[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign
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The Gazette News Group presents the Parting Shots Podcast. Now here's your host and shot. Thank you Scott Geezy and welcome to the Parting Shots Podcast, available wherever you get your podcast. Subscribe today. Thanks for joining me from the Parting Shots Podcast studio in Schenectady, New York. We're going to get you set for the quarterfinal rounds of the ECU Hockey Tournament, especially Union, 5th seed coming off a 9 nothing route of 12th seed of Brown. Last Saturday they head down to Princeton, New Jersey to take on the fourth seeded Tigers. Princeton beat out Union by a point for that last first round bye slot on the final night of the regular season.
They had obviously Princeton took some time off and they had exams this past week so they got that out of the way so they would be ready to go to face Union. Union looking for its first trip to Lake Lake Placid since 2017.
And so we'll see what happens there. We'll talk with players Nick Young, Brandon Burr, Tyler Dunbar and Parker Lindauer from Tuesday's media availability. And we'll get the prince inside from second year head coach Ben Sire. We may talk a little Wawa too.
And then dan Rubin from USCHO.com he covers the ECAC hockey. We'll talk about the opening round games last weekend and look ahead to the quarterfinals. We'll talk about all four matchups. So coming up, Union, Princeton, the ECA's hockey quarterfinals coming up this weekend. You're listening to the Parting Shots podcast.
[00:01:46] Speaker D: So how are the kids? Well, Emily made the honor roll. Oh, good for her. Yeah, we're really proud of her. Tyler on the other hand, though, what's going on? He's been moody lately, just feeling down and not like himself. Oh, we've been there. Nick was struggling last spring. He was so anxious and stressed. Really? What helped? Well, he joined the soccer team and ever since he's been a lot happier. He has more energy, he's less stressed and he's definitely in a better mood at home. It's made a huge difference. That's awesome. Yeah, I'm glad he's getting out of the house, he's getting some exercise and he's off his phone for once. It's been good for his mental health. Sounds like it's been good for your mental health too.
[00:02:33] Speaker C: Participating in New York high school sports improves students physical and mental health. Encourage your son or daughter to get involved. This message presented by NSVA and the New York State Athletic Administrators Association.
Welcome back to the podcast. The Union Garden Chargers coming off of the impressive 9 nothing route of 12 seed at Brown last Saturday at M and T Bank Center. The fifth seed of Garner Chargers moving on to the quarterfinals best of three. They'll take on fourth seed at Princeton down at the historically frigid Hobey Baker rink in Princeton, New Jersey. Game 1 and Game 2. Game 1 is Friday night 7 o', clock, game 2 Saturday at 7 o' clock and if necessary on Sunday at 4 for game 3.
The team split the season series. Princeton winning 51 in December at MNC Bank Center. Union a month later going down to Hobey Baker rink and winning 42 coming back from a 31 or sorry, 21 deficit after two periods to take that game.
This is the seventh post season meeting between the two schools. Princeton has won four times, Union twice and if you saw Thursday's Daily Gazette and
[email protected], you I broke look back at those previous six series and yeah, I went back to 1995, the first meeting. It was in the preliminary round.
If old timers remember back then, 10 of the 12 teams made the postseason. Union finished 10th that season after a miracle. Not a miracle, but a surprising run in the year before where they played rpi. Took RPI to three games in the in that quarterfinal round.
Union ended up losing the Princeton 52 in that preliminary round game in 1995 that was played on a Tuesday night. So those were fun times.
So the seventh meeting will be down at Hobe Baker. As I said, let's hear from the Union side first. Let's hear from the players, Parker Lindauer, Brandon Burr who was named to the all ECAC second team on Wednesday.
Nick Young and Tyler Dunbar.
Well guys, after that thrashing put on Brown, you go down to Princeton.
Probably won't expect the nine nothing games down there, but how important is it to bring that momentum of what you guys did against Brown down to Princeton for this best of three?
[00:05:04] Speaker E: Yeah, it's super important. We've been playing some pretty good hockey down the stretch, which is is good. We just can't get away from what we've been doing well and staying in our structure and trusting in each other that we're all going to do the job.
[00:05:14] Speaker A: Brandon yeah, I mean Younger said pretty well there. It is important but it's a new series so we also got to create some new momentum for that.
[00:05:21] Speaker F: Tyler yeah, absolutely. There are a lot of good things to build off of but you know we do a new series like Brandon said, and we're looking forward to that.
[00:05:29] Speaker C: Parker.
[00:05:30] Speaker G: Yeah, Brown's in the past for us right now and we're moving on to Princeton and obviously we can take some things away that we did well against Brown, but from here on out, we're focusing on Princeton and what we can
[00:05:41] Speaker F: do to beat them.
[00:05:42] Speaker C: After the press, after the game on Friday, Parker said that you'd rather play Saturday than hit that bye. Of course, last year you guys got the bye and lost to Darwin. So how important was it to be able to play and get some momentum going into the quarterfinal series with playing that opening round game against Brown?
[00:06:01] Speaker G: Yeah, I mean, obviously playing another game, there's always potential for injuries or people getting tired, but in this case we came out healthy and obviously a 9, 0 games, a lot of momentum for us to bring into Princeton and just not sitting around for a whole week and having two weeks off before a game, I think sometimes can kind of hurt you. So hopefully we can use this to build momentum into Princeton right down the line.
[00:06:24] Speaker C: Tyler?
[00:06:25] Speaker F: Yeah, obviously I was in the part of the playoff run last year, but, you know, just hearing about it, I think I feel, I know we all feel really comfortable about where we are as a team right now and, you know, the performances we've been putting out there. So just continuing that momentum is what we're looking to do.
[00:06:42] Speaker C: Brandon?
