Union Hockey 2012-2013 - Unfinished Business

[Stay@homeDad]

Stay at home dad for a reason. Find a job, loser.

For your info I choose to stay home with my 2 beautiful kids. Unlike most people, sure you are jealous, my wife and I are fortunate I can be home for our kids. However if I do decide to go back to work sometime send me your résumé and perhaps I will give you a better job than you have now. If you even have one.

 

[Stay@homeDad]

I wonder if people actually stop and think before they post? Would you call someone a loser in real life to his or her face. Lets keep the name calling out of this.

If he was standing in front of me I'm guessing he would not.

 

[FieldHouseFaithful]

Re: Union Hockey 2012-2013 - Unfinished Business

Thank you for sticking up for me. However, I choose to stay at home with my 2 beautiful kids. Fortunately my wife and I can afford for me to do this even during these hard times for most people.

Congrats to you for that but my point stands that a personal attack is in poor taste especially over a subject as trivial as a bunch of college kids slapping a piece of rubber around the ice. I am just as passionate about my team as anyone but i leave the majority of my temper over the subject at the rink

 

[Stay@homeDad]

Congrats to you for that but my point stands that a personal attack is in poor taste especially over a subject as trivial as a bunch of college kids slapping a piece of rubber around the ice. I am just as passionate about my team as anyone but i leave the majority of my temper over the subject at the rink

I understand your point agree and respect it. However some people just don't have the class you talk about.

 

[rdf8585]

Re: Union Hockey 2012-2013 - Unfinished Business

via GoUnionHockey on youtube

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Bennett with a great joke about what was said between him and Appert (1:50 in).

 

[uniontrack]

Re: Union Hockey 2012-2013 - Unfinished Business

I dont speak for any of the other RPI fans on this board, but I dont rest on winning a national title 28 years ago. Heck I was 6 months old when they won it. I also in my short life have realized that any sport is just a game. College Hockey to me is a way to get away from real life for a few hours each weekend during the winter, so while some of the RPI fans rant and rave and whatnot just know that I respect what Union has done the last few years and wish them the best the rest of the way.

I want to thank you coming on to our thread and being classy. Not many of your peers on your thread would be able to do such a thing. This season marks 25 years of being a Union Hockey fan. Like Marilyn Monroe said, "A quarter of a century. Makes a girl think." The first Union-RPI game I ever saw was my freshman year. We were D-III at the time, but we always played RPI in the early non-league part of the season. RPI controlled most of the game, but we came back to tie it with the goalie pulled and then won the game on a breakaway in OT. The rink went nuts over the win. RPI had been using us as a early season tune-up/punching bag for years and this win got me hooked on Union Hockey and the rivalry with RPI. I was on the track team for all four years, so I competed against RPI in track. The rivalry is intense in every sport we play. Both sides play up the "techies" vs the "liberal arts" class mentality. The season is never a total loss as long as you beat RPI. Both schools are located in blue-collar cities. Each side thinks the other's city is worse than the poor sections of Calcutta during a riot. So, I'm not surprised that the tension and the rhetoric gets heated at times.

I applaud you and a few other of the newer RPI fans on the board for not only being loyal to your team and sticking up for them, but giving credit where credit is due. I have endured close to 20 years of RPI being the better hockey team. I have dealt with the "little brother" attitude that some of your peers on your thread have for us. I have endured the name-calling and the general abuse that came with being a loyal Union fan during those tough two decades. That is why these last five years have been so sweet. To see Union Hockey perform at this level and to earn the respect of the league after so many years of humiliatingly bad seasons is quite gratifying.

When I first got to this board, I tried to go on your thread and call the Union-Haters out on their cruelty and poor sportsmanship. I was soundly ripped to shreds so I made a decision to stay on my thread and promote my team while defending it from the RPI trolls that come over here to annoy and harass. I am so thankful to see RPI fans that are willing to put down the defensive wall and be hockey fans. I will always rib my friends from RPI a little bit just because the rivalry can be fun. They give it right back to me for being from Union. However, I will never call them names nor will I ever disrespect them for being loyal to their team. Both schools have an outstanding academic reputation. RPI is one of the best tech schools in the nation. I think RPI grads are more grounded (no pun intended to the EE folks) than MIT grads and much more employable. RPI grads work hard. MIT grads care more about the name.

