program over the years, received a good education, played in a lot of close, fun, competitive hockey games. Agreed that it is not the most positive environment imaginable, but it is far too easy for people to sit in their armchairs and cluck cluck about the lack of progress for this program. But this is not about you, it is about the players, and their experiences have been greatly enriched by the success the team has had in recruiting goalies. My post simply affirmed that they have had some great goalies...do you disagree?
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Obviously I don't disagree that they have had some great goalies. Everyone that knows anything about Union knows that goaltending has been ALL they've had over the years. I was simply adding to the high reputation of those goalies by saying sarcastically that it's too bad they couldn't score goals too. They've all clearly saved their fair share of what would otherwise be a great many goals against over the years. They are what the program has been known for without question. So if goalies of that quality can be regularly recruited there, why can't a few scorers also be recruited? The answer is because those types of players are typically at the top end of their 19U team's depth chart which means they are being recruited by much better college programs than Union. However, if you're a goalie Union is like a dream come true because you know you'll face a ton of shots and have a chance for a lot of action and opportunity to keep improving. Frankly, if I'm a goalie I have no interest in only facing 13 shots per game as teams like Minnesota and the like allow. I'd have no interest in playing for those top programs. I'd much rather go to a team I feel I could help get better because of what I can bring to that program. I'm no goalie though. I think it's harder to convince top scorers to come to program like Union to make a difference because those players are being recruited by winning programs and they want to have a chance to play in the NCAA tournament and possibly win a national championship. Obviously that opportunity is never going to happen if they play for Union.
 
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Re: Union College Dutchwomen 2015-16 thread

shelfit said:
Obviously I don't disagree that they have had some great goalies. Everyone that knows anything about Union knows that goaltending has been ALL they've had over the years. I was simply adding to the high reputation of those goalies by saying sarcastically that it's too bad they couldn't score goals too. They've all clearly saved their fair share of what would otherwise be a great many goals against over the years. They are what the program has been known for without question. So if goalies of that quality can be regularly recruited there, why can't a few scorers also be recruited? The answer is because those types of players are typically at the top end of their 19U team's depth chart which means they are being recruited by much better college programs than Union. However, if you're a goalie Union is like a dream come true because you know you'll face a ton of shots and have a chance for a lot of action and opportunity to keep improving. Frankly, if I'm a goalie I have no interest in only facing 13 shots per game as teams like Minnesota and the like allow. I'd have no interest in playing for those top programs. I'd much rather go to a team I feel I could help get better because of what I can bring to that program. I'm no goalie though. I think it's harder to convince top scorers to come to program like Union to make a difference because those players are being recruited by winning programs and they want to have a chance to play in the NCAA tournament and possibly win a national championship. Obviously that opportunity is never going to happen if they play for Union.
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As noted, Union's strategy has pretty much always been to get great goaltending and hold the opponent close enough to gain a 1 goal win or tie. They usually have a win or two and a couple of ties by now through this strategy, but this year haven't been able to break through to a win. That being said, even though some of the shot counts have been heavily weighted against they haven't had a game get out of control yet as opposed to years past and have managed 4 ties (they own the 2-2 tie). But their scoring is near a low point - they are basically a 1 goal a game team. What has traditionally happened over the course of the season is that they start to get worn down from injuries, shortage of quality players (playing time high for the good ones), and opponents getting better and more seasoned themselves. Then the scores start to mount against them and they start scoring less. Given this trend and the start this year, this could end up being a very low win year for Union even by their standards.....
 
Re: Union College Dutchwomen 2015-16 thread

Union lost forward Courtney Turner to another long-term injury earlier this season. That's after she missed last season with a knee injury. When healthy, she's one of their better players. Her absence doesn't help.

Without her, Union is down to 18 total forwards/defenseman. Not much depth.

This is the toughest part of Union's season so far: Despite a struggling offense, Union has managed leads in 5 of their first 9 games. The kicker is none of those games led to wins for Union, which is 0-5-4.