[00:06:43] Speaker A: Yeah, so, I mean, not having home ice for this round is probably not the best thing, but I think playing that game would have been more important in general just because last year I think we came a little slow, slow for that first game in round two. So it's, I think it's a pretty good thing that we got to play
[00:06:56] Speaker C: and keep fresh and. Nick?
[00:06:58] Speaker E: Yeah? Like, I like the way we've been playing, so having that game and not taking the week off I think was crucial to keeping the momentum. And like these boys said, like, obviously home ice is nice and everything, but, you know, we're going to play an opponent that we, we feel is a good matchup for us and we're excited to take it on.
[00:07:15] Speaker B: Well, you guys just, you know, went down to Princeton recently and were able to beat them. So how much does that help to have the confidence of knowing what it's like to go down there and play and knowing that you can get a
[00:07:26] Speaker E: win, you know, at their place? Yeah, it's, it's nice that we have the belief because we've already done it before, but at the end of the day, it's a belief in the locker room and everyone has Belief in each other. So that's what's the most important thing going in this weekend.
[00:07:39] Speaker A: Yeah, it's. It's good. Like, obviously, I think we all know in our room that we could beat any team in this conference on any day, so just another game for us.
[00:07:47] Speaker C: You guys have had so much balance inside. I think there's guys, six guys have at least 10 or more goals.
How important is to have that depth now at this time of year?
[00:07:56] Speaker A: It's super important because you never know when someone might not be on their best game. So to have the depth that anyone can score on our team, it's big for us.
[00:08:03] Speaker C: Tyler?
[00:08:04] Speaker F: Yeah, I mean, we have a lot of guys in this team that can play, you know, any situation, any role. So, you know, just having that and, you know, when things don't always go to plan in playoffs, it's a great thing to have, and we love it.
[00:08:16] Speaker C: Parker?
[00:08:17] Speaker G: Yeah, we talk about having, like, a B game when you're not in your A game, and having all these guys being able to produce and put the puck in the back of the net can make up for some people that might have a B game on a day. But going into Princeton, we're expecting everybody to have an A game.
[00:08:32] Speaker C: How important will it be to go down there and win and get to Lake Placid for this program for the first time since 2017?
[00:08:38] Speaker G: Yeah, I mean, we talked about this year, like, leaving our legacy. I know us seniors want to leave a mark on this program. There's been one in the past when they won the national championship, and we want to put a new mark on the program here. So obviously, getting to Lake Placid is the first step for that.
[00:08:54] Speaker C: Tyler?
[00:08:55] Speaker F: Yeah, I mean, you can't say much better than that. But, yeah,
[00:09:02] Speaker A: Lake Plaza has been our goal since. Since the start of this conference season. So, yeah, it'd be nice to get there.
[00:09:08] Speaker B: Nick?
[00:09:08] Speaker E: Yeah, I agree with all these guys.
We've all had, you know, something circled on our calendars, and Lake Plaza is one of them. So this is the one step we need to take to get there, and we're excited for it.
[00:09:19] Speaker C: How important will it be to carry that momentum of Saturday's win down there to Princeton?
[00:09:24] Speaker E: Yeah, I mean, it's. Again, it's huge. But, you know, like Bersey said, it's. It's a new series, and we got to take every precaution to know exactly what they're going to do and build their own new momentum for this series.
[00:09:37] Speaker C: You heard from the Union players? Now, let's get the Princeton's perspective from their second year Head coach Ben Sire joining me now on the podcast. Ben, welcome to the podcast. How are things going down there in Princeton?
[00:09:49] Speaker B: Oh, good.
[00:09:49] Speaker H: It's playoff season and the weather's getting warmer, so it's great to great to be in playoffs right now.
[00:09:57] Speaker C: Yeah, I mean you guys had a battle there for that last home ice first round buy for the EC hockey tour. You got it on the final night of the regular season. When you got that game to overtime, you had clinched it there with the tiebreaker scenarios. Go looking back, I mean when you saw the tiebreaker scenario when the league sent that out and Union, Harvard and Princeton were just a separate PDF unto itself. I mean how crazy was that to see all those scenarios? I think was eight scenarios that could have happened.
[00:10:29] Speaker H: Yeah, it was nuts and I think it just, it really goes to show how tight our league is and in particular, you know, those three teams that you just listed off that there's not a lot between, you know, different styles, but not a lot of difference between the three teams.
[00:10:52] Speaker C: Now your team, as you said, as I said at the Open, this is your second year. I mean, are you, do you think you're ahead of schedule with this program right now? Because I don't think anybody expected the Tigers to be a top four team this year.
[00:11:06] Speaker H: Yeah, you know what, I guess Ken, I didn't really look at it like that, to be honest with you. I just wanted to see our guys compete, battle and, and, and, and work to be able to, you know, get an opportunity to, to, you know, succeed and, and you know, certainly we're pleased to be able to have a buy.
It was something that, that, that we, we wanted to be able to achieve. But it's, it's like I said earlier, we know how hard it is, you know, and to be able to chase consistency in, in this league is so hard. And, and I give our guys a lot of credit because they, they battled right down to the last night. So guess I'm not really answering your question, but at the same token, I don't know if I really had any expectations in terms of that other than just wanted to see the guys battle and chase consistency.
[00:12:01] Speaker C: And you guys, when you guys came into MT Bank center back in December and took a 51 victory, very impressive. You guys went on a roll for a little bit at that point.
How big was that win to get you guys going?
[00:12:16] Speaker H: Oh, I think it was big because I know like I said, the Union is a great team and has been a team all year. And you know, that certainly was an opportunity, you know, for our group to be able to build a little bit of momentum from that.
But I think it also just showed our group too how hard it is to battle and win on the road in our league and every team that we're going to play and in particular this Union group is just a really tough team to play.
[00:12:58] Speaker C: How just looking at what they've done, I think you've had a chance to watch the tape of the nine nothing victory over Brown. What did you see in that game? And I mean just the fact that Union basically just stepped on Brown's throat and didn't let him up the entire game.
