Game Notes
TROY, NY – Any time that Union and Rensselaer face off it's a heated rivalry, but the Friday, Feb. 6 and Saturday, Feb. 7 contests carry playoff implications that will make this home-and-home series even more important. Entering the weekend, Union and RPI were tied for ninth place with 5-8-1 records and 11 league points. The top four teams in the league earn first round byes, while teams five through eight get home ice advantages. Union has had a home ice advantage in four of the last five seasons.
The Dutchmen headed to New England for games at Harvard (Jan. 30) and at Dartmouth (Jan. 31). After dropping a 3-1 decision against the Crimson, Union registered a 2-2 tie against the Big Green. At Harvard, senior forward
Matt Cook registered a goal on a fast break that involved redshirt freshman forward
Luke Cain and sophomore forward
Stéphane Boileau. At Dartmouth, Union controlled the majority of play and unloaded a season-high 50 shots on goal, but found itself trailing 2-0 late. However, power-play goals by senior defenseman
Lane Caffaro and Cook sent the game into overtime.
Cook registered three points last weekend with a goal at Harvard and a goal and an assist at Dartmouth. It marked the third time Cook has registered a combined three point in back-to-back games and the first time he had accomplished the feat in a weekend. Both goals came on the power-play, tying him with sophomore forward
Adam Presizniuk with a team-high four power-play tallies.
With eight games still remaining, five student-athletes have produced or tied a career-high for points in a season. Presizniuk, who registered 25 points his freshman season with seven goals and 18 assists, has produced 27 points in 2008-09. He has also registered a career-high 11 goals and is closing in on his career mark for assists. He stands with 16. Senior defenseman
Brendan Milnamow has produced a career-best 13 points, including seven goals, while sophomore forward
John Simpson has tied his point mark with 10. He has scored a career-high four goals. Cain has hit career marks with five goals, three goals and two assists and sophomore defenseman
Brock Matheson has produced career-highs with five points with one goal and four assists. Junior forward
Jason Walters has tied his career mark for goals (eight) and junior forward
Mario Valery-Trabucco, who has a career-best 12 assists, is only two points away from hitting his career tally.
Since returned from injury after winter break, Walters has registered 13 points, including five goals and eight assists. He has registered a point in seven of the last 10 outings and has registered two or more points in five of those contests. He is tied for second on the team with 21 points, including those eight goals and 13 assists.
About RPI
The Engineers have dropped three of their last four games and are coming off a 5-2 setback at Dartmouth on Jan. 30. Their last victory was a 7-6 overtime thriller at St. Lawrence on Jan. 23. This season RPI has been ouscored 165-100, including 29-15 on the power play.
Six student-athletes have 10 points or more and sophomore forward Chase Polacek leads the way with 25 and a team-high 18 assists. He is second with seven goals. Freshman forward Patrick Cullen has posted a team-best eight goals and is second with 19 points and third with 11 assists. Sophomore forward Tyler Helfrich, who has played in 20 games, has posted 17 points behind four goals and 13 assists, while senior forward Matt Angers-Goulet is nex twith 13 points with five goals and eight assists.
Senior goaltender Mathias Lange has played 20 games in goal, posting a 5-13-2 record with a 3.28 goals-against average adn a .898 save percentage.
The Series
Union's biggest rival owns a 43-15-9 overall record against the Dutchmen, including a 27-12-8 Division I mark. However, Union has gone unbeaten in the last three outings. After losing the first game of the 2007 Governor's Cup to RPI, Union rebounded with 2-1 and 4-1 wins to claim the Capital Skates Trophy last season.
Against the Engineers, the Dutchmen are 5-21-6 at RPI and 10-15-2 at home.
Head coach Nate Leaman is 7-4-3 all-time against RPI and 6-3-1 during ECAC Hockey action. Leaman is 3-1-1 in Houston Field House and is 3-2-0 against RPI at Messa Rink. Senior defenseman
Lane Caffaro is Union's active leading scorer against RPI with eight points.
Last Meeting
After Union skated to a 1-1 tie against RPI, the Dutchmen advanced to the 2008 Governor's Cup Championship Game in a shootout on Oct. 24. Freshman forward
Kelly Zajac scored Union's lone goal during regulation and sophomore goaltender
Corey Milan turned aside 35 shots, including 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. Boileau and Valery-Trabucco each scored in the shootout. 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' shot bounced out, a streaking Zajac cleaned up with a shot into the upper-right corner.