I have noticed that most of the regulars that are the snarkiest towards Union have been quiet these last 48 hours. I appreciate your willingness to walk across the ice and shake hands. May more of your peers follow your lead. Or perhaps, you are without a peer? (Sorry. Couldn't resist that one...)

Be Well.

Keith.

 

[uniontrack]

Re: Union Hockey 2012-2013 - Unfinished Business

S@HD, I like your enthusiasm and pride in our program but its time to hang it(not the enthusiasm rather the defending) up for a bit. Our guys went out there and quite frankly embarrassed themselves and im not talking about the scoreboard,im talking about the conduct.Union wasnt a group of saints either but it was disgusting in the third.Our captain has led a poor example this weekend, retaliatory penalties from an upperclassman captain are unacceptable,and i love the way Lee plays but this weekend was bad. For me,the honeymoon with SA is up, he talked the talk last night and never walked the walk with our team needing to grow up and play with maturity. He complains about our lack of maturity and puts out the same lineup as last night except Rogic.Union knows every weakness in merriams game there is and have exploited it time after time and yet puts him out there anyway. SA is a great recruiter but doesn't at this point in time have all the credentials to warrant the title of great. Union has been the better team for the better part of the last 5 years and they deserve a tip of the hat. Union fans deserve to be proud of the recent success of their boys now as we have the right to take pride in the rich history of RPI hockey. I think its best you leave the Union fans alone and let them have their moment.RPI hockey as we all know and love will be back someday but today, Union won the battle but the war continues.So congrats to the Dutchmen, we'll get ya in January. Lets go Red

Personally, I think SA is a decent guy and I think he is a good coach. But even good coaches lose control of the locker room at times and this might be one of those times. I have coached at the college and high school levels and I have taught high school. There are times when teachers/coaches get the sense they may be losing control of the classroom/locker room. A good coach will find a way to get the players back into line and following the coach's rules and directives. Maybe the "C" needs to find a different jersey than Lee if he has emotion-control issues. I agree with some of the RPI posters out there that there needs to be at least one "A" if not two on the team. The captain needs his lieutenants, not only for backing him up but also to keep him accountable. Two years ago was a fun season when both RPI and Union were both nationally ranked and the Capital Region trip was a scary one for any travelling pair in the league. Hockey wins when this rivalry produces two, hard-hitting, mature teams that can win on any given night.

I thank you for your tip of the hat and I hope that RPI improves enough so that the TUC game can be a quality battle. I think SA can get it done, but I think that this is clearly his last chance. The AD might have to think about a change if nothing changes in HFH in the near future.

Enjoy the fall season in Upstate NY. I miss it.

Keith.

 

[uniontrack]

Re: Union Hockey 2012-2013 - Unfinished Business

C'mon man,this is a college hockey rivalry, no reason to use personal attacks on another human being,especially during hard times.RPI fans are clearly frustrated, an admittedly old comeback (even from the RPI side) against a hockey team doesn't justify an attack on a personal level.

I agree with you and I disagree with you based on experience. I want this rivalry to be friendly but still with clever barbs that come from being intelligent. A good chunk of the RPI fans on this board have been less than kind to the Union faithful over the years. Furthermore, the attacks coming from these specific RPI fans have been extremely personal. I won't name names, but I will list two of the type of attacks I have seen that stick in my craw:

1. Referring to people from Schenectady as retards and morons, especially Union grads. Both schools are stables of high-intellect and talent. There are specific RPI fans on the boards that truly believe that they are better and more intelligent than ANYONE from Union. They believe they are more evolved and are of a higher order of intelligence. They look down upon us and sneer with self-righteousness. When these specific RPI fans make these hateful comments, they embarrass both themselves and the reputation of RPI as an academic institution. I won't name names, but there are a few folks from RPI that cannot say ANYTHING even remotely nice or respectful about Union, its fans or its hockey team. If RPI beats us and is the better team, I will say so and give props where they are due. An earlier remark about RPI fans living in the past is dead-on. The hatred and the vitriol has been constant for the last 25 years, but it has stepped up a notch since Union has gotten better. Yoda mentioned something about fear leading to anger leading to hatred. Smart little, fictional green dude.

