Union Advances to Championship in Shootout Fashion

Boxscore

ALBANY, NY - After the Union College men's ice hockey (1-1-1) team skated to a 1-1 tie against its cross-town rival RPI (0-4-1), the Dutchmen advanced to the Governor's Cup Championship Game in a shootout. Freshman center Kelly Zajac (Winnipeg, MAN) scored Union's lone goal during regulation and sophomore goaltender Corey Milan (Great Barrington, MA) turned aside 31 shots, not including all four in the shootout.

The Dutchmen killed a key penalty during the final couple of minutes during overtime to send the game into the penalty shot competition. Sophomore St?phane Boileau (Blainville, QB) and junior Mario Valery-Trabucco (Montreal, QB) each scored in the shootout.

Union was playing in its third consecutive overtime game for the first time since the end of the 2004-05 season and for only the second time in the program's Division I history.

Zajac tallied his first career goal and the first of the game for Union 16:24 into the second. After senior right winger Chris Potts (Phillipsburgh, NJ) shot bounced out, a streaking Zajac cleaned up with a shot into the upper-right corner. The point was the first of his career, while Potts picked up his 14th career assist and 30th career point.

RPI controlled play in the first and wasted no time getting on the board as sophomore right winger Scott Halpern bounced a shot off the backside of sophomore goaltender Corey Milan (Great Barrington, MA) 1:20 into the game. Halpern's line mates, Tyler Helfrich and Chase Polacek, were credited with assists.

The Engineers kept the pressure on outshooting the Dutchmen 18-6 in the first. Union's best scoring chance came from a long breakout pass from senior defenseman Lane Caffaro (Slave Lake, AB) with just under two minutes to play. Senior left winger Matt Cook (Belle Mead, NJ) received the pass in the neutral zone and quickly dished to sophomore right winger Adam Presizniuk (Calgary, AB), who tried to fight off a RPI defender before being dragged down while taking a shot.

Before knotting the game at 1-1, Union showed more jump in the second period and early on had an opportunity on a 4-on3 power play. A pair of saves by RPI's Mathias Lange 12:18 in kept the Dutchmen off the board. Junior left winger Mario Valery-Trabucco (Montreal, QB) streaked down the left side and let go a shot that was kicked out into the slot. Sophomore center John Simpson (Boxborough, MA) found the rebound and fired into the chest of the sliding netminder.

Milan had kept Union from falling behind two goals earlier in the period with a sliding, butterfly save on a one-timer by Andrei Uryadov three minutes into the period. The RPI senior tried to go high, but Milan used his right shoulder to keep the red light off.

Both teams went scoreless on the power play with Union going 0-6 and RPI going 0-4. Despite unloading in the first the Dutchmen kept RPI's shot total low for the remainder of the game, allowing five shots in the second, seven in the third and one in overtime.

The Dutchmen face Colgate in the Governor Cup's Championship game at 8 p.m.