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Union Hockey 2011-2012 Season Thread "We Can See Cleary Now"

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Re: Union Hockey 2011-2012 Season Thread "We Can See Cleary Now"

Phew boy, so much for "probable". Stevens can do the job and hopefully gets into the flow early, building some confidence. I'm sure the D will be busting it for him.
 
Re: Union Hockey 2011-2012 Season Thread "We Can See Cleary Now"

Not what we needed heading into this huge weekend. How did he get hurt in practice???
 
Re: Union Hockey 2011-2012 Season Thread "We Can See Cleary Now"

Yeah, pretty sure it was practice. We'll just have to "roll" with it. Go U!
 
Re: Union Hockey 2011-2012 Season Thread "We Can See Cleary Now"

Well earned win for Union tonight over Colgate. Tonight's game was very entertaining and fast paced with lots of back and forth action.

The third period was probably the best I've seen Union play all year. Union did a great job of shutting down Austin Smith who only had one really strong chance which Stevens made an amazing glove save on. Kudos to Stevens for picking up his first ECAC win of many. Colin was very good tonight, he's the next in line of great Union goaltenders.

On to Cornell tomorrow night, let's go U!
 
Re: Union Hockey 2011-2012 Season Thread "We Can See Cleary Now"

That game felt like a playoff game - the most entertaining Union game I've seen this year. Edge of your seat kind of game. Stevens was huge outside of that early goal (which made me a bit nervous) ... he robbed Smith in the 3rd. A game saving save. Stevens made quite a few smart cover-ups on loose pucks as well. He proved himself tonight at a crucial point in the season. The story of the night was Stevens and it was great when the student section began chanting his name. The whole crowd was really into it tonight... best crowd energy of the season.

RPI was down 2-0 but have tied Cornell at 2 in the 3rd... would be huge if RPI holds Cornell to a tie or even better, picks up a win over them.
 
Re: Union Hockey 2011-2012 Season Thread "We Can See Cleary Now"

RPI and Cornell ends in a 2-2 tie. Union's lead over second place extends to 3 pts.
 
Re: Union Hockey 2011-2012 Season Thread "We Can See Cleary Now"

rdf8585 said:
RPI and Cornell ends in a 2-2 tie. Union's lead over second place extends to 3 pts.
Click to expand...
Cornell does have one game in hand however.

That was a scintillating game. After a few early jitters Stevens locked in and shut the door. He has a different style than Grosenick and seems to stand taller and take up some space. I think he is going to be very very good, especially after he matures a bit more physically.

Union seemed to play with a huge amount of energy and were all over the Colgate forwards with bodies and stickwork. Smith is obviously a very talented offensive player but Union gave him little space to work with most of the time. I didn't see much in the way of two way play from him though and he likes to station himself at the blueline looking for the breakout pass. Still he had a great play on Stevens late who had the spectacular save and left Smith looking heavenward in disbelief. Colgate acquitted themselves well and blocked a lot of shots but couldn't finish. Speaking of not finishing, Matt Hatch seems snakebitten at times. Two pretty evenly matched teams and a very entertaining game.
 
Re: Union Hockey 2011-2012 Season Thread "We Can See Cleary Now"

Moved into a tie for 10th in the PWR. Huge win! Great game from Stevens. Really stepped up tonight.
 
Re: Union Hockey 2011-2012 Season Thread "We Can See Cleary Now"

That was just a great college hockey game and huge congrats to Stevens and all the players & coaches. Colgate is a very fast exciting team and agree that it was one of the best games I've seen at Messa in a while. The 1st period had me pretty worried, as U really gave Gate way too much room to wheel thru the neutral zone.. was a lot like the 1st period of the Yale home game. It was really big to come out of the 1st tied, instead of 2 or 3 goals down as it maybe should have been. Very impressed how the boys adjusted and bore down in the 2nd & 3rd periods and eventually turned the pace of the game in their favor. Great to see U getting stronger as the 3rd period went on and as the hitting got heavier.. thought that the 4th line had a great night and were the best line on the team in the 3rd. Was also very impressed with how all the D-men played, they really are a terrific group defensively and most of the time gave Stevens a chance to make saves.

