Saturday, November 21, 1992. Achilles Rink, Schenectady, NY ECAC League Game Vermont 1 0 1 - 2 Union 1 2 0 - 3 Scoring: 1st Period: 1) Union, Craig Provencal 1 (Kukko) 2:13 (pp) 2) UVM, Johnson 3 (Ducharme, Eboli) 7:22 (pp) 2nd Period: 3) Union, Reid Simonton 1 (MacDonald, MacLellan) 4:57 4) Union, Ryan Alaspa 2 (MacDonald, Holunga) 12:13 (pp) 3rd Period: 5) UVM, Monty 3 (Kearney, McCarthy) 8:57 (pp) Shots on goal: UVM 8-19-18--45, Union 10-6-8--24 Goaltending: UVM, Soucy, 3-3-1 (24 shots, 21 saves) Union, Luigi Villa, 1-2-0 (45 shots, 43 saves) Power Play: UVM 2 of 5, Union 2 of 6. Attendance: 1948 Summary: Union coach Bruce Delventhal decided to make some changes to try and generate some offense after last weekend's games. The new lines were able to score 3 times against Vermont. That was enough for sophomore goalie Luigi Villa, who saved 43 of the 45 shots he faced to lead Union to a 3-2 ECAC win at Achilles Rink. Freshman Craig Provencal scored at the end of a power play just over 2 minutes into the game to give Union the 1-0 lead. Provencal was making his first start for the Dutchmen, replacing Jon Quint, who has left the team. Vermont tied it with a power play goal of their own at 7:22. The first period was easily the best period of hockey Union has played so far this season. They outshot the Catamounts 10-8, and really controlled the play for most of the period. Vermont put 19 shots on goal in the 2nd period, but Villa was able to stop all 19. Even with all the shots, Union was playing much better defense than they had in previous games. Vermont was not getting the 2nd and 3rd shots on rebounds. Union had just 6 shots in the period, but 2 of those went in. Freshman Reid Simonton gave Union the lead at 4:57 with the game's only even strength goal. Union's third goal came at the end of a power play, at 12:13. Jon MacDonald connected on a pass through the Vermont defense to Ryan Alaspa, who beat Soucy for his 2nd goal of the season. The rest of the way it was all Luigi Villa. He stopped 17 of 18 shots in the 3rd. Vermont was able to pull within 1 with a nice power play goal at 8:57. The Catamounts kept the pressure on right until the end. With Soucy on the bench, Vermont had a few very good chances, but couldn't put the puck past Villa. It looked a lot like the last game from last year against Yale, when Union had a one-goal lead until 19:51 of the third. When it was over, the crowd at Achilles gave a standing ovation to the Dutchmen for their first ECAC win at home. Coach Delventhal tossed the game puck into the crowd. The crowd was one of the better ones Union has had. There probably would have been more people if it was not right in the middle of finals. Union played their best game of the year so far, but there is still a lot of room for improvement. They still seem to wait too long to shoot, especially on the power play. The passing was much better, and they were able to break out of the defensive zone, which was a major problem last weekend. They still were outshot 45-24, including 37-14 in the last 2 periods, although watching the game it didn't seem as lopsided as that total looks. Vermont was unimpressive. They did not look at all like a team that should be ranked nationally. They were very sloppy, especially early on. The officials weren't all the impressive either. They seemed confused at times as to who should be where. I guess they aren't used to the 2 referee, 1 linesman system. Even with 2 referees, there weren't many penalties. For the Dutchmen, Villa was easily the star of the game. Villa was named ECAC player of the week. Freshman Jon MacDonald had a strong game, as did junior Jeff Jiampetti. Defenseman Dean Goulet played very well also. Union is now 1-2 in the ECAC, 1-3 overall. Vermont is 2-2 in the ECAC, 3-3-1 overall. Union will face UMass-Lowell on the road in a non-league game next Saturday. The next home games for Union will be against Clarkson and SLU on December 4 and 5. -- Jim Teresco, Union College C.S. Depatrment Graduate Assistant Dept. of Computer Science, Union College, Schenectady, NY 12038 [log in to unmask], [log in to unmask], (518)370-{6408,6532} Owner/GM, Amsterdam Ice-9 - Bitnet Fantasy League Baseball