[00:13:17] Speaker H: Yeah, and, and, and I think that's something, you know, that they, they have done a great job. I mean they've, I mean going back to last month, they've been scoring goals by the bushel and you know, it doesn't matter what team they were playing. I think, you know, Clarkson, they had an 8, 7 game in there and I'm missing another one.
[00:13:39] Speaker C: Yeah, Colgate 7 6.
[00:13:41] Speaker H: Yeah, yeah. And you know they, they're involved, you see with the league awards coming out that they, they have great players there and you know, they're a talented group that, that, that, that plays hard and wants to get up and down the sheet.
[00:13:57] Speaker C: How tough is it, you know, to concentrate on defending one line? Because obviously they have a lot of balance. Six players with 10 or more goals. Me, even that fourth line has been contributing of late. Me.
How do you keep your focus on trying to stop one line and maybe. Or try to stop all the lines?
[00:14:15] Speaker H: Yeah, I think, honestly, I think it's about a balance and playing consistency consistent through our lineup because you know, I know you talk about one or two lines, but honestly when you look at them, I think they're, you know, there's a lot of dangerous parts in their lineup, you know, not just the Burrs of the world or the Dunbar is on the, on the back end, but it's, it's, it's not just one or two guys, you know, but it's, it's a number of guys and to be able to, you know, be able to play the, you know, in respect and play the right way against every line, I think is, is going to be the greatest, greatest challenge for, for our group here this weekend.
[00:15:00] Speaker C: Talk about your team. What I mean, obviously Kai Daniels leading the team, scoring me. How impressive has he been the. This year?
[00:15:06] Speaker H: Yeah, I think he's been outstanding.
You know, he's, he scored Some really timely goals here for us.
You know, he's been involved in a lot of offense, plays with some. A couple of really good linemeets that, you know, have assisted him, but also benefited from him as well too. And so certainly, you know, been very pleased with, with the way that he has gone about things here this year and really it really battled from. From start to finish.
[00:15:36] Speaker C: Is there a player that's maybe flown under the radar that has impressed you on your team?
[00:15:43] Speaker H: Oh, You know, I think one guy that, you know, is a big part of that senior group that probably doesn't get like, you know, maybe the same, you know, touches or accolades or, you know, comments would be, you know, Jackson Esmond, you know, you know, as he is played mostly year with Brendan Gorman and Facinelli and, you know, he's done a really nice job. You know, he's kind of a quieter guy by nature and, but a real likable guy. And, you know, I think, you know, maybe some of those that aren't in our locker room probably don't appreciate him. But I can tell you, you know, to a man and to a player in the locker room, there's not a guy that doesn't appreciate what Jackson Esmond brings to our group day in and
[00:16:39] Speaker C: day out, goaltending wise. Arthur Smith, I think he's a guy who can steal a game for you or two and talk about his playing in goal.
[00:16:48] Speaker H: Yeah, no, he's been, he's been solid here for us and you know, obviously he missed a little bit during the middle part of the season here, but has played really well and has really given us opportunity to either stay in games or to, to win games. He's had some real timely, timely stops since he's been back in the lineup and I agree with you there is that he does have that ability to steal a game.
[00:17:16] Speaker C: What do you think the keys will be for your team to eliminate Union and advance to Lake Placid?
[00:17:22] Speaker H: Yeah, well, I think, you know, obviously we have to slow their transition down. I think, you know, they feed off of that. They love to shoot bucks and so it's, you know, we're going to have to block a lot of shots here and eliminate them from getting pucks down to the net because they're really good at it. Their D are very involved, Their forwards love to shoot it. They have some of the highest shot attempts in our league and in the nation for that matter. And so I think those are a couple of the areas that we really got to really focus in on and, and and make sure we take care
[00:17:59] Speaker C: of any concern with Rust having the week off. How have you. And also how have you prepared during the bye week?
[00:18:09] Speaker H: I tell you what, I'll tell you this, Ken. When you ask a question like that, I. I think I. I've learned when somebody asks, are you worried? I've become way more worried about everything in life, you know, since I've become a head coach. So the answer to that is yeah, is yes.
But, you know, I think also it's, you know.
You know, with that being said, we try to stay just on our regular routine here over the last couple weeks here and compete amongst ourselves here and, you know, to stay on our details and enforce our habits so that we're building on our foundations.
And I think the guys have done a really nice job of that. But that's been our focus, you know, even before we knew we were playing union. Obviously had a pretty good inclination that that's probably who we would play, just based on how everything, you know, probably would shake out.
But, you know, obviously it's. It's a little different when you don't. Don't have a week off.
But it was also nice. Our guys had exams last week to not have to juggle, you know, trying to fit a game or two in there and let the guys focus on exams at the same time.
[00:19:22] Speaker C: Well, that's. That's good. We. That's obviously what they're there for. Not just to play sports, but to take care of their academics.
Yeah, it's just.
I mean, I've caught a couple games on ESPN plus, games not involving union. When Princeton's playing at home again at Hoby Baker Rink, the crowd's been good. I mean, how happy have you been with the attendance there at Hobby Baker Rink?
[00:19:47] Speaker H: Well, we've been excited. That.
Been a real good buzz around campus.
Got great support from our administration, you know, and a lot of those have been attendance. Not just our athletic administration, but the university as well, and a lot of local fans here as well, too. And, you know, support from our academic fellows and our deans, and certainly, you know, we've had some crazy students that have shown up here, too, that have been loud and rambunctious, which we certainly.
And I should probably speak more to the guys as they absolutely love that. So we've been. We've been really pleased with the crowds.
[00:20:26] Speaker C: Well, I think people down in that Delaware Valley need some good hockey because the Flyers aren't providing him right now.