2. The attacks on Messa. I agree that Messa is not a big place nor does it have the amenities that HFH has. But, that's precisely why we like it. Most of the players that play at Union picked the school partially because of Messa. It's a classic, throwback, crazy-domed barn of a rink. The place gets loud in a hurry and it can be unsettling to other teams. Messa has character and I prefer it that way. RB made a nice barb the other day about using plywood to build Messa. I liked that joke. It took thought and intelligence. One of the WaP guys (not Tom) made a remark about the standing-room only seats being the best at Messa since they were closest to the exits in case of a fire. I almost did a spit-take when I read that. Messa definitely is a crowded place when it is full. Funny stuff. However, when you refer to the place as a ****hole or a DOT salt shed, grow up. Using comments like Messa being five minutes west of the tire fire could be indicative of Troy just as much as it might describe Schenectady. Those insults are low-brow and require no thought or cleverness at all. IMO, HFH has an National Guard Armory feeling to it. I prefer a smaller venue for hockey.

So, while I agree for your call for class and civility, I understand why Union fans on this board react when personal attacks come to this thread. You have sent us an olive branch and I respect you for it. When more of the old guard RPI fans on your home thread can put away the pride-fullness and self-righteousness, I feel Union fans will put down the defenses as well.

At the very least, we are not ND fans...

Keith.

 

[uniontrack]

Re: Union Hockey 2012-2013 - Unfinished Business

I wonder if people actually stop and think before they post? Would you call someone a loser in real life to his or her face. Lets keep the name calling out of this.

I know that this example may not count for your line of reasoning, but I have had specific RPI fans call me names and make personal attacks on me on Facebook and on Twitter. There is one RPI supporter that I know who is so arrogant and narcissistic about the superiority of RPI and its fans that he is incapable of ever saying anything nice about Union or its supporters. In fact every time I read his blog or his Twitter feed, he is constantly making an insulting or hypocritical crack about Union fans. I hope he doesn't think before he posts. I could then understand the hate a little better. But, if he thinks about his vitriol and then posts anyway, he is a sad excuse for a human.

Once again, thanks for coming over and being classy. It means a lot to us.

Keith.

 

[uniontrack]

Re: Union Hockey 2012-2013 - Unfinished Business

I understand your point agree and respect it. However some people just don't have the class you talk about.

Did someone go over to the RPI home thread and personally insult you? If so, then I can understand your umbrage and could relate to it. If no one came over there and did that, then I ask, why are you over here stirring the pot? Did you come over here and read something you didn't like and felt compelled to say something about it? I found out the hard way that going to the RPI home thread and calling people out was a bad idea. I'm not sure what you were expecting from Union fans on this thread when you came at us like a spider monkey with your first post. Respect and class are two-way streets. If you had come here with respect and called us out on our thoughts in a classy way, we could have had a good discussion on whether it was right or wrong to say things about RPI like that. However, leading with the flame-thrower took that option out of the equation. Furthermore, if you don't like Messa, do like your user name and stay at home. Watch the game online like I do since I live in Oregon. My Mom always said it takes two to tango when I complained about my sister starting a fight with me. I agree, but you grabbed the rose first, dude.

Be Well.

Keith.

 

[Hokydad]

Enjoy the success and dont waste time and energy responding to or trying to figure out why a few feel they represent thousands of good people/fans
With RB at the helm it will be a very long, fun, character filled run
Union is a program on the rise. RPI currently is a joke and the AD anf alum that matter know it.
Just make sure the U Maine wanting him rumors get shot down

 

[AspyDad]

Re: Union Hockey 2012-2013 - Unfinished Business

Enjoy the success and dont waste time and energy responding to or trying to figure out why a few feel they represent thousands of good people/fans
With RB at the helm it will be a very long, fun, character filled run
Union is a program on the rise. RPI currently is a joke and the AD anf alum that matter know it.
Just make sure the U Maine wanting him rumors get shot down

Can't help yourself... can you Mark. I see where Providence lost last night.

