This past weekend the Dutchmen opened up the most important part of their schedule: sixteen straight ECAC games to wrap up the regular season. They started off on the right foot as they took care of St. Lawrence 3-1 on Friday night and demolished Clarkson 8-1 the following night, both at Messa Rink. The hard-nosed victory over the Saints and convincing win over the Golden Knights has lifted the Dutchmen up in the rankings to 14th in the USCHO.com poll and more importantly, to 13th (a tie with Western Michigan) in the PairWise Rankings (PWR).
Adam Presizniuk ‘11 is now the all-time leading scorer in Union’s Division I era.
The PWR decides which teams make the national tournament at the end of the regular season and league playoffs. As of this moment, the Dutchmen are in serious contention for their first national tournament appearance.
In the opening game of the term, Union went up against St. Lawrence in a rematch of last year’s ECAC semifinals where the Dutchmen prevailed 3-1. Fortunately for the Dutchmen, the same result occurred at this meeting. Senior forward Justin Pallos, who has been an unsung hero this season, opened up the scoring 5:06 into the game when he snuck the puck under Saints goaltender Matt Weninger to give the Dutchmen an early lead. But the opposition tied the game up with 34 seconds remaining in the second period to set up a tight finish.
Luckily for the Dutchmen, junior forward Kelly Zajac scored 3:51 into the final period to put his team up for good. History was made on the game-winning goal as senior forward Adam Presizniuk picked up an assist on the play. This point was the 116th of his career, which is the most by a Union player in the Division I era. Last season, Jason Walters (Class of 2010) set the record at 115 points. Presizniuk is the most talented and important skater on the team, and there is no doubt that once this season is over he will be considered one of the greatest, if not the greatest, Union hockey player of all time.
“It feels good. It is just great to be back playing. It is always in the back of your mind so it is kind of nice to just get it over with. I knew it would come if I just kept working on it,” said Presizniuk.
The Dutchmen were able to hold off the Saints for the remainder of the game thanks to outstanding play by sophomore goaltender Keith Kinkaid and outstanding penalty killing by senior forward Andrew Buote and Pallos.
A major key to Union’s success was their ability to kill off all six of St. Lawrence’s power-play opportunities.
“Our penalty kill and goaltending were excellent, and they needed to be. I thought it was Keith’s best game in his last 10 and I thought our penalty kill came up big,” Union head coach Nate Leaman said.
Kyle Bodie ‘13 sealed the victory with an empty-net goal with 54 seconds left in the game.
The following night, Union’s winning ways against Clarkson continued as they beat the Golden Knights for the sixth consecutive time, including an 11-2 thrashing at Messa Rink last season.
Kyle Bodie ‘13 was named ECAC Player of the Week.
The last time Clarkson won a regular season game in Schenectady was on Jan. 13, 2001, when they won 5–0.
The Dutchmen skated all over the Golden Knights in the opening period as they peppered Clarkson goaltender Paul Karpowich with 22 shots, while Kinkaid only had to face three shots. Clarkson’s first shot came with 3:12 left in the period, which was right after Union’s 18th shot. Fortunately for the Golden Knights, they were able to head into the locker room with the game scoreless thanks to the outstanding performance of Karpowich.
However, Karpowich’s fortune changed in the second period as the Union offense exploded for five goals, including three goals on five shots in a 2:45 span. Freshman forward Daniel Carr scored his 12th goal of the season 5:12 into the period, which was then followed by the Bodie Brothers Show.
Just 1:01 after Carr’s goal, Kyle Bodie fired a shot from the slot into the net, and 1:44 after that his younger brother Mat ‘14 ripped a one-timer past Karpowich.
After the elder Bodie put the Dutchmen up four goals, Clarkson’s Nick Tremblay finally got his team on the scoreboard. Sophomore forward Jeremy Welsh answered right back with a goal of his own 19 seconds later, killing any momentum the Golden Knights had. After the game, Coach Leaman called Welsh’s goal “the biggest goal of the game.”
Union kept it rolling in the final frame as they capped off the scoring with goals from freshman forward Josh Jooris, Pallos, and freshman forward Kevin Sullivan. Sullivan’s goal was the first of his Union career.
Freshman defenseman Mike Ingoldsby assisted on Pallos’ goal, which was the first point of his collegiate career.
“We don’t want to be stuck in the middle of the pack. We want to keep climbing,” said Kyle Bodie after the game. “It just shows ourselves that when we stick to that game plan and we keep coming and don’t get frustrated, things are bound to go our way.”
This weekend the Dutchmen travel to Colgate and Cornell for more ECAC action, and will return home next weekend when they welcome Dartmouth and Harvard.
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