As a guy who grew up in Philadelphia watching the Flyers in the Glory days. It's this painful. Pains me to see what they're doing, but of course, the good combination. You guys wear orange and black just like the flyers.
[00:20:44] Speaker H: Sure, sure. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Exactly.
[00:20:48] Speaker C: Well, Ben, I appreciate a few minutes. Good luck this weekend and we'll talk soon.
[00:20:52] Speaker H: Awesome. Sounds good. Really appreciate it.
[00:20:55] Speaker C: And enjoy the Wawa.
I had a break.
[00:21:00] Speaker H: The chicken noodle soup is unbelievable. And so it's. There's not too many times I don't get over there for a little snack,
[00:21:06] Speaker C: you know, I've been trying my damnedest to get Wawa to look at my tweets or post on their Instagram. I've been desperate to get them to get open a store up here, but they don't see, it falls on deaf ears. They got stores all over the place, around the country, but they can't bring one to New York State.
[00:21:22] Speaker H: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. No, it's. It's crazy. It's. It's something else. My. My wife wonders where our paycheck goes all the time.
That's where.
Where it goes. She's like, you want to bring lunch? And I'm like, nope.
[00:21:33] Speaker B: No, I do not.
[00:21:34] Speaker C: Well, my son. My son enjoys it. If he goes down to Philly to.
With me once in a while, he'll be breakfast, lunch, and dinner at Wawa.
[00:21:43] Speaker H: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, yeah. How old's your son?
[00:21:47] Speaker C: My son's 25.
[00:21:49] Speaker H: Okay. So he's. Yeah. My. My youngest daughter is funny. I picked him up at school the other day. You appreciate this. As soon as we cross the border into Pennsylvania, she saw the first Wawa and she got all. All excited. She's only 15, so she didn't grow up with it, but it's the. She absolutely loves it, you know?
[00:22:08] Speaker C: Well, the straight. Straight thing. I grew. I grew up in Philadelphia in the 1970s, and Wawa was not a big deal back then. I just don't recall. We. There used to be a. Where I lived, there's the bottom of the hill. Used to be a 711 we'd go to, but it must have been like in the 80s and 90s when Wawa took off, because I. Like I said, I. It wasn't a thing when I was growing up.
[00:22:27] Speaker H: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, they've done a nice job, like, legitimately. You know, I'm walking over there right now between meetings here to grab a bowl of soup and, you know, it's a.
It is. It's. There's not many places you can go, and it's kind of almost like a Tim Hortons, to be honest. In Canada where you can go get like a sandwich and a soup. It's not like crazy expensive and it's, you know, it's manageable here at the same time, you know, so it's. Yeah, no, it's. We're lucky. We're lucky to have it, that's for sure.
[00:22:56] Speaker C: And when they have Hoagie fest, it's. It's incredible though when this now cheap they are with the prices.
I hope Wawa listens to this and
[00:23:07] Speaker H: I hope to get an nil deal out of this year, you know?
[00:23:10] Speaker C: You know I do.
[00:23:11] Speaker H: Yeah. Yeah.
[00:23:13] Speaker B: Then you can buy me a coffee
[00:23:14] Speaker H: when we see each other.
[00:23:15] Speaker C: You got. You got it. You got it. Okay. You got it.
[00:23:18] Speaker H: Sounds good.
[00:23:19] Speaker B: I like it.
[00:23:19] Speaker H: Well, we'll get this done, Ken. Thanks.
[00:23:21] Speaker C: Thanks, Ben. Take care.
[00:23:23] Speaker H: Take care.
[00:23:24] Speaker C: That's Ben Sire. We'll be back with Dan Rubin of USCHO.com to look back at the opening round games and look ahead to the quarterfinal matchups. You're listening to the Parting Shots podcast.
[00:23:46] Speaker B: It's the most historic conference in college hockey.
It's a battle night in and night out.
ECAC Hockey, an iconic conference, home to 12 of the most prestigious universities and programs in the world and showcasing the best student athletes in the sport.
Top notch facilities and arenas, incomparable traditions, passionate fans, alumni who go on to become elite professionals, leaders and champions.
ECAC hockey. There's no experience like it.
[00:24:28] Speaker C: Welcome back to the podcast. The opening round of the ECAC hockey tournament is complete and it held serve as all the home teams won. Although three of the home teams did not have an easy time and Union was the only one to have an easy victory. Now we're to the Festa three quarterfinals and Dan Rubin of USCHO.com Mr. Overtime in Atlanta, cocky with his job as the play by play voice of Bentley there on a Friday night triple overtime against Merciers in game one of the Atlantic Hockey playoffs. What happened there, sir? You're trying to take my title.
[00:25:03] Speaker H: 2.
[00:25:04] Speaker B: Two of the top 20 games of the longest college hockey games that I've got or toilet is the top 20 and I've got two of them that I was broadcasting for. So the best of this was that at least with my dad watching my kids, my parents were watching my kids that night because my wife was out was that I pulled into my driveway at 11:45 at night and my dad was in the car with the engine running. He was not sticking around much later than he had yeah, that was.
Ken, if me and you were ever in the same building for a, for a playoff game, they should just realize it's never going to end.
[00:25:38] Speaker C: Yeah. They mean just get beds and cots and all that stuff and just sleep there. Yeah, we're. Yeah, definitely, definitely. Well, maybe that could happen next, next, next weekend.
[00:25:50] Speaker B: Don't wish that on us.
[00:25:53] Speaker C: Well, let's ask you about the opening round games.
Three of the games the visiting team ended up scoring first. The home team rallied. The only one was Union crushing Brown the way they did nine. Nothing I wrote about the fact that Union did what they're supposed to do in a playoff game. Put a lower seed to bed early and just put the. Kick the living crap out of him. They did that putting the game away. The five goal third period and a period that they fired 26 shots on goal and Brown had 22 shots on goal for the game.
