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Union Hockey 2012-2013 - Unfinished Business

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Re: Union Hockey 2012-2013 - Unfinished Business

It''s the bell lap...the Dutchmen are beginning to make their move...the faithful await this weekend's results with fond memories of 2012's kick. Could it be that last year's stretch drive is about to be duplicated? It's a tall order... with a bye first on the menu, followed by an ECAC tourney championship, and finally a NCAA appearance. Q'pac is the concensus champion and rightfully so at this juncture. However, no sport contains more surprises than college hockey!
 
Re: Union Hockey 2012-2013 - Unfinished Business

Miami Ice said:
It''s the bell lap...the Dutchmen are beginning to make their move...the faithful await this weekend's results with fond memories of 2012's kick. Could it be that last year's stretch drive is about to be duplicated? It's a tall order... with a bye first on the menu, followed by an ECAC tourney championship, and finally a NCAA appearance. Q'pac is the concensus champion and rightfully so at this juncture. However, no sport contains more surprises than college hockey!
Click to expand...

Quinnipiac has shown me that they've got the makeup of a champion team - a stifling defense and they don't quit when they're down. That said, I'd be shocked if they go undefeated in league play. I don't think I've ever seen that in this league.

Union can make a run, but they have to figure out the 3rd period. The offense hasn't clicked enough to blow anyone out, so they're going to need to work on protecting a lead. Perhaps the best defense is a better offense.
 
Re: Union Hockey 2012-2013 - Unfinished Business

aweise said:
Quinnipiac has shown me that they've got the makeup of a champion team - a stifling defense and they don't quit when they're down. That said, I'd be shocked if they go undefeated in league play. I don't think I've ever seen that in this league.

Union can make a run, but they have to figure out the 3rd period. The offense hasn't clicked enough to blow anyone out, so they're going to need to work on protecting a lead. Perhaps the best defense is a better offense.
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I agree that most of Union's sputtering has been on offense. The inability to hold leads in the third period is troubling but due at least in part to the fact that we seem to be able to score in only one period a game and even then, it's often not in the third. I don't have the stat on that but I'm sure the number of times that's happened is pretty significant. :confused:
 
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Re: Union Hockey 2012-2013 - Unfinished Business

Wow, that was one of the worst games I've seen a Union team play in 3-4 years :mad:. Very flat, no jump at all. Clarkson totally dictated play and U had MAYBE 10 minutes of good effort. The offense just can't seem to get any sustained cycling of the puck deep in the other teams end. So much for Bennett's theory that going on the road might focus the team more. Right now this looks like a team that will be fighting for 1st round home ice and will be lucky to make it to the 2nd round.. Something has got to be done to shake things up. While I'm not blaming the frosh, I don't see how Wilkins and Roy deserve to be in the lineup each night. Wilkins is good for 1-2 really bad penalties every game and Roy just plain doesn't do much. I'd say give Coatta, Bennett, DiPauli a chance every now & then. Of course that won't help the top lines on the team score more.. was very frustrating to watch the video feed tonight.
 
Re: Union Hockey 2012-2013 - Unfinished Business

I was at the women's game, but was surprised to hear of a 2-1 loss at Clarkson.

Entering play, Clarkson had all of two wins at home all season long. They had been playing better of late, but I didn't anticipate a win over Union.

Jooris' goal was his first in TWO months. That really surprised me when I looked at it.

Also interesting to see Grosenick pulled in the 2nd period of a 2-0 game.
 
Re: Union Hockey 2012-2013 - Unfinished Business

Some kick...that one was in the n..ts. Something is missing. Is the absence of Welsh and Zajac that significant? Expectations for another banner season are becoming dimmer. Nothing worse than playing "catch up ball". Suddenly home ice is now in the conversation. Ouch. However, we are keeping the faith until the bitter end.
 
Re: Union Hockey 2012-2013 - Unfinished Business

Wow, that was some stinker last night. One goal after 3 plus periods carrying over from Dartmouth. Now the special teams are starting to slump also. Definitely the low point of the season to this point. The Union radio guys reviewed the goal scoring numbers over the past dozen or so games and the forwards are collectively on hiatus. Going into the season I thought we had enough offense returning to be more than adequate. I was figuring on 15 goals minimum from Carr and Simpson with Jooris, Hatch, Sullivan and Bodie each good for 15 to 20 points. Obviously that was an overly optimistic projection. Low scoring puts a lot of pressure on the goaltending to pitch a shutout or a one goal game every night. That isn't realistic. Not sure what the options are at this point. Very puzzling.

Gingras has not played the last two games. I haven't heard anything about injury or illness so I guess he's been a healthy scratch. I am guessing we may see Stevens in goal tonight and a few other new faces in the lineup. We can't afford to lay another egg tonight.
 
