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Union Hockey 2012-2013 - Unfinished Business

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Re: Union Hockey 2012-2013 - Unfinished Business

I think either team is going to be very very tough. Dartmouth has only won 3 games on the road this year, they are 3-7-3 away and 11-5-1 at home but I thought they outplayed Harvard in the first game and especially in the final period. They also won away at St. Lawrence when they had to. This team does not let up in the 3rd period. They seem to play us really well. St. Lawrence has Flanagan back but appears to be banged up as we are. Unlike Dartmouth, SLU plays well on the road. Union is playing really well at home. Union is 6-0-1 at home in its last 7 home games scoring 23 and giving up 7 with two shutouts. If Union makes it to Atlantic City it might be the only team to return from last year. If Union makes it that far I think they will have an advantage having played there last year and excelling at playing in neutral sites. What do people think? Union will need to win the Tournament to make it to the NCAA.
 
Dutchman said:
I think either team is going to be very very tough. Dartmouth has only won 3 games on the road this year, they are 3-7-3 away and 11-5-1 at home but I thought they outplayed Harvard in the first game and especially in the final period. They also won away at St. Lawrence when they had to. This team does not let up in the 3rd period. They seem to play us really well. St. Lawrence has Flanagan back but appears to be banged up as we are. Unlike Dartmouth, SLU plays well on the road. Union is playing really well at home. Union is 6-0-1 at home in its last 7 home games scoring 23 and giving up 7 with two shutouts. If Union makes it to Atlantic City it might be the only team to return from last year. If Union makes it that far I think they will have an advantage having played there last year and excelling at playing in neutral sites. What do people think? Union will need to win the Tournament to make it to the NCAA.
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I don't know if they'll need to win the ECAC tournament to make it to the NCAAs...should they win their QF series, that's two wins over a TUC (either Dartmouth or SLU), which helps their Pairwise standing. They control their own fate, if you ask me. From now on, they will be playing teams under consideration or ones that will make the NCAAs.

But that's looking ahead a bit too much right now. First things first...get ready for Dartmouth or SLU next weekend. Barring any overtimes, we should know by 8:00 tonight who Union gets next weekend.
 
Re: Union Hockey 2012-2013 - Unfinished Business

LTsatch said:
If Dartmouth wins on Sunday you see Dartmouth, if they lose you see SLU at full strength.
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SLU yes, full strength no. We lost two more defensemen (Austin and Stratford) this weekend. Now down to 21 players and exactly six defensemen, including one who had been filling at forward, in the program. The offense will be OK, but it will be very difficult for the top two D pairs to avoid wearing down. Dartmouth is probably a tougher overall matchup right now, but if Weninger can come up with a great weekend SLU's first line could carry them.
 
Re: Union Hockey 2012-2013 - Unfinished Business

Both would be very tough opponents IMO. Dartmouth is always a tough physical matchup for U and especially this season. Morris has been very good against the Dutch. As for SLU, I agree with TimU that a lot comes down to Weninger. He was excellent in Canton and not so good in Schenectady. If he brings his A game and it comes down to 1-goal games, I don't like the prospect of having to contain the Flannigan/Carey combo. The good news (hopefully) for us watching is they should be terrific games either way..

As for NCAAs, I don't agree that Union has any control over that. Playoffs are starting to go and everyone will be playing TUCs. Very hard to predict, but U is not in a strong position and will need help from other teams. One thing to keep an eye on is the AHA playoffs, as Niagara (rather shockingly) could qualify for an at-large bid regardless of winning their tournament, so if they are upset in the playoffs could mean that U would have to be in top 14-15 of PWR to qualify.
 
Re: Union Hockey 2012-2013 - Unfinished Business

I think the at large bid ship has sailed. I would like to think that playoff experience counts and that if the Dutchmen make it to AC it could be a positive, though this team remains enigmatic to me in many respects. As far as SLU or Dartmouth is concerned, pick you poison we will have our hands full and see the only real edge being the Bye week to get a little healthier and home ice where we have been good of late.

I am just glad that we are not dealing with Cornell which to me looks like a very dangerous opponent at this point after handling PU with seeming ease and also in view of our recent record of futility against them.
 
Re: Union Hockey 2012-2013 - Unfinished Business

The Big Green are coming to Schenectady.

Plus Union is currently 16th (always subject to change) in the PwR. The At-large bid dream lives on!
 
