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Union Hockey 2011 Off Season Thread-"Union, We've Paid Our Dues"

Re: Union Hockey 2011 Off Season Thread-"Union, We've Paid Our Dues"

rdf8585 said:
Nicholas Cruice

http://easternjhl.stats.pointstreak.com/playerpage.html?playerid=4179566
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Found the following blog-blurb on Cruice:http://chatlantic.blogspot.com/p/noncommitted.html
Nick Cruice-F- The 5'11-190lbs '92 forward played for Mercer and Comcast growing up. Played at LaSalle HS in Philadelphia where he won 2 state titles. Then moved on to South Shore in the EJHL where he put up good numbers. Mostly a grinder but will produce if with good players. In South Shore: 44GP, 18g, 34a, 52p

As FYI, Comcast and Mercer are teams in the Atlantic Youth Hockey League. Nick is starting his 3rd season in the EJHL and currently has 8 points in 4 games, which sounds pretty impressive but is actually a little deceiving in that most of those points came in two games against the Capital District (not so) Selects that South Shore won 17-1 and 10-2. He is actually 5th on his team in scoring and holds the same position in league scoring given that S. Shore is two touchdowns ahead of every other team in the league in scoring goals.

Not sure what to make of this recruit. He is listed on the EJHL website as 6-0, 200# which is a tad "chunky" and doesn't typically equate to a fast skater. He looks to me to be a defensive specialist/4th line power forward. Maybe I'm wrong and the coaches see something in him that's not apparent from the stats, but with Zajac graduating and 1 or 2 other forwards possible to leave early I was hoping to see a little more offensive potential..
 
Re: Union Hockey 2011 Off Season Thread-"Union, We've Paid Our Dues"

ADK11 said:
Found the following blog-blurb on Cruice:http://chatlantic.blogspot.com/p/noncommitted.html
Nick Cruice-F- The 5'11-190lbs '92 forward played for Mercer and Comcast growing up. Played at LaSalle HS in Philadelphia where he won 2 state titles. Then moved on to South Shore in the EJHL where he put up good numbers. Mostly a grinder but will produce if with good players. In South Shore: 44GP, 18g, 34a, 52p

As FYI, Comcast and Mercer are teams in the Atlantic Youth Hockey League. Nick is starting his 3rd season in the EJHL and currently has 8 points in 4 games, which sounds pretty impressive but is actually a little deceiving in that most of those points came in two games against the Capital District (not so) Selects that South Shore won 17-1 and 10-2. He is actually 5th on his team in scoring and holds the same position in league scoring given that S. Shore is two touchdowns ahead of every other team in the league in scoring goals.

Not sure what to make of this recruit. He is listed on the EJHL website as 6-0, 200# which is a tad "chunky" and doesn't typically equate to a fast skater. He looks to me to be a defensive specialist/4th line power forward. Maybe I'm wrong and the coaches see something in him that's not apparent from the stats, but with Zajac graduating and 1 or 2 other forwards possible to leave early I was hoping to see a little more offensive potential..
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If Rick Bennett offered, I wouldnt spend much time worrying about it. He is one of the top recuiters in the country and knows exactly what he wants for a team.
 
Re: Union Hockey 2011 Off Season Thread-"Union, We've Paid Our Dues"

rdf8585 said:
This is the men's forum, but it's Union hockey nonetheless... very surprised to see the TU run a column about the women's team today. It's an interesting issue, and certainly unique that a coach that has produced next to nothing on the ice has lasted this long... not to mention getting a 4 year extension in 2010.

http://blog.timesunion.com/mcguire/winning-isnt-everything-but/12459/
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I posted this link earlier today on the only Union Women's thread that I could find, but it has been inactive since March. I think the article was probably written before the cancellation (unexplained so far as I can tell) of this weekend's scheduled women's opener v. Univ of Montreal and would have been more topical had that game been played. He does raise some good questions including the seeming double standard of accepting failure to perform on the ice with the implication being that it would never be tolerated for a men's progarm. I would think however, that barring significant progress, Claudia's contract will not be renewed. The woman's program is facing all of the problems that the men's program had to deal with to an even larger extent. The talent pool for women's hockey is even shallower than for men and Union's woman do not have a bedrock support organization like the Garnet Blades pumping $100K or more into the program every year. So far these obstacles have been insurmountable. The obvious solution would be a move to D-3 but I don't think that can or will happen.
 
Re: Union Hockey 2011 Off Season Thread-"Union, We've Paid Our Dues"

Wholin1 said:
I posted this link earlier today on the only Union Women's thread that I could find, but it has been inactive since March. I think the article was probably written before the cancellation (unexplained so far as I can tell) of this weekend's scheduled women's opener v. Univ of Montreal and would have been more topical had that game been played. He does raise some good questions including the seeming double standard of accepting failure to perform on the ice with the implication being that it would never be tolerated for a men's progarm. I would think however, that barring significant progress, Claudia's contract will not be renewed. The woman's program is facing all of the problems that the men's program had to deal with to an even larger extent. The talent pool for women's hockey is even shallower than for men and Union's woman do not have a bedrock support organization like the Garnet Blades pumping $100K or more into the program every year. So far these obstacles have been insurmountable. The obvious solution would be a move to D-3 but I don't think that can or will happen.
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Title IX won't allow the women to drop to D-3 without the men doing likewise.. One question is whether ANY coach could do better in this situation. I think that McLaughlin knows that if they fire Barcomb after she brought on Julie Chu (one of THE biggest names ever in college hockey) as an assistant coach, who on earth would ever want the job. That being said, it looks like this year's freshman class is actually quite good and could add some desperately needed offense, so the future may not be quite as bleak as this article implies.
 