Re: Union Hockey 2012-2013 - Unfinished Business

Wholin1 said:
Wow, that was some stinker last night. One goal after 3 plus periods carrying over from Dartmouth. Now the special teams are starting to slump also. Definitely the low point of the season to this point. The Union radio guys reviewed the goal scoring numbers over the past dozen or so games and the forwards are collectively on hiatus. Going into the season I thought we had enough offense returning to be more than adequate. I was figuring on 15 goals minimum from Carr and Simpson with Jooris, Hatch, Sullivan and Bodie each good for 15 to 20 points. Obviously that was an overly optimistic projection. Low scoring puts a lot of pressure on the goaltending to pitch a shutout or a one goal game every night. That isn't realistic. Not sure what the options are at this point. Very puzzling.

Gingras has not played the last two games. I haven't heard anything about injury or illness so I guess he's been a healthy scratch. I am guessing we may see Stevens in goal tonight and a few other new faces in the lineup. We can't afford to lay another egg tonight.
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Maybe put Gingras at forward??? I don't know what the problem is, but how do you go the first 30 minutes of the game against one of the most penalized teams in the country and not get a PP? The answer to that is that you don't put any pressure on them and let them play an open-ice game. At the very least there is a massive lack of offensive confidence.. but at worst it looks like certain players are just not willing to stick their noses in and get physical. I know Appert had a game early in the season where he was very unhappy with a previous night's performance and then benched some of his best players the next night. It seems like a very risky and drastic thing to do at this point in the season (RPI got pummeled the next night), but it did seem to work to wake the team up a bit. Wonder if a similar message will be sent when tonight's roster is posted.
 
Re: Union Hockey 2012-2013 - Unfinished Business

Schott says Stuart is injured. Lower-body, suffered last night.
 
Re: Union Hockey 2012-2013 - Unfinished Business

From bad to worse after the first 20 minutes tonite. Union looks like they've thrown the towel in.
 
Re: Union Hockey 2012-2013 - Unfinished Business

4-2 loss tonight. First time getting swept in North Country since 08-09.

As of now, the Dutchmen are essentially in 7th place.
 
Re: Union Hockey 2012-2013 - Unfinished Business

The Union bubble is bursting. "Unfinished business" buoyed the Union faithful at the beginning of the season. The reality is no victories over ranked teams. This weekend will doubtless leave Union unranked for the first time in a long time. Barring a dramatic reversal the season is quickly heading south as RPI rallies, a galling phenomenon. There must be a lot of head scratching going on. The team can still rally but it seems to be looking less probable.
 
Re: Union Hockey 2012-2013 - Unfinished Business

Miami Ice said:
The Union bubble is bursting. "Unfinished business" buoyed the Union faithful at the beginning of the season. The reality is no victories over ranked teams. This weekend will doubtless leave Union unranked for the first time in a long time. Barring a dramatic reversal the season is quickly heading south as RPI rallies, a galling phenomenon. There must be a lot of head scratching going on. The team can still rally but it seems to be looking less probable.
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OK, I've been a fan of Union since 1988, my freshman year. Let's get real. The bubble isn't "bursting". It "exploded" this weekend.

Frankly, this kind of result has been brewing for weeks now. We should have been dropped from the top 20 polls weeks ago.

Not sure why we have a musical chairs game going on with the goalies. If that's the case, why don't they send in The Pickle?

Also, all props and kudos to RPI, who, at the beginning of the season, looked like we do now. But, they kept at it and Appert has coached them well enough so that they figured out the puzzle and are scorching hot right now. If we end up seeing them in the playoffs, based on the results this weekend, THEY sweep us like 4-1, 5-2 easy. I would trade the 3-0 record against RPI this year for a tiny sliver of team confidence and chemistry like RPI is enjoying right now.

From the tweets and the blog posts Ive read, this team doesn't want to "pay the price". I don't know if they are trying to mail it in based on their success from last year, but we should take a look at Cornell if we don't have enough proof in our own backyard to see why hustle, energy and simple hard work are the keys to success in this crazy league.

I think the team should forget about anything that doesn't relate to what is happening in the next game. No thoughts about home ice, a bye, going to AC or anywhere else. All that matters is getting points each game.

The way we played this weekend, it'll be a miracle to get points from Yale coming up and it will be seriously tough to get any from Brown with that decent goalie they have this year. Another swept weekend could mean we fall enough to travel the first weekend in the playoffs. The only saving grace is that everyone gets into the playoffs and that any team can figure it out and go on a run.

I do not envy the bus ride home tonight for those boys. I do not envy the practices ahead for them either. Bennett is a no-BS kinda coach and his BS meter has gotta be going off like it was July 4th right now.....

I still will root hard for them the rest of the season and any playoff games, but this team could be called the Titanic and we just hit the iceberg tonight...

I hope everyone in the East survived Nemo this weekend. It was 48 and sunny here in Southern Oregon.

Be Well.

Keith.
 
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