But then we saw an overtime game at Harvard against St. Lawrence and Harvard had a rally to win that game. Clarkson had a rally to beat rpi. And what's the other series there? Cole Colgate had to come back from two nothing down to Yale to win that game. So were you surprised about some of the home teams had a, the battle to, to win?
[00:26:53] Speaker B: I'm not, I'm not necessarily surprised that they had to battle to win. I'm surprised that it was as close or for as long as it was for all those games. Like the hard. It's a cliche, right? The, the hardest thing to do is end somebody's season. And in a one game playoff, like everybody, if they, if they have something left in the tank, they have anything left in the locker room for the seniors, for a coach, for whatever it is, they're going to give you their absolute best in that particular playoff game. I know, I saw that this weekend, right. With, with mercy. But when, when you have these teams like St. Lawrence and they're up 3, 2 in the third period, you're wondering what they can do to close it out. The fact they didn't close it out isn't surprising. You knew they were going to give Harvard all they could handle. The one game. I guess that I would say was surprising was the fact that Yale was one up. Like I did not think Yale would lead in that game, but that they were up to halfway through the second period. So they were given, they were giving Colgate the business for half of that game.
And it takes one goal to turn it around. You get another one before the end of the period, you score in the third to win it in regulation. But I never would have had Yale going up to on Colgate, making them work halfway through the second period. I do think they would have played it tight, but I didn't think Yale had the depth, I didn't think Yale had the skill. I didn't think they had the cohesion to give Colgate a run for as long as that game lasted.
[00:28:22] Speaker C: I mean as I mentioned, Union 9 nothing means I was. It's one of those games, you know, you worry about the fact that yeah, it's a 5 seed, 12 seed. We know Brown was struggling all year, but you just, you know that one game playoff, you never know what's going to happen. And Union was up one nothing after the first period and he's like, you're still a little nervous but then three goal, second period, four nothing. So you're breathing either. And then they put that game away and just ended Brown season the way they did. That's just, I mean that's something that unions rolled into the playoffs on a six game unbeaten streak. Now it's, now it's at seven. So just. Were you impressed with the way Union did their job against Brown?
[00:29:08] Speaker B: Absolutely. And I think part of it was that Brown.
Look, I said last week that the thing that Brown used to have going for it was that, was that Brendan Whittet knew how to rally the troops. He knew how to say something before a playoff game that would get that team shortened and fired up and they, they, they'd be able to go out and win shift by shift and play a, play a style of hockey that wouldn't win them regular season games, but knew how to win a playoff game. I think what we saw in the second period in particular was that Brown, when, when I don't know if it was the second goal from, from Windower or if it was Colby MacArthur's power play goal. But at that point they were just kind of, they were just kind of tired. They looked like they were done, they'd been through the ringer and it was time to be done. And I think in the third period, the fact that they took a penalty, gave up a goal, took a penalty, gave up a goal, took a penalty, gave up a goal over the span of three and a half minutes, I think was a sign just at how far that team just was done. And Mark Diver made a really good comment on social media that I think struck me and maybe it wasn't what I expected going into the game was the fact that that Brown team had been through so Much this year emotionally, with everything that happened on campus before the end of the first semester, their head coach going out on family medical leave, that maybe it was just time. And you know, for them what, what struck me when he brought that stuff up was it was time. They just didn't have anything left in the tank. And to Union's credit, Union kept scoring. I mean that's what you're supposed to do. You don't want to pull your foot off the gas pedal in a one game playoff, especially when you're at home, especially when you're getting those power plays in the third period.
Is it a, is it a 4 nothing, 5 nothing game that just got away? Hey, that's, that's what happens in playoff hockey. And I don't think by any stretch Union, you know, was, was doing anything malicious with running it up or anything like that. I just think Brown, when that third period rolled around, that team was just, it was time to be done and they still had to skate off those 20 minutes and that's where it got away.
[00:31:24] Speaker C: Well, one of the power play goals they scored a third period came from the fourth line. So they weren't, they didn't have their best power play units out there and they still scored on the power play. One of the penalties, the Russian player, it was named, throwing a blank right now. I don't have it in front of
[00:31:40] Speaker B: you, but yeah, he took one of the.
[00:31:44] Speaker C: I hate I said this on social media, it was a stupid penalty. He pinned Ben Muthus ball in front of the Brown bench and there's nowhere, Puck's nowhere and the play's not anywhere near them. It's like he took four penalties in the third period.
[00:31:58] Speaker B: Yeah, and that goes back to what I saw against RPI when he took a game misconduct and a contact to the head in the first period and then had to. And then Brown sat him out in that last game against Union, so. Or they had. Because he had, he had been ejected from the game against rpi. He didn't play against Union. He comes back in this one and takes a bunch of bad penalties. That was just a player that, like I said they were, they got to the end of the season and mentally I think it was just like you could not have.
Maybe this is the case for why, for why all 12 teams shouldn't make it or maybe this is the case for, for why a team maybe shouldn't be in a conference tournament is the fact that coming down the stretch, they finished 12th. The numbers are going away. The players are just kind of losing their head. And.
And they just didn't have anything in there. And so that's when you make stupid penalties. That's when you make selfish, stupid plays. And, and if you're union, you do what you're supposed to do. Run different sets, run different guys out there and score goals. And, and every single thing that happened was just kind of like, oh, man, can this game end?
[00:33:09] Speaker C: And they could have had 10, but Lucas Buzio got a. Was a high stick. I mean, it was close. I mean, Josh howses did challenge it? I mean, it was. It was a good challenge. I mean, if he loses, he loses time out. But it's no big deal in that game like that. So.
Well, let's look ahead. We got the quarterfinals starting Friday. The matchups.
