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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: ---------- 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. -- +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ + + + 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." + + + +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ HOCKEY-L is for discussion of college ice hockey; send information to [log in to unmask], The College Hockey Information List.