Re: Union Hockey 2011 Off Season Thread-"Union, We've Paid Our Dues"

And another new recruit for Union - Matt Wilkins, F, 5-11, 190#, Brooks Bandits of the AJHL
http://www.brooksbandits.ca/default.aspx?p=article&id=34968

This looks like a real good pickup. He was the second leading scorer in the league last season and looks to be one of the top forwards in the AJHL this season. Have to admit I was getting a little concerned that the recruiting was slipping down to AHA levels, but this makes me feel a little better about things
 
Re: Union Hockey 2011 Off Season Thread-"Union, We've Paid Our Dues"

ADK11 said:
And another new recruit for Union - Matt Wilkins, F, 5-11, 190#, Brooks Bandits of the AJHL
http://www.brooksbandits.ca/default.aspx?p=article&id=34968

This looks like a real good pickup. He was the second leading scorer in the league last season and looks to be one of the top forwards in the AJHL this season. Have to admit I was getting a little concerned that the recruiting was slipping down to AHA levels, but this makes me feel a little better about things
Click to expand...
It looks like we're starting to build some momentum in the recruiting area. Rick, Nate and Ben Barr raised the bar in Union recruiting and I doubt if anyone works harder at it then they did / do. Let's face it, money (Union's hefty tuition) is still a huge issue so U has to work harder than most to attract good talent and good people. Union won't get most of the low hanging fruit on the recruit tree, but there can be plenty of good picks farther up, you just have to work at it. I'm confident that Rick, Joe and Jason are working their tails off to identify and sign the right players.
 
Re: Union Hockey 2011 Off Season Thread-"Union, We've Paid Our Dues"

Keith Kinkaid stopped 30 of 31 shots in the Albany Devil's 3-1 exhibition win over Hartford last night. Garnet / White scrimmage Saturday and Ice Breaker event at the Nott Monday night.
 
Re: Union Hockey 2011 Off Season Thread-"Union, We've Paid Our Dues"

I thought the freshmen acquitted themselves very well at tonight's Garnet / White scrimmage. No Mike Ingoldsby, Cole Ikkala or Charlie Vassaturo. I know Ingoldsby and Vassaturo have health issues, I assume Ikkala may as well. As for Mike Ingoldsby, his concussion must have been extremely severe for him still to be out. I wish him the best for the sake of his health. I think Vassaturo had some relatively minor surgery this summer and hopefully he will be on hand soon as only 7 d men dressed and he is likely being counted on to contribute significantly on the blue line. There was also a line that consisted of 3 forwards who I assume are walk ons. Thomas Hickey, Christopher Cyr and Dylan Pazullnec. I assume Christopher may be related to former RPI player, Jordan Cyr.

All 3 goalies saw ice time and looked ok to me. Therein will lie the key to Union's success this season in my view.

Congratulations and good luck to Nolan Julseth White on being named captain and to assistants Kelly Zajac and Jeremy Welsh. All well deserved in my view.
 
Re: Union Hockey 2011 Off Season Thread-"Union, We've Paid Our Dues"

I was wondering where Vasaturo was... wasn't aware he was banged up. I was reading up on the freshman earlier today and it seems like he could be a big, physical presence on defense. At 6'2/210, he's already one of the biggest guys on the roster. Hopefully he's ready to go soon. The freshman do look promising -- Novak and Mingoia looked solid tonight while Bennett and Ciampini seem like guys that could make a quick impact as well.

The best single play I saw tonight was Brian Yanovitch's backhander that went in.

I'd probably start the year with Grosenick as the starter. Unlike the other two goalies, he has a year in the program already and should be given the shot to be the guy. All 3 looked decent tonight, none of them especially distinguishable from the others.
 
Re: Union Hockey 2011 Off Season Thread-"Union, We've Paid Our Dues"

According to Ken Schott, the coaches corner radio show from Bombers Burrito Bar will air every other Wednesday starting 10/12 on WVKZ-AM 1240.

Also from Schott, Ingoldsby out for the 1st half of the season with post concussion syndrome.

Nothing said so far on the status of Vasaturo.
 
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Re: Union Hockey 2011 Off Season Thread-"Union, We've Paid Our Dues"

Kinkaid assigned to the Albany Devils according to YNN.
 
Re: Union Hockey 2011 Off Season Thread-"Union, We've Paid Our Dues"

Nice turnout including a lot of the players at the Nott tonight for the Ice Breaker. Everyone is obviously looking forward to the start of the season on Saturday. One of the speakers commented on the relative stability of the ECAC with all of the other conference musical chairs games being played and commented with some merit that sometimes change for the sake of change is not necessarily a good thing. He went on to say that although Notre Dame to Hockey East is more or less a sure thing RPI may not be. Somewhat surprisingly he commented that there is a lot of support for UConn which I thought was somewhat outlandish but which on second thought I guess makes some sense. In any event it should be interesting.

I had a chance to meet and greet a lot of the players and was favorably impressed by all of them. Sure it was all a bit of a pep rally, but nothing wrong with that.

Anyone ready to start the season thread? It's almost hockey time.
 
Re: Union Hockey 2011 Off Season Thread-"Union, We've Paid Our Dues"

True, but Ralph's a great safety net (and fast).
 
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