Top seed of Quinnipiac against eighth seed at Clarkson. Number two seed Dartmouth will be hosting Colgate. The seventh seed, third seed of Cornell takes on sixth seed at Harvard. And fifth seed at Union travels the fourth seed at Princeton. Let's begin with the Quinnipiac Clarkson series. Quinnipiac won their sixth straight ECAC hockey regular season title, but it wasn't easy. It came down to the last night of the regular season. And we know their history in the ECAC hockey tournament. They usually win the quarterfinal game and then they get the placid and fall apart up there. But is this team primed to finally maybe erase, get that monkey off their back and win an ECAC hockey tournament title?
[00:34:11] Speaker B: I mean, if not now, then then then when? The one thing that I'll. I'll give to.
[00:34:17] Speaker H: To.
[00:34:18] Speaker B: To Quinnipiac, at least for this year, is the fact that this is a team that put together and built a roster that. That took all season to gel. And it's still not necessarily the best ver. Like, it's not the best Quinnipiac team we've ever seen. But there are. But they do the different things well and they have players who can play at every level and they've done a really good job of. Of winning when they. They absolutely had to find a win. And there's a reason why they're going to be a top two seed in the, you know, in a regional that they're going to have that they're going to have the home change, the top change, at least while in the first round. Because I don't think they're going to drop past the.
I don't think they're going to lose the Clarkson, and I don't think they're going to drop enough if they lose in the in the semifinal. But then you look at the players that they have, they have a lot of experience and that's kind of helped them outside of hockey. Like the, the, the players who came in, they recruited ech, ECHL and AHL guys onto the roster. Like they have old rizzled hockey veterans who are now playing big hockey at ecac. Maybe that's why things are going to be different, is that they're not just a team built from your typical freshman, sophomore, junior transfer.
This isn't the same Quinnipiac team. Maybe.
[00:35:42] Speaker C: What are we doing recruiting players from the minor hockey leagues?
[00:35:46] Speaker B: Hey, it's, it's, it's illegal.
[00:35:49] Speaker C: I know, I know.
[00:35:51] Speaker B: It's, I don't think it should be, but it is. And that's why you have a guy like Graham Swart who's, who's from the ECHL, predominantly played a handful of games in the AHL. He plays 36 games for this team with a plus minus of 15.
And he was born 2003, so he's a freshman and he's 23 years old. So I mean, this is what college hockey is. I don't agree with it, but that's part of what Quinnipiac is able to say. Like, hey, if we're able to get these guys and we're able to make it work and provide them a new opportunity that until this changes, this is how we're going to build our team. And if it works, then that's what's, that's what's going to work. And this is far from the only team that's, that's been able to do it.
They combine it with very good players. Guys. You know, even Wittenbach is, is just a natural scorer. He's great.
You know, you have, you have Marcus Vidichek there from, from the queue from Moncton.
He's great, but he's also a 22, 20, you know, 22 year old freshman. So these are all guys that, this is what's going to be from the chl, the echl, the minor pro major, major, junior that, that's going to filter in. And Rand got ahead of the curve by getting all these guys in. I don't agree with necessarily the system, but while it's the system, he's, he's doing the right thing to do it.
[00:37:12] Speaker C: Yeah. Until they tell him not to, you can't complain about it. Well, let's talk about Wittenbach. I mean, he's had an amazing freshman season. 24 goals, 33 assists for 57 points. He's going to be, I would think, not only the rookie of the year in ECAC hockey, but probably the player of the year. But the other question is, is he going to be with the Bobcats at the end of the after the season ends?
[00:37:35] Speaker B: That's a good question.
And that's part of of the one thing I can always credit Quinnipiac is that it very seldom loses major players unless they're going pro.
So you know, unless he, unless it turns out that he should go pro, like when he has that conversation, I don't think he's going to necessarily transfer out just because that's not the Quinnipiac MO. And because he was only a 5th round draft pick, I don't know that Calgary is going to be able to offer him off the, off the jump the type of money that that would convince him to go because he only had the one year in the USHL and now one year of colle. I think next year is probably the year where he really earns himself some money. If he takes another step and becomes a 6570 point scorer.
[00:38:22] Speaker C: What does Clarkson have to do to pull off the upset?
[00:38:26] Speaker B: Play Clarkson. Play Clarkson hockey. Like that's the, the one complaint I've had all year is that Clarkson has not been Clarkson.
The loss against Cornell, they just haven't been in the games that they've lost. When you've looked at them they're like this isn't the same Clarkson team. The loss to Princeton, the loss to rpi, the game against Union when everybody seemed to score a goal, the going overtime against Brown.
It has not been the Clarkson team of years past that would win a game 3 to 1, 4 to 1. They lost games 4 to 1 to Quinnipiac and Dartmouth. They lost Dartmouth game 3 1. They lost RPI 5 1.
But they are not the team right now. They have to find a way which I think maybe the playoff game maybe help them find it a bit because that was a 21 game. They had to come from behind. They generated some offense. So they have to be able to play Clarkson style hockey, get on the power play, win, win the battles, do the little things that has been inconsistent all year and be able to do it over a three game series because I don't think they have the depth and the talent to go out and sweep this team. But win the first game, anything's possible.
[00:39:44] Speaker C: I mean RPI, they pulled goaltender Nate Krawchuk with 330328 left in the third period last Friday and they had some chances. But Clarkson played Well kept. The insider will play well and they were able to grind out that victory. So that could be a confidence booster for him.
[00:40:02] Speaker B: Absolutely. And, and the thing, the thing about Clarkson too is they're a team that's nearly 50. That's nearly 50. 50, right. When they go goals for goals against, they're about three goals per game. Three goals allowed per game.
Right smack dab in the middle of most of most categories. I know the, the power play might be trending a little bit further down, but I think everybody's power plays up like 18% only being in the 40s is kind of absurd to me. Like used to be, used to be the opposite way around where 18% would get you a little bit higher than that. But I do think that, that the offense is good enough to create chances and that's what the numbers kind of indicate. So that's why I think even the RPI game, getting into the right position against RPI can help them because they also played that one game and Quinnipiac's been off for a week. That buy sometimes team comes out slow just because they haven't had the time. And the other teams get that one game underneath it.