Re: Union Hockey 2012-2013 - Unfinished Business

ADK11 said:
As for NCAAs, I don't agree that Union has any control over that. Playoffs are starting to go and everyone will be playing TUCs. Very hard to predict, but U is not in a strong position and will need help from other teams. One thing to keep an eye on is the AHA playoffs, as Niagara (rather shockingly) could qualify for an at-large bid regardless of winning their tournament, so if they are upset in the playoffs could mean that U would have to be in top 14-15 of PWR to qualify.
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Correct. Perhaps I misspoke...Union doesn't really "control their own fate", but can certainly help their chances for an at-large bid with a couple of wins this weekend and at least one in Atlantic City. Obviously, winning the ECAC tournament gets them the auto-bid, but without winning that, they would need a good amount of help from the other conferences to sneak in. I'm not expecting that to happen, given the enigmatic nature of their play over the season. If they miss out on the NCAAs, they pretty much just need to look in the mirror to understand why.

But as I said, first things first...focus on Dartmouth.
 
Re: Union Hockey 2012-2013 - Unfinished Business

To borrow from our almost Vice President, Sarah Palin, this year's team has been "mavericky". :eek: When they decide to play inspired 60 minute hockey, they can beat anyone, when they don't...well they can be pretty horrible. Let's hope the former shows up this weekend, if not, it will be time to start the off season thread.
 
Re: Union Hockey 2012-2013 - Unfinished Business

Just in ... Dartmouth is going to "roll right on through us" on their way to Atlantic City. Here is the quote: "Although Dartmouth is only is 7-10-3 since beating No. 2 New Hampshire in late December and climbing as high as No. 8 in the national polls, the Big Green now has some momentum. Patterson said he thinks his squad can roll right on through Union and into the conference tournament semifinals in Atlantic City, N.J. http://www.vnews.com/home/5051441-95/dartmouth-green-harvard-game Well, I guess there is no point in playing if we are certain to loose. Somebody is counting their chickens ......
 
Re: Union Hockey 2012-2013 - Unfinished Business

You gotta love it when fourth line nobodies run their mouths off to the press. I remember when Bourbonais of Yale had a similar quote a couple of years ago when Yale was the top ranked team in the country heading into Messa. We all know how that one turned out, Bourbonais was a healthy scratch and Yale wasn't #1 anymore by Monday.

Union sweeps.
 
Re: Union Hockey 2012-2013 - Unfinished Business

Dutchman said:
Just in ... Dartmouth is going to "roll right on through us" on their way to Atlantic City. Here is the quote: "Although Dartmouth is only is 7-10-3 since beating No. 2 New Hampshire in late December and climbing as high as No. 8 in the national polls, the Big Green now has some momentum. Patterson said he thinks his squad can roll right on through Union and into the conference tournament semifinals in Atlantic City, N.J. http://www.vnews.com/home/5051441-95/dartmouth-green-harvard-game Well, I guess there is no point in playing if we are certain to loose. Somebody is counting their chickens ......
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There's a fine line between confidence and arrogance and I think he's right on that line. Of course, if you're a Dartmouth fan, you certainly don't want him saying that he thinks Union will roll right on through them to Atlantic City. :rolleyes: Nevertheless, I'm sure he could have phrased it a little more politically correct so as not to provide any potential bulletin board material.
 
Re: Union Hockey 2012-2013 - Unfinished Business

Dutchman said:
Just in ... Dartmouth is going to "roll right on through us" on their way to Atlantic City. Here is the quote: "Although Dartmouth is only is 7-10-3 since beating No. 2 New Hampshire in late December and climbing as high as No. 8 in the national polls, the Big Green now has some momentum. Patterson said he thinks his squad can roll right on through Union and into the conference tournament semifinals in Atlantic City, N.J. http://www.vnews.com/home/5051441-95/dartmouth-green-harvard-game Well, I guess there is no point in playing if we are certain to loose. Somebody is counting their chickens ......
Click to expand...

Obviously a bit biased, but the way its phrased sounds like the reporter putting words into Patterson's mouth for a local newspaper article, as he was not actually quoted in that instance. Wouldn't surprise me if something along the lines of this went down:

Do you think your team will be able to keep rolling through this weekend?

Sure, “We kind of plateaued after winter break, but we’re getting our game back and we’ve got a lot of trust between the guys,’’ he said. “We’re playing good defense, and it’s translating into a lot of goals.”

I also assume that it will definitely not be seen in this light inside the Union locker room.

Looking forward to what should be a good series.
 
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