Anyone interested in Union hockey and who lives in the Albany area
probably already read the article. But for those who don't...
From the Thursday, September 28th edition of the Albany Times-Union:
Reprinted without permission:
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FOR UNION'S FUTURE, HE'S A REAL KEEPER
*Dutchmen relying on promising soph goalie
SCHENECTADY - Trevor Koenig would have trouble coming up with any
interesting anecdotes of his summer vacation.
That's because, the Union College goalie confesses, there just
wasn't much time for fun when he returned to Alberta late last spring.
After his summer job in the warehouse, most of his time was
spent concentrating on a mission that will consume him for the next six
months.
There were hours upon hours spent in a weight room and on an
exercise bike or on the road.
There was mundane preparation and sacrifice with one goal in
mind: becoming the backbone of the Skating Dutchmen along the next mile
of the Division I college hockey road.
Union, which assembled for pictures on the team's annual media
day Wednesday at Achilles Rink, lost three seniors to graduation but
returns with a noteworthy junior class.
There's little doubt that the most promising member of its
returning class is the sophomore goalie from Edmonton. For the first
time since the Dutchmen upgraded their program to Division I five years
ago, there is no question, no debate, over who will be the starting
goalie once the puck is dropped to start another season.
"He's definitely the man, and there's no doubt he's ready to
go," head coach Bruce Delventhal said of Koenig, whose rookie year was
filled with promise.
"He's definitely in better physical shape than he was,"
Delventhal said. "All his test results are up from even where they were
in the spring. The other thing is that he's a year wiser, he just knows
more. When you come in as a freshman, you think you know. But you don't
really know."
Wiser, and clearly in touch with his role.
"Last year I came in and I didn't know what to expect - and I
just let it all out," said Koenig, who came to camp last October
battling for a spot against seniors Mike Gallant and Luigi Villa.
Koenig eventually rose to the top of Union's depth chart.
Despite the fact that the Dutchmen (9-16-4 overall) bowed out early with
a preliminary-round ECAC playoff loss at rinceton, there was little
doubt that Koenig had developed into a bona fide Division I goalkeeper.
He finished with a respectable 3.70 goals-against average and
.884 save percentage, and along the way there was a 6-0 shutout at
St. Lawrence and 19 starts.
"I was surprised that I played that much," Koenig said. "I
didn't really expect to. But like I said, I worked hard, and things
just worked out for me."
"This year I came in knowing what I had to improve on as far
as upper-body strength and flexibility and agility. And I think
mentally, I'm a lot more improved, too. I think I know what it's like
to go into a hostile (arena) now and play 60 minutes with the crowd
yelling at you."
Koenig said he feels ready already. But as his off-season
training regimen suggests, he's also not laying back and just accepting
the job.
"I don't know if that can help or that can hurt," he said of
being tabbed to start even before training camp opens Sunday. "It
might put some people in a relaxed situation. So like I said, I'm
just going to come in, work really hard and hope that things work out
for the best."
NOTES: Junior forwards Russ Monteith (12 goals, 10 assists, 22 points)
and Chris Ford (8-14-22) and junior defenseman Andrew Will
(7-14-21) figure to lay key roles this season for Union. "We're
really happy that finally we have a strong junior class,"
Delventhal said. "You look at any successful team, and I think
you find that they have strong junior classes. It took some
time for us to have that." .... The Dutchmen, who open their
season Oct. 22 against Waterloo at Achilles Rink, could end up
putting two sets of brothers on the ice this season at defense.
Andrew Will has been joined by younger brother Mark Will, and
senior Scott Boyd is the brother of freshman Ryan Boyd.
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+ Andy Weise Let's Go Tech! +
+ SUNY Potsdam '93 [log in to unmask] +
+ Union College '95 Let's Go U! +
+ +
+ Performance Systems International, Inc. (PSI) +
+ +
+ "If you think nobody cares you're alive, try missing a couple of +
+ car payments." +
+ +
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