Union Builds on Past by Focusing on Present
The following article appeared January 13 on the Inside College Hockey (INCH) Web site.
By Joe Gladziszewski
When a team rises from relative mediocrity and obscurity to maintain a presence as a league-title contender and nationally-ranked outfit, challenges inherently present themselves. No longer will they be able to “sneak up” on teams that might have underestimated them. Struggling teams near the bottom of the standings will target games against those teams as a season-highlight maker. Plus, your team’s own standards increase and there’s more on the line with each weekend series.
Those are some of the challenges that Union is facing this year, on the heels of an historic 2010-11 campaign that saw Union qualify for the NCAA Tournament for the first time at the Division I level. There were some obvious departures, including senior forward Adam Presizniuk and senior defenseman Brock Matheson to graduation, sophomore goaltender Keith Kinkaid to professional hockey and head coach Nate Leaman to Providence. Still, seven of the team’s top nine scorers returned from that 26-10-4 team and associate head coach Rick Bennett was promoted to take over the Union bench full-time.
Perhaps the biggest challenge of sustaining success from year to year was described by goalie Troy Grosenick. There comes a time when realizing and building on success has to be done with a new attitude and some new ingredients.
Complete article can be accessed via the INCH Web site by clicking here.