9/25 at Mankato - Union led 1-0 and 2-1, tied 2-2
10/3 at UConn - Union led 2-0, tied 2-2.
10/23 vs RIT - Union led 1-0, RIT won 3-1
10/30 at Colgate - Union led 1-0 and 2-1, tied 2-2
10/31 at Cornell - Union led 2-0, tied 2-2.
 
shelfit said:
Obviously I don't disagree that they have had some great goalies. Everyone that knows anything about Union knows that goaltending has been ALL they've had over the years. I was simply adding to the high reputation of those goalies by saying sarcastically that it's too bad they couldn't score goals too. They've all clearly saved their fair share of what would otherwise be a great many goals against over the years. They are what the program has been known for without question. So if goalies of that quality can be regularly recruited there, why can't a few scorers also be recruited? The answer is because those types of players are typically at the top end of their 19U team's depth chart which means they are being recruited by much better college programs than Union. However, if you're a goalie Union is like a dream come true because you know you'll face a ton of shots and have a chance for a lot of action and opportunity to keep improving. Frankly, if I'm a goalie I have no interest in only facing 13 shots per game as teams like Minnesota and the like allow. I'd have no interest in playing for those top programs. I'd much rather go to a team I feel I could help get better because of what I can bring to that program. I'm no goalie though. I think it's harder to convince top scorers to come to program like Union to make a difference because those players are being recruited by winning programs and they want to have a chance to play in the NCAA tournament and possibly win a national championship. Obviously that opportunity is never going to happen if they play for Union.
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The real sad story is that playing for a cellar dweller has NEVER worked to attract the Attention of USA hockey. It is as if, if you don't play for a hockey competitive school we've not interested. In the last 7 of 8 years they have had terrific goaltending some invited to a camp here in there especially if they were on the radar prior to attending Union. But it drops off there. My advice is if Black has a banner year and wants to play for team USA take your record and move to a program that will give you that visibility. Lundberg, Gallager, Marcinko anyone of them could have easily been a Howe, Rigsby, Machmeyer had they gone to the RIGHT program. While I believe a goalie who faces the kind of adversity that a goalie a Union see' would be a feather in the cap for team USA, CANADA or "stopping massive amounts of shots, seeing every kind of situation and knowing that if you don't pitch a shutout or give up more than 1 goal it's over, game after game" National teams "I believe" see them as not really vested in the sport! Just my 2 cents.
 
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Re: Union College Dutchwomen 2015-16 thread

I really believe it's time for Union to take a serious look at their women's hockey program, where they are currently (0-10-4 overall after tonight...imagine playing 14 games without getting a single win....., 0-4-2 and 11th place in the ECAC), their history, and what they want their future to be, and make a decision to move their women's team back to D3. It's a very expensive school that is D3 in everything else except for the two hockey teams but the landscape of men's hockey vs. women's hockey is very different in so many many ways. The women's team at Union is never going to draw enough good talent to truly compete at the D1 level like their men's team has been able to do and I don't care who the coach is/was/is going to be in the future. It's a failing situation for the women's hockey team because better recruits will almost always choose schools that offer them athletic scholarships or better financial aid packages than Union and that includes other D3 schools like the schools in the NESCAC. How hard is it to find a very good player that is very smart academically, can afford and is willing to pay the Union tuition and fees, and wants to play on a bottom level team that will never make it to their conference playoffs?! Extremely hard I would think. There's no doubt that is going to be a very rare player to find. Now try to find 4-5 of them every year?! It's just not going to happen...ever.

The smartest thing for them to do is to move the program back to D3 where it clearly belongs. If they did move back to D3 they would have much more success and much more fun. I'm not convinced they would win the D3 national championship any time soon either but it would be so much more fun for those players to play on a team that would actually be good enough to make it to the playoffs of whatever conference they would join. They would probably fit best in the ECAC West but the main thing is for them to make the smart move back to D3 as soon as possible.

Thoughts?
 
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