Team Notes: No. 14/13 Union Set to Face Colgate, Cornell

SCHENECTADY, NY - Fresh off its first ECAC weekend sweep for North Country foes St. Lawrence and Clarkson, Union hits the road again to take on Colgate and Cornell. The Dutchmen have played the second-most road/neutral games (12) out of all ECAC teams, and will face the most road-weary team in the conference, Colgate (13 road/neutral games) on Friday night. The Raiders are in the midst of a seven game slide, but five of those contests were one-goal games, and three went to overtime. The Dutchmen are 2-2-1 in ECAC road contests this season.

Union in the Rankings
The Union men's ice hockey team is ranked No. 14 in the latest USCHO.com poll released Monday. The Dutchmen earned 357 points in the USCHO.com poll and picked up 101 points in the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine poll, where they were ranked No. 13. This marks the 26th consecutive week the Dutchmen have been ranked in the USCHO.com poll, a new school record. Union has been ranked for 11 consecutive weeks in the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine Poll.

High Powered Offense
With 10 student-athletes with double-digit points, the Dutchmen are putting together one of the best offensive seasons in program history. Sophomore Jeremy Welsh (12g-15a) and freshman Daniel Carr (12g-12a) lead the team with 27 and 24 points. Freshman Josh Jooris (7g-15a), junior Kelly Zajac (8g-13a) and freshman Mat Bodie (3g-17a) have also reached the 20-point mark. Senior forward Adam Presizniuk has 18 points (5g-13a) in 16 games and sophomore Wayne Simpson (6g-11a), senior John Simpson (4g-7a), senior Justin Pallos (6g-4a) and sophomore Greg Coburn (3g-7a) round out the group of double-digit scorers.

The Defense is Holding Strong
Union's defense has held its opponents to two or fewer goals 13 times this season, placing the team fifth in the country with a 2.09 goals-against average. The Dutchmen, who have outscored opponents 82-46, have held the competition to less than 30 shots 19 times, including seven games with less than 20 shots.

Scouting Colgate
Colgate enters the weekend with a 3-16-1 mark and will be facing a nationally-ranked program for the third time in the last five games. Austin Smith is the team's leading scorer with 17 points and a team-high 12 assists, to go along with five goals. Senior captain Brian Day has tallied a point in six of his last 11 games and has 13 points, including a team-high eight goals. Day leads the team with four power play goals. Classmate Francois Brisebois is second on the team in points with 16 on sic goals and 10 assists. Sophomore Jeremy Price leads all defensemen in points with nine on a goals and eight assists. In net, junior Alex Evin has started 14-of-20 games for the Raiders and has a 3-10-1 mark. He added his second career shutout on Dec. 4 against Army with 24 saves and has recorded an .893 save percentage and a goals against average of 3.23. Rookie Eric Mihalik has a 3.78 GAA and is 0-4 in four starts. Junior goaltender Bryan Bessette earned his first start of the season against Dartmouth on Dec. 31 and posted 39 saves, including 17 in the second frame. He is 0-2-0 and has a save percentage of .919 and a goals against average of 3.16.

The Union-Colgate Series
Friday's meeting will be the 53rd all-time between the two schools and Colgate leads 35-15-2 and 26-10-2 in Division I action. The programs first squared off on Feb. 15, 1929 and Union claimed a 3-1 win. Between Feb. 21, 2003 and Feb. 10, 2007, the Raiders produced a series-long nine-game winning streak.However, in the last five outings, Union has gone 3-1-1, including a 3-1 victory last season at Messa Rink on Dec. 4, 2009.

Last Meeting
Mario Valery-Trabucco set another Union College men's ice hockey record in the 15th-ranked Dutchmen's 5-2 loss at Colgate on Feb. 27, 2010. Trabucco netted his program-best 21st goal of the season for his 33rd point in conference action, which placed hime second in the league to finish the regular season.

