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Union College Hockey 2014-2015 "ReUnion 2015? Why "Nott"?

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Re: Union College Hockey 2014-2015 "ReUnion 2015? Why "Nott"?

Good summary. The '08 QF was one of the tightest playoff series I've ever seen. We won the first game with a ppg with 6 minutes remaining and the second on a ppg with 11 minutes to go. At no time in the entire series did either team have a 2-goal lead.
That was the first year Union had a bye in the first round...and yet we still hadn't won an ECAC playoff series until the next year. My, how times have changed.

Cornell has tended to fall behind lately and naturally we do not excel at coming back, being a defensive team. G Mitch Gillam, after leading the country all year in GAA and Sv%, had two surprisingly poor games this past weekend. The lineup is healthy (except one senior who has been out since Christmas). F Cole Bardreau (22) and D Joakim Ryan (5) are the heart of the team, which has size and power, and even some speed, but very little skill at finding the net.

This has been Union's tendency lately, also. With their lack of scoring (until this past weekend), you could almost guarantee the loss was coming once they gave up a goal. However, should Cornell take a 2-0 lead at any point, I can't see Union coming back from that. Even though they're two wins this past weekend were after 2-0 deficits, they just haven't had the offensive firepower to come from behind. I hope the boys have learned their lesson and realize it's a 60-minute game. Besides, as someone said earlier, there's a lot of playoff experience on this team...they know what it will take to win, especially in enemy territory.

I'd also bet that this goes three games, but it could be like the 2008 QF series - either team could easily get the OT/late 3rd period goal in games 1 & 2.
 
Re: Union College Hockey 2014-2015 "ReUnion 2015? Why "Nott"?

I believe Rick said at Coach's Corner that Taylor wasn't playing.

Also said Gingras was "doubtful" last week, but he played. I would take any injury comment with a grain of salt, especially this time of year.
 
Re: Union College Hockey 2014-2015 "ReUnion 2015? Why "Nott"?

Hope Taylor can play. Also good to see Gingras play perhaps his best games of the season last week. Best wishes to the team in Ithaca!
 
Re: Union College Hockey 2014-2015 "ReUnion 2015? Why "Nott"?

We are in a very different space this year. The season could be ending this weekend. If it does, I am not at all disappointed with this team.

I will not be disappointed if they did/do not win another Cleary cup, another Whitelaw cup, another regional and another second national championship. This year it was unrealistic, especially given the parity in the ECAC.

At the beginning of the year some very smart hockey folks, a lot smarter than me, picked us to finish in the middle with a .500 record. It turns out they were right. We finished 16-16-2. While we are 10th in the league, if you consider all conference and non-conference games, we are 7th. Given what we lost last year, we did about as well as you would expect with our talent (speed, size, skill, experience). We played up to our potential.

Last year's team was driven. They would do whatever it took to win. Losing was simply an unacceptable outcome. They were hungry. They had "acid in the gut." It's very hard to maintain that attitude.

At this point in the season you have to assume that each team will play to 110% of their potential. You have to look at the potential upside. I saw Cornell play Denver earlier in the year and they totally dominated the first game and then did not show up for the second game. We are going to have to assume we are going to see the best Cornell has got. We may have been playing to 85% of our potential while Cornell may have been playing to 70% of theirs.

When your offense is concentrated, it's easy for your opponent to slip their best defenders on the ice when your team has its best offensive players on the ice.

I am picking Max Novak to have a great series. He holds the school record for most game winning goals in a season (last year at 8).

Whatever happens they are an outstanding group of young men who have represented our school well as "student athletes" and let's be proud that we play in the ECAC where the word "student" goes in front of the word "athlete".

Go Dutchmen !!!
 
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Re: Union College Hockey 2014-2015 "ReUnion 2015? Why "Nott"?

We are in a very different space this year. The season could be ending this weekend. If it does, I am not at all disappointed with this team.

I think I'm disappointed with the results, but not necessarily the effort put forth by these guys. It became clear very quickly that there were some enormous shoes to fill on this team. Doing so right away would have been nothing short of a miracle.

As for the playoffs, they have nothing to lose right now. Every coach & player in the ECAC would tell you that Union is a team they don't want to play, so I'm sure Mike Schaefer will have his guys ready and focused. Simply playing at Lynah is difficult, much less winning a game there. I think Union has it in them to push this series to 3 games, but if it gets there, all bets are off.
 
