Union opened their home season with a 3-1 non-league win over
Merrimack.  The teams were scoreless through two periods.  Brent Booth
took a Joel Beal pass for a shorthanded goal to give Union their first
lead early in the third.  Merrimack tied it on a 2-on-1 break while
the teams were skating 3-on-3, but Union quickly took the lead back
for good on a 4-on-3 power play goal by Scott Seney.  Jonathan Poirier
added insurance late in the period to make it 3-1.  Kris Mayotte had a
solid game in goal, especially in the second when he stopped all 14
shots he faced.  1,981 fans came out to see Nate Leamon's home debut
as head coach.

Union moves to 2-0 on the season and will face AIC at home on Sunday
afternoon.

Before the game, a ceremony was held to rededicate the rink as "Frank
L. Messa Rink at Achilles Center".  The rink looks great.  The most
noticeable changes are the new center ice overhead scoreboard (now
including shots on goal), the wider walkways, and the separate penalty
boxes.  This cost nearly 300 seats, with capacity now down to 2,225
(from 2,504) though the program says that with standing room, capacity
is still close to 2500.  The wider walkways make it a lot easier to
get around, and I'm sure it's a lot safer.  In addition to a few rows
of seats removed in the lower level to make way for the bigger penalty
boxes, the front row was removed in the upper levels to make it at
least a bit easier to get around up there.  They also put in some
spotlights, and the pregame introductions are now done with the main
lights off, as is done in a lot of other places.

The ice surface, boards, and glass are all new as well.  It looks like
there's more room behind the nets, the glass is higher, and perhaps
the famous "Achilles bounces" off the old boards are gone forever.
They have also installed netting above the glass on both sides, and
there are large metal air vents at the northwest and southeast corners
to help keep the building cool and dry for better ice conditions.  The
ice itself is probably the biggest improvement.  After last season's
problems keeping the ice frozen at all, it was an urgently needed
upgrade.

I'll have some pictures of the rink renovations and from the game up
within a few days.

--
Jim Teresco - [log in to unmask]
http://www.teresco.org