Concordiensis

Issue date: 3/4/10 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Union Athletics Department Senior 'Super' Mario Valery-Trabucco is up for the Hobey Baker award, college hockey's top honor.

Back-to-back losses were the last thing the Dutchmen wanted heading into the ECAC Playoffs. But, this is what happened as they lost 4-1 to Cornell on Friday and then dropped the following game 5-2 at Colgate. Against the Big Red, Union's prolific offense was shut down by the nation's second ranked defense and the ECAC's top ranked goaltender, Ben Scrivens. The next night the Dutchmen prolonged the "Starr Curse" as Union is now 1-17-1 in their past 19 games at Colgate. Luckily for the Dutchmen they already wrapped up a first round bye for the playoffs.

This week off will give the Dutchmen some time to analyze their game and figure out the mistakes they have been making. The main concern for the Dutchmen is their defense and goaltending, which has let up 21 goals in the past six games (3.5 goals per game). Over this span of six games the Union defense has let up three or more goals in five of these games. If Union lets up three or more goals per game in the playoffs they will not go deep into the post-season. This task falls on the shoulders of freshman netminder Keith Kinkaid, who had rough weekend as he only made 12 saves against Cornell and then let up four goals against Colgate. Kinkaid has been very solid in net for the Dutchmen and has been a major bright spot this season, but he will have to step up his game to another level if Union wants to have any chance of winning the ECAC tournament. This means that he will have to steal a game or two for the Dutchmen in the playoffs, which is something he has rarely done this season. Kinkaid's only shutout of the season came in a shootout victory (technically a 0-0 tie) over Lake Superior State at the RPI tournament.

For a major post-season streak the Dutchmen will have to rely on their offense, which is the fifth ranked offense in the nation. Even though they had a little set back this weekend, the offense has been rolling of late. The Dutchmen attack has been led by Hobey Baker candidate Mario Valery-Trabucco, who scored two of Union's three goals this weekend. Valery-Trabucco has been extremely hot of late as he has scored a goal in seven of his last eight games (nine overall), and has registered a point in nine of his past ten games. Mario's goal against Cornell marked the 56th of his career, which broke Jordan Webb's program record for most goals in a career. The next night at Starr Rink, he broke another one of Webb's records as he scored his 21st goal of the season, which is most by a Dutchmen in a single season. 'Super' Mario's line mate Jason Walters assisted on the goal, which leaves him just one point behind Webb for the programs record for most points in a career (114). If the Dutchmen have any hope of being successful in the playoffs the trio of Valery-Trabucco, Walters, and Adam Presizniuk will need to carry the Union offense.

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