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SCHENECTADY, NY – The Union College men's ice hockey team's push for an ECAC Hockey Championship begins on Friday, Nov. 6 with a 7:30 p.m. contest against Brown and continues on Saturday, Nov. 7 with a 7 p.m. outing against #6 Yale. The Dutchmen went 1-1 against both teams last year and will be concluding its season-long, five-game homestand this weekend. Tickets for the games can be purchased online at UnionAthleticsTickets.com. Fans that can't make it to Messa Rink can listen to the broadcast on WRUC 89.7 FM or online (click here). Video will also be available (click here) along with live stats (click here).
The Dutchmen will try a rebound after dropping two-straight home, overtime games to Sacred Heart (5-4) and RPI (4-3). To do so, Union will look to senior forward Mario Valery-Tabucco and freshman forward
Wayne Simpson, who are each on a three-game scoring streak. During the span, Trabucco has produced five points with one goal and four assists, while Simpson has registered three goals and one assist
Union, which is ranked eighth in the country in scoring, is 141-235-43 all-time in ECAC Hockey play and 8-8-2 in conference openers. Since head coach Nate Leaman took the reigns during the 2003-04 season, the Dutchmen are 51-65-16 in ECACH competition and 2-3-1 in ECACH openers.
>> Scouting Brown
The Brendan Whittet era at Brown began with a 1-0 overtime loss at #9 Princeton on Friday, Oct. 30. Sophomore goaltender Mike Clemente turned away 31 shots. Whittet, who spent the past 11 seasons as an assistant coach at Dartmouth, makes his first ECAC Hockey road trip to Messa Rink this weekend.
Sophomore forward Jeff Buvinow finished second on the team in scoring last season with three goals and 14 assists, and senior co-captain Devin Timberlake looks to rebound from an injury-shortened year in which he still notched four goals and four helpers in 10 games.
The Bears finished the 2008-09 regular season with a 12th-place 3-15-4 ECACH record and a 5-23-5 overall mark. They upset Harvard in the first round of the league playoffs, sweeping the Crimson with 1-0 and 2-0 wins.
>> The Union-Brown Series
Saturday's contest will be the 37th all-time meeting between the two schools and the 36th since Union went to Division I in 1991. Brown leads all-time 19-10-8 and 19-9-8 in DI play. In the last five outings, the Dutchmen have posted a 1-3-1 record. At home, the Union is 5-10-4 all-time against Brown.
>> Scouting Yale
The Bulldogs are coming off its greatest season ever: a school-record 24 wins, three conference championships and a No. 5 national ranking. Seventeen of Yale's 22 lettermen return for Keith Allain, the conference coach of the year, who was also College Hockey News (national) Coach of the Year. Five of Yale's six All-ECAC Hockey selections, the team's top 10 point producers and 101 of the Bulldogs' 113 goals return.
Yale returns All-American and first-team All-ECAC Hockey selection Mark Arcobello (17g-18a) and Sean Backman (20g-13a), a second-team all-conference pick, who led the Blue in goals, head the list of forwards.
The Bulldogs opened the season with a 5-2 win at #9 Princeton after erasing a 2-1 deficit.
>> The Union-Yale Series
In a series that dates back to Jan. 10, 1992, the Bulldogs own a 20-15-3 advantage over the Dutchmen. In the last five outings, Union has posted a 3-1-1 record. Its only loss came last year in a 4-2 game at Messa Rink on Feb. 13, 2009.
The two teams took part in the longest game in NCAA history when Yale defeated Union in a five overtime game, 3-2, during the 2006 ECAC Hockey Playoffs. The game, which lasted 141:35, started at 7 p.m. and finished at 1:10 a.m. The previous record was 129:30 on Mar. 8, 1997, with Colorado College defeating Wisconsin, 1-0.
Union is 7-12-1 at home against Yale.
