For the men’s teams, this is their only game of the weekend. It’s a non-conference game, so ECAC Hockey points aren’t on the line.
But for the women’s teams, the Mayor’s Cup meeting isn’t the only game this weekend for the two teams. There is this little matter of an ECACH game Friday.
The two teams meet at 6 p.m. at Messa Rink, and it’s a critical game for the teams as they look to secure a first-round game in the ECACH tournament next month. The Engineers (5-8-2 ECACH, 19 points; 12-11-3 overall) are in a home-ice slot. They are tied for seventh place with Princeton.
The Garnet Chargers (6-9-0, 17 points; 9-16-1) are in 10th place, a half-point behind ninth-place Brown and two points behind RPI and Princeton. Union hurt itself by losing five straight games before pulling out a 3-2 overtime win at Harvard last Saturday. But as I mentioned in my Final Horn column earlier this week, the Garnet Chargers wasted a great opportunity last weekend. They played the two bottom teams in the conference, Dartmouth and Harvard, two teams they beat earlier in the season at Messa. Union should have come away with six points. Unfortunately for the Garnet Chargers, they lost 2-1 at Dartmouth before beating Harvard. While it was nice to snap the losing streak, a two-point weekend was disappointing. After Friday’s game, Union will have six ECACH games remaining, four of which will be on the road. The final five games will be against nationally ranked teams — at Yale (next Saturday), home against Colgate (Feb. 7) and Cornell (Feb. 8), at Princeton (Feb. 14) and at Quinnipiac (Feb. 15). Union is 1-4 against those teams, with the win coming at Cornell on Nov. 1.
Union and RPI both know that Friday’s game has to be their first focus before they worry about the Mayor’s Cup game Saturday.
“We’re focusing strictly on Friday, and then once Friday is done, then we’ll move on to Saturday,” first-year Union head coach Tony Maci said. “We don’t want to look past Friday’s game.”
“I would say we really got to focus on that one before we kind of focus on anything else,” Union senior defenseman Emma Hebert said. “We’re kind of dialing that one in first, and then we’ll have a lot to take from that game to take into Saturday. I think it’s a good setup.”
That’s the sentiment with RPI.
“With league points on the line, that’s a big one,” RPI head coach Bryan Vines said. “But really excited for Saturday, as well, to continue the rivalry. [It’s] just how scheduling went this year, for whatever reason. We did play that school-day game earlier, so we had to split up the series a little bit.”
Union won the first meeting between the teams, taking a 3-2 overtime win Nov. 26 at Houston Field House.
UNION WOMEN’S TEAMS BEING HONORED
Friday’s game will celebrate two Union’s women’s teams. The first varsity team, which started play at the Division III level in 1999-2000, and the first Division I squad, which began in 2003-04, will be recognized.
There will be an alumnae game at 12:15 p.m. Saturday at Messa Rink.
-THIS WEEK IN MESSA RINK HISTORY
Time for another installment of my look back at some memorable Union men’s and women’s games in Messa Rink history.
Jan. 25, 2019: Union 4, Yale 3 (OT): Antony Rinaldi’s second goal of the game 1:50 into overtime capped a three-goal comeback to help the Dutchmen beat the Bulldogs. Yale had taken a 3-1 lead in the third period on a pair of goals by Robbie DeMontis. Rinaldi started the comeback on a goal with 6:17 remaining. Lucas Breault tied it 1:42 later.
Jan. 26, 2018: Union women 2, RPI 1: Cheyenne Harris had a goal and an assist in the second period of the Dutchwomen’s victory over the Engineers.
Jan. 28, 2012: Union 6, St. Lawrence 0: Matt Hatch collected two goals and an assist to lead the Dutchmen past the Saints. Wayne Simpson had three assists, and goalie Troy Grosenick stopped 26 shots to earn the shutout.
Jan. 29, 2011: Union 4, Brown 2: Adam Presizniuk scored two of Union’s three second-period goals — Justin Pallos had the other — as the Dutchmen beat the Bears.
Jan. 26, 2002: Union 5, Vermont 2: Jeff Hutchins, Jordan Webb and Marc Neron each had a goal and an assist to lift the Dutchmen past the Catamounts.
Jan. 26, 2002: Union women 9, Saint Michael’s 2: Jennifer Fleming had three goals and an assist to help Union rout Saint Michaels. Elizabeth Flanagan scored twice, and Hannah Baldwin added a goal and two assists.
Jan. 27, 2002: Union women 1, RPI 0: Elizabeth Flanagan scored with 15 seconds left in regulation, and goalie Victoria Elkins made 27 saves in the Dutchwomen’s win. Union was outshot 27-10.
Jan. 27, 1996: Union 10, Air Force 0: Schenectady native Brent Ozarowski had three goals and two assists to lead the Dutchmen to a rout of the Falcons. Union was 4 for 13 on the power play.
Jan. 27, 1995: Union 6, Dartmouth 5: Jay Prentice and John Sicinski each scored twice as the Dutchmen held on to beat the Big Green. Union had a 6-2 lead early in the third period.
ECACH POWER RANKINGS
Here are my latest ECAC Hockey Power Rankings.
1. Quinnipiac: Had a 1-0-1 weekend, beating Colgate and tying Cornell. The Bobcats are 4-0-1 in their last five.
2. Dartmouth: Whatever was ailing the Big Green before they arrived in the Capital Region last weekend was cured with impressive wins over Union and RPI.
3. Clarkson: Won 7-4 at Yale, but gave up two late third-period goals and lost to Brown.
4. Union: Didn’t look good against Dartmouth, but looked much better against Harvard.
5. Colgate: Saw a 3-2 second period disappear Friday when Quinnipiac scored four third-period goals. Bounced back with a win at Princeton.
6. Cornell: A 1-0-1 weekend. Beat Princeton, and tied Quinnipiac.
7.Harvard: Still confused as to why head coach Ted Donato didn’t pull goalie Ben Charette for an extra attacker down 4-1 late in the game.
8. Brown: What got into the Bears? Entering the weekend on a five-game losing streak, the Bears got home-ice wins over St. Lawrence and Clarkson, and the won at Merrimack on Tuesday.
9. Yale: After losing to Clarkson, Bulldogs beat St. Lawrence.
10. RPI: Rough home weekend with losses to Harvard and Dartmouth.
11. Princeton: After winning five straight, the Tigers have lost six in a row.
12. St. Lawrence: Not a good year for the Saints.