Re: Union College Hockey 2014-2015 "ReUnion 2015? Why "Nott"?

Bennett said on radio the other day that Taylor & Wilkins are "doubtful" and would depend on ok from Cheryle & team doctor. My take is that Taylor may be out till next season as it could be a head injury. I still can't believe that Hayden didn't get a penalty for that hit even after the refs were shown the cut on Jeff's head :mad:. If both are out is not good news. Have to say I'm not confident about this weekend. Cornell games often come down to depth and which team blinks first and makes a big mistake.. something U has not been good at this season. The boys will have to be very disciplined, get good goaltending and bury their opportunities which likely will not plentiful.

That said, I'm right on board with Dutchman's and Aweise's comments on how the team has played this season. The results have not been there, but the effort has and can tell that the players are putting in the work to get better. I'm optimistic about the future and hope that the team can channel a little magic this weekend and beyond.
 
Re: Union College Hockey 2014-2015 "ReUnion 2015? Why "Nott"?

Taylor, Wilkins back tonight.

In for Henry, Bennett.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/UnionHockey?src=hash">#UnionHockey</a> gets Taylor and Wilkins back from injury for tonight's <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ECACHockey?src=hash">#ECACHockey</a> tourney opener at Cornell. <a href="http://t.co/azboIhFjlv">pic.twitter.com/azboIhFjlv</a></p>— Union Hockey Blog (@UnionHockeyBlog) <a href="https://twitter.com/UnionHockeyBlog/status/573971764855832577">March 6, 2015</a></blockquote>
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Re: Union College Hockey 2014-2015 "ReUnion 2015? Why "Nott"?

Taylor, Wilkins back tonight.

In for Henry, Bennett.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/UnionHockey?src=hash">#UnionHockey</a> gets Taylor and Wilkins back from injury for tonight's <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ECACHockey?src=hash">#ECACHockey</a> tourney opener at Cornell. <a href="http://t.co/azboIhFjlv">pic.twitter.com/azboIhFjlv</a></p>— Union Hockey Blog (@UnionHockeyBlog) <a href="https://twitter.com/UnionHockeyBlog/status/573971764855832577">March 6, 2015</a></blockquote>
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LOL.. I'm glad my prognostication skills, as usual, are bad. Glad to see Jeff & Matt in the lineup.. Go U!!!
 
Re: Union College Hockey 2014-2015 "ReUnion 2015? Why "Nott"?

One down, one to go. The guys seem to be coming together at the right time again.
 
One down, one to go. The guys seem to be coming together at the right time again.

I watched the Boxcast feed...not bad, but a little choppy.

They were opportunistic tonight. Solid defense and scored when they had their chances. Stevens stood tall a number of times and looked like the guy who back stopped a national championship team last year.

Give the same effort tomorrow night and they could advance. Cornell won't go quietly, though.
 
Re: Union College Hockey 2014-2015 "ReUnion 2015? Why "Nott"?

Bennett said on radio the other day that Taylor & Wilkins are "doubtful" and would depend on ok from Cheryle & team doctor. My take is that Taylor may be out till next season as it could be a head injury. I still can't believe that Hayden didn't get a penalty for that hit even after the refs were shown the cut on Jeff's head :mad:. If both are out is not good news. Have to say I'm not confident about this weekend. Cornell games often come down to depth and which team blinks first and makes a big mistake.. something U has not been good at this season. The boys will have to be very disciplined, get good goaltending and bury their opportunities which likely will not plentiful.

That said, I'm right on board with Dutchman's and Aweise's comments on how the team has played this season. The results have not been there, but the effort has and can tell that the players are putting in the work to get better. I'm optimistic about the future and hope that the team can channel a little magic this weekend and beyond.

It's the second season. I would not be surprised to see you knock off not only Cornell, but QU too. No coach is wanting to play you guys in spite of what happened during the RS.
 
Re: Union College Hockey 2014-2015 "ReUnion 2015? Why "Nott"?

I'm pretty bummed the answer to the "Who played in the longest NCAA Hockey game ever?" is no longer "Well actually Union played in the two longest games...and lost them both"
 
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