Not much time to savor this one with the Big Red in the barn tomorrow. Hard to believe a game could be any more physical than tonight, but it probably will be..
 
Re: Union Hockey 2011-2012 Season Thread "We Can See Cleary Now"

The Dutchmen were treated to a very impressive pre game address by Matt Eversmann of Black Hawk Down fame. Not that they needed any more motivation, Eversmann's words were very inspiring. He is the son in law of Union alumnus, Ned Dukehart.
 
Re: Union Hockey 2011-2012 Season Thread "We Can See Cleary Now"

Union lines are out... Stevens starting again. Changes from last night: scratch Reid, Ciampini, and Novak. Sub in Vasaturo, Sullivan, and Mingoia.

tumblr_lyvxp30aCf1qcayzi.jpg
 
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Re: Union Hockey 2011-2012 Season Thread "We Can See Cleary Now"

PBDutchman said:
The Dutchmen were treated to a very impressive pre game address by Matt Eversmann of Black Hawk Down fame. Not that they needed any more motivation, Eversmann's words were very inspiring. He is the son in law of Union alumnus, Ned Dukehart.
Click to expand...
That my friends should have sealed the deal. ;)
 
Re: Union Hockey 2011-2012 Season Thread "We Can See Cleary Now"

rdf8585 said:
Union lines are out... Stevens starting again. Changes from last night: scratch Reid, Ciampini, and Novak. Sub in Vasaturo, Sullivan, and Mingoia.

tumblr_lyvxp30aCf1qcayzi.jpg
Click to expand...
It seems that most of the tinkering is with the third line and the other 3 are pretty much static. I thought Reid played very well last night, and that the switch to Vasaturo is likely a matchup type of move. Forgaard must still be hurt. He hasn't played in quite a while.
 
Re: Union Hockey 2011-2012 Season Thread "We Can See Cleary Now"

Didn't you mention that the coaches have developed a "fresh legs" strategy for Saturday night games? I figure that might be the cause for tinkering tonight.
 
Re: Union Hockey 2011-2012 Season Thread "We Can See Cleary Now"

Well that was a game that I think will have both coaches talking to their teams about.. and both goalies will be wishing they had a couple goals back. Still, was very entertaining and the intensity level was high for both teams. Glad the boys were able to salvage a tie and maintain some control over their league destiny. A gutsy effort to fight back and a big 3 point weekend.. and congrats to Zajac on becoming U's all-time D-1 assists leader!

U's PP tonight was just sick and I especially loved the 2nd PP goal. Cornell has always done what I call "the turtle" type of PK where they pack big bodies in front of their goalie and dare you to shoot the puck through it all. It was a great play by Zajac to thread a backdoor pass to KBodes for a ridiculously easy goal that Iles essentially didn't even know had happened because there were so many bodies in front of him blocking his view. The new PP system U is using this year is really paying some dividends - there are so many different ways it can beat you and players are getting really comfortable with it.

On the negative side, Cornell's relentless physical style showed some chinks in U's armor. Gostisbehere and M. Bodie really had a hard time controlling the Red's big bodies when they got cycling in the U zone. I'm not sure exactly what the answer is for that, but I'm sure its something that Schafer & company will try to take advantage of in Ithaca. And U seemed either jumpy or hesitant with their puck movement for most of the night, due to Cornell's puck pressure and trapping in the 3rd period. I heard Dumais on the radio after the game and he was obviously very upset about all the offsides in the 3rd. U does need to figure out how to combat good traps, as they will likely see more of them down the stretch and in the playoffs. And I'm not going to throw Stevens under the bus, since he did make several good saves and in the end was no worse than his counterpart, but he does have some things to work on and probably isn't quite ready for prolonged primetime outings yet.

Overall, I'm starting to believe that something pretty special might be happening here.. U actually did not play their best these 2 games and still came out with points against very good competition. I'm hoping that the lessons learned from going to Michigan, UNH, and Colorado early in the season are paying some dividends..
 
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