The Dutchmen (8-5-1) are near the end of its busiest part of their schedule -- five games in nine days. After losing to Brown, 5-4, Union has bounced back for wins at Yale, 5-2, and against American International, 6-0. The team concludes the 2008 portion of its schedule with games at Maine (8-5-1) Friday and Saturday. Both outings are at 7 p.m.

 

The contest can be followed with live stats at http://goblackbears.cstv.com. Matt Dubrey and Brian Unger will have the radio call for the Dutchmen on WRUC FM 89.7 and on TEAMLINE.cc.

 

Last time out, senior defenseman Brendan Milnamow potted two goals and sophomore forward Adam Presizniuk had a career-high four points in Union's 6-0 victory against non-conference foe American International on Tuesday night. Freshman forward Randy Hanagan netted the game-winner 1:37 into the first period. Sophomore Cory Milan turned away 15 saves and combined for the shutout with junior Rich Sillery, who made four saves in 11:28 of action. The shutout was the first for Union since blanking Dartmouth, 0-0, on Feb. 9, 2008.

 

Presizniuk entered Tuesday's game with a team-high tying 11 points and left with sole possession with 15 points. He enjoyed a career-best four points behind a goal and three assists and is now tied for second in ECAC Hockey in points and tied for fourth with seven goals and eight assists. His plus-10 rating ranks tied for first and he is tied for sixth with three power-play goals.

 

After enjoying a six-game winning streak, Maine has only won one of its four outings, going 1-2-1. The Black Bears are coming off a 3-2 victory at Merrimack on Sunday.

Maine is led by Gustav Nyquist who has a team-best seven goals and six assists for 13 points. He has two power play goals and one short-handed tally.

 

It has been a decade since these two teams last meet on Oct. 24, 1998. Maine prevailed 6-1 on home ice. Maine is 5-0-0 all-time against Union and since the Dutchmen made the jump to Division I in 1991, Maine owns a 3-0-0 advantage.

 

Six-year head coach Nate Leaman, Union's all-time winningest bench general, served as a volunteer assistant coach as a graduate student at Maine in 1998-99 under Shawn Walsh. Leaman helped guide Maine to a 31-6-1 record and the 1999 NCAA Championship. His responsibilities included working with the defense, video analysis, on-campus recruiting and monitoring the student-athletes' academic progress.

The Union College women's ice hockey team (2-15-1) makes one of its longest trips of the season when it heads to Maine (3-13-1) for a pair of weekend games on Friday and Saturday. Union does not return to the Messa ice until Jan. 9 when it hosts Quinnipiac at 7 p.m.

 

Live stats for the contest can be viewed by going to http://goblackbears.cstv.com. The game can also be watched through the website.

 

Last time out, the Dutchwomen were in action at Princeton on Friday and Quinnipiac on Saturday. Both outings resulted in a loss -- 6-0 against the Tigers and 4-1 against the Bobcats. Freshman forward Lauren Hoffman registered her third goal of the season, while senior goaltender Lundy Day combined for 67 saves, including 42 on Friday and 25 on Saturday.

 

Day, who transferred from Maine to Union prior to her junio season, is closing in on one school record and in the running for another. The Calgary native is only 68 saves away from obtaining the top spot on Union's all-time stops list. Her .902 save percentage ranks second all-time.

 

Looking at the top of Union's leaders list, three of the four tied at first with six points have at least one year of college experience. After that the next seven are all freshman. Senior Suzy Pocock (4G-2A), junior Jackie Koetteritz (3G-3A) and sophomore Marissa Gentile (2G-4A) are joined by freshman Adelle Calahan  (1G-5A) with six points. Freshmen Lauren Cromartie (3G-2A) and Lauren Hoffman (3G-2A) are next in line with five and four points, respectively.

 

The Black Bears are on a four-game skid and have not won in their last five efforts. Their last win came on Nov. 16 against Boston Colelge (5-3). Senior forward Vanessa Vani leads all Union scorers with 14 points, including a team-high 11 assists. Behind her is sophomore forward Jennie Gallo, who has 13 points, including a team-high tying seven goals.

 

In goal senior Genevieve Turgeon has seen the majority of action, appearing in 15 games. She has posted a 2-12-1 record with a 4.31 goals-against average and a .883 save percentage. As a team, Maine has tallied 19 power-play goals on 89 tries and have killed 84 of 114 penalties.

 

Friday's game will be five years to the day since the two teams first met. On Dec. 12, 2003 Maine defeated Union 8-1 in Schenectady. The two teams met against on Dec. 13 -- just like this weekend. In that game the Black Bears won 8-0. Those were the only meetings between the two programs.