[00:40:57] Speaker C: Yeah.
Let's go to the Dartmouth Colgate series.
Dartmouth started off well, I think won the first 11 games and they sort of peaked a little bit, maybe too soon. They were up and down, up and down. I mean they finished second or tied for second with Cornell got the second seed.
I mean this team is this team primed to finally to win an ECACI tournament.
They're getting there consistently now.
[00:41:26] Speaker B: I think Reed Cashman might be the best coach in the ECAC right now in terms of what he's been able to build. And you have to remember that you go back to post Covid that Dartmouth was blasted into the stone age like the other Ivy League schools with the way that they have their academic requirements. They can't accept incoming transfers the same way unless they academically qualify and the right things come in. They have a higher and harder academic profile per se, where the rigors are maybe a little bit different than some of the other schools in college hockey, you know, pointing mostly at the Big Ten, you know, where it's just, it's very, very, very different. So him being able to build a team into a 19 win team is by itself an impressive accomplishment of understanding his university and understanding how to, how to build from there. Now getting to an ECAC championship I think is probably the next step in winning it. It's been forever since Dartmouth has won anything.
So to even get to this level is. Is a tribute to what they've been able to put in. Now, I do think Colgate might be one of the worst head to head matchups for them. I.
They were able to win that game earlier in the year when Dartmouth wasn't losing games.
[00:42:46] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:42:47] Speaker B: But I, I don't love the matchup against Colgate.
Luckily it's in Hanover, which I think is a big help. But I, I don't think, like I would be much happier if I were Dartmouth and I were seeing Union or I were seeing Princeton or I was seeing Harvard.
I wouldn't be. I'm not as thrilled if I'm seeing Colgate come.
[00:43:07] Speaker C: What's going to be the key for Colgate and to maybe pull off the upset.
[00:43:11] Speaker B: I think Colgate's going to play good in the back.
The goaltending statistically this year has not been amazing. The defense has not been otherworldly. I think some of the games skew some of those numbers, like Quinnipiac scoring five goals against them, Cornell scoring five. The Union game when they scored 13 goals and an RPI came back the next day and scored six and beat Colgate six to one. So I think the defensive effort in shutting down Hayden Stavroff is going to be there. We know Colgate is going to score two goals in a game. We know they can get there. They have to stop Dartmouth from getting to three.
[00:43:49] Speaker C: Yeah. How do you stop Stavroff?
[00:43:53] Speaker B: Tell him a bedtime story.
I don't know. Tie his skates together.
Keep them, keep him.
Scratch the stick tape. Make sure that he doesn't, that he doesn't do something with it.
[00:44:07] Speaker C: Steal a sticks.
[00:44:09] Speaker B: Yeah. Glue.
Glue his gloves together.
I think, I think he's gonna get. Be factor into one goal per game. I don't think you're gonna try to shut them out. Like I said, if you can keep him off the sheet enough and limit the damage of the top line, you can keep it. You got to get to. You got to keep them from getting to three goals. That's the only thing. So you let that top line maybe get one even get to win a game in overtime if you can get to three. But that's the, that's the key there.
[00:44:40] Speaker C: Let's look at the Cornell harbor matchup. The. This rivalry. He's going back a long way.
Casey Jones, in his first year as the head coach taking over for Mike Schaefer.
How do you think he's done and you know, tied for second, ended up Being a third seed and not too shabby.
[00:44:58] Speaker B: No, not at all. And they've got to be happy with how this year turned out.
You know, anytime you have a coaching conversion transition, there's some growing pains. And last year I would, I would think that Casey took over a much more active role over the course of the year, especially the second half, that, that was part of the transition. It felt like he was starting to do more and more and there were a couple weekends when, when, when he was the, when he was the man, but it also wasn't his program. And being able to get, you know, the, the conference championship for Schaefer was, was, was awesome.
I think that Cornell this year is more well rounded. It is better. They're also healthier. Last year they were. Last year they were. It seemed like everybody went down injured at various point in time.
But I really like Cornell's makeup and I love the fact that Casey has taken that exact style of play that I was talking about, Clarkson style hockey, and implemented it without fail. This year on a Cornell team that I think could do some damage.
[00:46:07] Speaker C: Even in the national tournament, harbor has been inconsistent.
They were down 1 nothing, 2132 to St. Lawrence. They win in overtime and a goal. And I don't know if you saw the game at all, a chance to look at the highlights, but they reviewed that goal. I know they, I understand they review all overtime goals to make sure, but when you have all four officials in the scores table looking at the video, they're looking for something. And, and it may have been a hand pass or a face off violation, but it was taking forever. And this is why I always am a champion of micing the referees so they can let the people, the fans know what's going on, what they're reviewing. And I was sitting here in the Gazette offices and watching that game and say, what are they reviewing? What are they reviewing?
But yeah, like I said, Harvard team, it's been up and down. And I just don't know if they have the firepower to get past Cornell.
[00:47:07] Speaker B: No. And I think the thing to remember about Harvard is that there is a rebuild that's going on there that you go back post Covid. They had two years coming out of COVID where they were able to keep the team together because they understood the value of a Harvard education. They understood the value of playing for Harvard.
So that year that Harvard didn't play, nobody transferred out. They all took the gap year. They all, they all did the, you know, what they needed to do to stay in the Ivy League system that was in place for all of those players. I think the players themselves came out those next two years and didn't miss a beat. That's why they won 20 games back to back seasons, went to an NCAA tournament.
Were were great. They won the conference tournament in 22. The two years after that was the stripping down of that roster where you saw the team implode for lack of a better term and go back to studs when they finished eighth largely because the teams that were in nine through 12 just weren't good.
