At Sage Rink, Hamilton College, Clinton, NY 2/5/91 Union College Skating Dutchmen 3 0 5 - 8 Hamilton College Continentals 1 0 2 - 3 1st Period: 1) H, Tom Regan (from Mastracco and Seymour) 0:13 2) U, Rick Clifford (from Campbell) 10:35 (sh) 3) U, Bill Railton (from Bzdell and Jiampetti) 15:39 4) U, Bill Railton (from Menhall and Clifford) 17:27 (pp) 2nd Period: none. 3rd Peirod: 5) U, Scott Whitney (from Menhall and Campbell) 3:19 (pp) 6) H, Regan (from Greene and Connors) 5:56 (pp) 7) U, Bill Railton (from Clifford) 7:58 (pp) 8) H, Dan Greene (from Feldman) 8:36 9) U, Wally Bzdell (from Jiampetti and B. Smith) 10:59 (pp) 10) U, Jeff Jiampetti (from Burchill and McKenna) 15:47 (pp) 11) U, Kevin Sullivan (from Gustafson and Sedergren) 18:57 Shots on goal: Union 9-12-13--34; Hamilton 20-9-11--40. Goaltending: Union, Jim Helkie, W, (7-2-2 record, 40 shots, 37 saves) Hamilton, Grant Wood, (34 shots, 26 saves) Power Play Opportunities: Union 5 of 9, Hamilton 1 of 11. Attendaance: 537 Summary: Union's special teams dominated Hamilton to lead the Dutchmen to an 8-3 win in what is probably the last meeting of this intense rivalry. The Dutchmen converted 5 of 9 power plays and killed off 10 of 11 Hamilton power plays and added a shothanded goal. Hamilton did not start its first line, which is centered by senior Tom Regan, but right after the Continentals won the opening faceoff they went for a quick line change and brought the Regan line out. The move paid off as Regan scored just 13 seconds into the game. The game was delayed for about 10 minutes as the tradtional oranges were cleared from the ice. Hamilton went on to outshoot the Dutchmen 20-6 in the first period, but they only got the first one past sophomore goalie Jim Helkie. Union came back to score 3 goals on their 9 shots in the 1st. The teams skated though a scoreless second period. Both goaltenders played very well. Helkie had 9 saves in the period and Grant Wood had 12. The Union power play dominated the 3rd period. The Dutchmen scored 5 goals in the period, including 4 on the power play. Bill Railton led the scoring with 3 goals in the game, while Rick Clifford extended his consecutive game scoring streak to 12 with a goal and 2 assists. Everyone got into the scoring in the 3rd, with Scott Whitney, Railton, Wally Bzdell, Kevin Sullivan and Jeff Jiampetti all scoring a goal in the final period. Union improves to 12-3-3 in the ECAC West (5th place) and 13-4-3 overall, while Hamilton falls to 7-10-2, probably out of the playoff picture. Union will return to action this weekend as they make the Maine trip, visiting Bowdoin on Friday and Colby on Saturday. For anyone who has never been to Sage Rink, it is a very unusual place to play and watch hockey. Clinton, NY, is not the easiest place to get to if you don't know where you are going. It only took until about 15 minutes into the game to get there. Once we found Hamilton College, the rink wasn't exactly easy to find either. Anyway, we found the place, and it was definitely not your typical college hockey arena. The ice surface is considerably shorter than most rinks, and the stands almost come right out over the ice surface. The crowd, reported at 537 was over half of the capacity. I would guess about 1/4 of the crowd was from Union. The emphasis at Hamilton defintely is on the basketball team, currently #1 in the NCAA Division III. The crowd is right on top of the players. You can have a conversation with the players during the game if you want. The ice is cleared between periods by a tractor-pulled Zamboni-type machine. It takes longer than the 12 minutes between periods to clear the ice, and it didn't seem to do all that great a job. It is a very fun place to watch a game, since you are right next to the action, and there is no glass in front of the crowd. But I imagine it's not the best place to play hockey. The following was heard on the Hamilton post game show on the radio in the car on the way home. "It's a shame to see a rivalry like this end, with Union joining Division I next season, but it's probably for the better."