 

[Hokydad]

Re: Union Hockey 2012-2013 - Unfinished Business

Truth hurts
I will be at your next game vs Union. Come over and say hi .

 

[sk8tronthepond]

Re: Union Hockey 2012-2013 - Unfinished Business

For me,the honeymoon with SA is up, he talked the talk last night and never walked the walk with our team needing to grow up and play with maturity. He complains about our lack of maturity and puts out the same lineup as last night except Rogic.Union knows every weakness in merriams game there is and have exploited it time after time and yet puts him out there anyway. SA is a great recruiter but doesn't at this point in time have all the credentials to warrant the title of great.

Time to defend your fantasy title for your guy Aspy.....where are you?

 

[ADK11]

Re: Union Hockey 2012-2013 - Unfinished Business

Some good posts by Keith and everyone should read them and put things in perspective a bit. These are not pro teams that can just trade players or that you are paying hundreds of dollars to watch. I can recall more than a few games in the past couple decades where Union ended up on the embarrassing end of a rough game and I don't wish that on anyone. Appert doesn't condone this type of behavior and his post game comments confirm that. As for some RPI fans being P.O.ed.. mehh it's part of life as a Union fan. As far as I'm concerned, RPI is done (for now) and time to move on..

And what is getting lost in the noise here is that despite losing possibly their best player, Union played two very good games this weekend and showed definite potential to do big things again. Really impressed with the way Coburn raised his game and took on a real leadership role on the blueline.. he had a fantastic weekend. Also big kudos to Stuart and Gostisbehere, who both showed incredible toughness. In the long run this could help by giving Vasaturo, Boyle & Gingras more prime icetime which could pay dividends when (hopefully) MBodes returns. Also looks like Ciampini and Cruice may have found spots in the top 6 and are building chemistry. On the down side, the D just doesn't seem quite as tight as last year and 3rd & 4th lines need to show a little more identity, but is plenty of time to work those things out. Harvard & Dartmouth roadies next weekend loom as big tests and I'll be interested to see how the boys respond.

 

[troyboy]

Re: Union Hockey 2012-2013 - Unfinished Business

Wasn't there last night but sounds to me like a good old time hockey game involving 2 teams that don't like each other very much. As for the Curadi hit, listening to the
interviews there is no indication from Appert.Bennett or the player involved that it was a dirty hit it just sounds to me like a 5"11 180lb kid cutting across the offensive zone w/his head down that got blown up by a 6"5 260lb defenseman that happens. Union is a excellent hockey team that has had recent success and they really have our number for an RPI fan it is really frustrating but we all need to chill out. I know a lot of the RPI players there are no bad kids on that team. Listening to your players interviewed there are none on yours either. So name calling is really inappropriate. Would anybody really want to have these games to go any different than this. Heck friday night I got so frustrated I left after the 2nd period thats how much you guys are in my head even the U voice of reason Wholin1 was getting all emotional posting here. This is all good stuff lets have fun with it. Good Luck untill we meet again. BTW this is such good stuff it even brought Hokydad out from under the bridge.(relax Mark only kidding)

 

[AspyDad]

Re: Union Hockey 2012-2013 - Unfinished Business

Time to defend your fantasy title for your guy Aspy.....where are you?

Never considered you an RPI fan anyway.

 

[AspyDad]

Re: Union Hockey 2012-2013 - Unfinished Business

Truth hurts
I will be at your next game vs Union. Come over and say hi .

I will pray for you. Your anger and bittness is sad to watch.

 

[Hokydad]

I will pray for you. Your anger and bittness is sad to watch.

Thought you said you blocked my posts...

So relaxed it is almost Zen like. The truth is bitter for those who pretend it isnt

 

[AspyDad]

Re: Union Hockey 2012-2013 - Unfinished Business

Thought you said you blocked my posts...

So relaxed it is almost Zen like. The truth is bitter for those who pretend it isnt

No I wasn't one of the hundred people who've said that to you.