Picking up an assist on Trabucco's goal was Jason Walters, who moved within a point of tying Jordan Webb's 114 points for the top spot on the career record list. (Walters would set a career record with 115 points, broken this year by Adam Presizniuk). Kyle Bodie was Union's other goal scorer, getting on the board after the Dutchmen trailed 1-0. Bodie took a pass at the top of the circle from Stephane Boileau and sent a wrist shot that snuck through the body of Colgate goaltender Charles Long at 7:55. Trabucco's goal came at 9:51 of the third and pulled the score to 3-2. Walters won an offensive zone face off and Presizniuk made a backhand pass to Trabucco in the slot.

Colgate's David McIntyre got things rolling on "Senior Night" with a touch pass, springing junior Francois Brisebois for a breakaway goal 52 seconds into the contest. Colgate established a two goal lead in the second period with goals from sophomore Nick Prockow and freshman Kurtis Bartliff. Both tallies came on fast breaks down the left wing. Prockow netted his eighth goal of the season at 4:04 and Bartliff connected for his third goal at 14:15. Brisebois made it 4-2 at 17:30 and an empty net goal by McIntyre at 18:57 produced the final result.

Union goaltender Keith Kinkaid made 29 stops in his fourth consecutive start.

Scouting Cornell

Cornell claimed its first weekend sweep of the season last week, grabbing a pair of one goal victories at Princeton and Quinnipiac. On Friday night in Princeton, Nick D'Agostino's game-winner with just over a minute to play sealed the win for the Big Red, while Saturday night, it was Joe Devin scoring the overtime game-winner to send Cornell home with a 3-2 win against the Bobcats. Devin led all players in scoring on the weekend, tallying three points in Saturday's game, scoring a pair of goals and assisting on the third. On the season, Greg Miller leads the Cornell offense with 12 points on two goals and 10 assists, while D'Agostino is second with 11 points on six goals and five helpers. Cornell's goaltending tandem of Garman and Iles has impressed, with Garman posting a 2.69 goals-against average and a .911 save percentage and Iles recording a 2.32 goals-against average and a .913 save percentage. The Big Red power play has converted on 10-of-60 power play chances this season (16.7 percent, tied for 33rd nationally), while the penalty-killing unit has killed off 63-of-71 penalties against (88.7 percent, second in the nation).

The Union-Cornell Series

The two teams first met on Feb. 22, 1928 and Cornell skated away with a 7-4 victory, propelling them to a 6-0-1 record against Union in the first seven outings.

On Feb. 22, 1992 the Dutchmen earned their first victory, 6-4, against the Ithaca, NY team. Cornell owns the all-time series lead with a 29-12-6 mark and a 24-12-5 Division I record. The Dutchmen's last victory came in the form of a 3-2 win at Cornell on Feb. 15, 2008.

Last Meeting
Special teams paced Cornell to a 3-0 victory against the 15th-ranked Union College men's ice hockey team in the 2010 ECAC Hockey Championship game in front of 6,505 at Albany's Times Union Center on March 20, 2010. The Big Red scored two power-play goals and killed off five Dutchmen man advantages to earn its 12th ECAC Hockey title and first 2005. Playing in its first ever ECAC Hockey championship and its fifth ever conference title game, Union received stellar goaltending from Keith Kinkaid, who turned away 31 shots in his 25th start of the season.

At the other end, ECACH Goaltender of the Year and Hobey Baker finalist Ben Scrivens made 32 stops for his fourth win of the post season and second straight shutout. Scrivens was named the tournaments most valuable player.

The Big Red's offensive attack centered around their power-play unit. With eight man-advantage chances, the Cornell converted on two. The first game after back-to-back opportunities, making the Dutchmen pay on the latter. Junior Joe Devin cashed in on a rebound off the end boards at 15:09 of the first. Juniors Tyler Roeszler and Mike Devin earned the assists on the play.

Sophomore Sean Whitney added to the lead at 17:25 of the second period with another rebound goal. This time, Kinkaid made the initial save, but Whitney was there for his third goal of the season. Seniors Colin Greening and Brendon Nash registered the helpers.

An empty netter in the closing seconds produced the final score.