Disclaimer: While I am biased towards Union, I am trying to provide these
            comments as objectively as possible.
 
It was probably the biggest game for Union College in their Division I
history. Riding an 8 game winless streak into Friday night's contest,
check that, war against Route 7 rival RPI, the Dutchmen came out and
played like an upper division team (as many have predicted them to be this
year) against the hated Engineers, and ended up with a well-deserved,
well-played, and well-everything 5-2 victory.
 
Both teams showed up at Achilles Rink ready to play, but Union wanted it
more. Although, it wasn't the greatest of beginnings for the garnet & white.
At 4:30 of the first, RPI's Wayne Clarke was credited for a PPG that
(apparently) was cleared by Union's Dean Goulet into the net. I was at the
other end of the ice, thus making it difficult to see what happened.
Regardless, it was a 1-0 RPI lead. Union came right back, though, and set
the tone for the game. Jay Prentice tipped in a point shot by Andrew Will
to tie it at 1-1. Then came the fruit. From pears to apples to bananas to
the proverbial oranges, the Union student section littered the ice with
various citrus, causing about a 5 minute delay while the rink staff cleaned
up the ice. More on this later. :-)
 
What was arguably the biggest play of the game, Union's senior captain
Cory Holbrough took a pass from Reid Simonton and outskated the RPI
defenseman and put the puck past RPI goalie Brian Masotta for a HUGE
shorthanded goal at 15:02 of the first. This REALLY set the tone, as Union
never really looked back.
 
The second period wasn't quite as exciting as the first, but who could match
the first period? Anyway, a big blooper by Masotta didn't help RPI. Union's
Troy Stevens skated around the net for an attempted wrap-around. The original
shot was stopped by Masotta, but when he tried to pull it in, he pulled it
right into the net. Stevens was given the goal at 3:27. RPI came right back
about 4 minutes later with a goal by Jeff O'Connor off a 2 on 1 RPI rush.
But, Union held tough. They killed off 3 consecutive, overlapping
penalties. These overlapping penalties created a couple of 5-3 advantages
for RPI, but only for 34 and 27 seconds, respectively. That is ample time
to set something up, which RPI did, but surprise starter (IMHO) Trevor
Koenig along with the Dutchmen defense did a good job of killing off the
penalties. This was another potential turning point of the game. After
this point, RPI couldn't get much offense going. Union did another fabulous
job of clogging the neutral zone and not letting RPI's forwards into the
Union zone to try to set anything up. This seems to be the key to beating RPI.
Union did the same thing during the rivals' first meeting in early December
and basically dominated play throughout the game, only to lose it in the
waning seconds.
 
The third period was all Union. Cory Holbrough's second goal of the game at
7:52, a power play goal, made it 4-2. Union's defense took over. Dean Goulet,
Andrew Will, Scott Boyd, Bill Moody, Reid Simonton, and Seabrook Satterlund
outplayed, outhustled, and outmuscled RPI's forwards. Like I said, the
Dutchmen defense stopped thr RPI offense in the neutral zone, not allowing
them to set up in their own zone. Union then iced the game at 19:09 when
Russ Monteith blasted a shot by Brian Masotta. Game over. Let the party
begin.
 
This was Union's first Division I, regular season win against the Engineers.
Many people believe it to be an upset (considering the ECAC standings), but
not me. Union is a GOOD team. Coach Bruce Delventhal has been very pleased
with their play in the past 3 or 4 games. This is the first time that Union
started putting the puck in the net. Their defense has always been there,
but their offense has been dormant. In these teams' first meeting, Union did
the same thing as they did tonight. Maybe it's the home ice? Who knows?
However, I was impressed with a few things. #1, Jay Prentice and Cory Holbrough
were outstanding. Prentice's speed created several opportunities for Union.
There were a number of times when he either stole or already had the puck at
center ice and just blew right into the RPI zone. A couple of times it payed
off. This is what Union needs to do on offense. Carry the puck into the zone
with their speed and let nature take its course. Captain Holbrough was almost
a carbon copy of Prentice. Cory made a few hits, flew into the zone WITH
the puck, and overall just made things happen. He has to stay healthy if
Union is to make another late-season run as they did a year ago. #2, both
goalies. Brian Masotta was very solid, despite what I may have said earlier.
Union had several of those chances, but Masotta came through with some
excellent saves to keep the game close for a while, giving his team a chance
to get back into the game. 36 saves is nothing to frown at. Masotta did as
good a job as any goalie could, given the rowdy (that's being polite) crowd
at Achilles. Trevor Koenig was at least as solid as Masotta was, if not more.
You have to feel good for him, a freshman goalie playing against the archrival
in his own rink, seeing the game he played. Koenig didn't make a whole bunch
of spectacular saves, (a total of 16 shots by RPI!) and he didn't lose the
game. He kept his cool in a couple of hairy situations and let the defense
take over.
 
For RPI, they certainly didn't play bad at all. However, their defense was
decimated. Adam Bartell and Jon Pirrong were out with bad ankles, so Dan
Fridgen moved forward Kelly Askew back to the defense. I think RPI could
have used him up front. Askew is one of their leaders and can make big things
happen offensively. Mike Tamburro needs to get back into the net. While
not taking away anything from Brian Masotta, RPI seems a little more confident
with Tamburro between the pipes. They seemed a little "defensive" last night.
I think Masotta is at the point now where he can play with confidence. Maybe
the RPI players are still a little wary with Masotta, but he has proven
himself to be a solid goalie, IMO. So, when their defense gets healthy, and
when Tamburro returns, they can be the team like they were last year.
 
Kudos to both teams for theor efforts last night. But, I think the Dutchmen
are a little more satisfied.
 
My three stars:  1 -- Cory Holbrough, UC
                 2 -- Jay Prentice, UC
                 3 -- Union defense
 
One last note. I've heard many comments about Union fans. I was sitting in
the student section last night. No, I didn't throw any fruit, but I wasn't
impressed at all with their general behavior. Myself and the girl sitting
next to me both got knocked into the row in front of us. It was difficult
to try to enjoy the game with someone's knee in my back for most of the night.
In addition to that, there was the screaming and yelling during both national
anthems and their best cheer being, "You suck!" They're still learning about
fan behavior and even the game of hockey (from hearing many obligatory
comments about the refs whenever something good happened for RPI or bad
for Unon), but that certainly does not excuse the fruit or the obnoxious
and violent behavior.
 
Union next plays at Yale a week from Saturday.
 
 
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+  Andy Weise                 Let's Go Tech!!     [log in to unmask]  +
=  SUNY Potsdam '93                                                       =
+  Union College '95?         Let's Go U!!        [log in to unmask] +
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