I want to add a few comments from Union's season opener on Saturday
night.

The crowd (1399) was not bad, considering it was up against Game 1 of
the World Series.  It seemed to have an unusually small student
contingent, and was quiet most of the time.

Union's new AD, Val Belmonte, has promised changes, and a few were
apparent at the season opener.  The rink looks good.  The ice looks
nicer than last year's (no brown blotches, at least not yet).  There
is a new banner hanging over center ice with Union's 10th Anniversary
logo and the ECAC logo.  The problem with it is that it blocks the
view of the game clock if you're at the top of the middle sections on
either side.  There is a new zamboni and for the first time I can
recall, they used two of them to clear the ice between periods.
Announcements are now made at every stoppage of play, and we learned,
among other things, that Achilles has a "concourse level" and "ice
level" although as far as I can tell, they are the same thing.  There
is also a new approach to the ongoing effort to stop the silly
tradition of throwing oranges onto the ice during the RPI game.  Fans
have been asked to bring a small stuffed animal to that game, and to
throw those onto the ice instead.  The toys will be collected and
donated to charity.

The game itself was a good way for Union to start the season.  They
made some mistakes, but got away with most of them.  Special teams
were a big problem last year, but both the penalty kill (8 of 8) and
the power play (2 of 6) got off to good starts.  Two freshmen were in
the lineup, P.J. Byrne and Brent Booth, and each contributed one
assist.  A third newcomer, junior exchange student Ales Havlik, also
earned an assist.  Another junior, Seamus Galligan, scored his first
career goal.

Union plays at home again next Saturday, hosting Merrimack of Hockey
East in another non-league game.

--
Jim Teresco '92, '93G - [log in to unmask]
Visit the Union Hockey Pages at http://www.vu.union.edu/~hockey