And two of them were like Brown and Yale who haven't been able to build their way back up.
This year gets a little bit better. They add a couple more wins.
You go from a seven win team to a 13 win team a little bit closer to 500 in the league with nine wins you move up one spot because the league was just better all around.
But I like that Harvard is building up and is getting closer to being a team this year that's over 500. That was last year, I should say over 500. They get up to 11 wins in the league this year.
They seem to be doing all of the right steps on a four year process. This is year three.
So is it about getting past Cornell? Can they get past Cornell? I think they're a little too inconsistent. But I do like what Harvard is building and maybe next year they're back to a 17, 18 win season and
[00:49:06] Speaker C: then the four or five matchup. Obviously I'll be paying attention to this union at Princeton. They split the season series, winning in each other's building.
This is the seventh postseason meeting between the two teams. I'm going to have a story in DailyGazet.com and print edition Thursday detailing the past six matchups. Prince has won four of the six matchups started in 1995 with that preliminary round game.
The Tuesday night preliminary round game was the 10 teams instead of 12 made the playoffs back then. But they've had some interesting matchups over the years and I foresee this thing going the distance this weekend. What do you like about both teams?
[00:49:51] Speaker B: I saw Princeton when Princeton. When I saw Princeton earlier this year and they came to the Bentley arena for two games. They were an NCAA tournament team. They were on the right side of the bubble. They were. I think maybe they were on the wrong side of the bubble, but I think they were like 18 or 19 or they were close to being in. And then they lost two games in Waltham.
Actually it was a loss and a tie. I think they lost In a quote unquote lost. It was a shootout. So lost in a tie and that was it. Like you can't lose to Atlantic hockey teams and still stay in the bubble when you're a bubble team.
[00:50:27] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:50:28] Speaker B: So they go bubble out after that point.
Something's been up with Princeton where like they, they just, they've. When they've been good, they've been exceptional, beat Cornell, beat the tie, beat the, beat the wheels off of Cornell. I think in that game, I think they were. They look great in that game at home, but wind up losing a shootout to Colgate, lost to Print, lost to Harvard, lost the shootout, played in a shootout against Dartmouth, lost to Quinnipiac decisively twice. Lost to St. Lawrence pretty badly.
So there's been this issue since I really saw Princeton that has existed largely in back with the, with the defense. I think part of it is that Tyler Rubin got hurt and missed some time. He didn't play in his homecoming. No relation. I think there might be a relation.
He's from the next town over from me, but I'm not sure there might be relation there.
So he. They just didn't have what they need to do now on the other side, Union has been a team that I think is way better than what the is the opposite where they weren't in the bubble, they were never in the bubble. But you have a 22 win team that's never been in the bubble because you've played Atlantic hockey teams. Mercyhurst, Niagara.
You're not playing teams that are going to help your NPI. But you don't get the 22 wins by accident and forget about the Brown 9 nothing. It's been a while since Union lost a game where you looked at Union and said, hey, they played bad, like they didn't look good. I think you got to go back to Yale for that.
[00:52:11] Speaker C: So no, I think actually, actually go back to the. I think Quinnipiac, even the worst, that was the worst game. And of course the as you mentioned, the Yale game. But yeah, the game at Quinnipiac, they were actually up and then controversial major penalty against Tyler Dunbar. He got a kneeing penalty, got kicked out of the game and Quinnipack just took advantage of it. But I think what we have seen, I mean you look at the 8, 7 loss to Clarkson in overtime. They were down several goals in that game. They came back the colgate game, the 76 Wild game. They were down 41 after the first period, came back and won that game. It seems like this team doesn't have any Quit in itself. I know. I talked to Josh Algae after that Quinnipiac game. He said the guys were feeling sorry for themselves and just lost focus. And now they're bound and determined to get to Lake Placid for the first time since 2017. I mean they have a lot of heart. They have balance scoring 6 guys with 10 or more goals their first 21 seasons since the 2018-19 season.
So this team, they're peaking at the right time. That's. Those kind of teams are dangerous.
[00:53:21] Speaker B: Very. And the thing that is when you have a number of guys who have 10 goals, number of guys who are pushing 30 point seasons, the one thing that I've learned is that in playoff series coaches will shorten their benches, they'll go roll three lines, they'll roll two defensive pairings. What I think the key is is if you don't have a roster that does that, like I saw that this past weekend, the teams that. That was the biggest thing in the triple overtime game the next day was that the next day you, because you rolled four lines and you were able to roll four lines, not even that you did. Maybe you were shortening your bench at some point, but the fact that you had four lines kept you fresher for the long haul of a playoff series. So if you're going to have three scoring lines like Union has, that's going to help you get through because honestly Princeton doesn't have that. Which means you're going to be able to stick your third line or fourth line out for a goal and get it and get production out of it. Whether it's a goal, whether it's stopping the top line from Princeton from getting a goal, whether it's holding certain people off the score sheet, it. And by doing that you're turning it around on a team that has to waste a shift for lack of a better term on a shortened roster. So somebody either has to come from out of nowhere or your guys just going to get tired over the full three game series. And so the depth of Union, especially the second half of the season, it's pretty, pretty, pretty electric.
[00:54:55] Speaker C: And Cameron Corpy started in gold Michigan transfer, started well, then had a little lull in the middle of the season and also suffered a lower body injury. But he came back and he's played spectacular hockey. And Blanking Brown and he's what I think five shutouts on the season. Now this he seems to be, I mean he's back to where he was at the start of the year and that's. And they have Union also has some good death and goal with Braden Gillespie, the number two goaltender who was playing well for Spell and Corby's absence. So it's, it's. I said I think this is going to go three only because Princeton, they do have that home ice advantage there at historically frigid Hobie Baker arena. So. But it's, it's going to, it's going to be a fun series to watch. And I think Union's going to prevail.
[00:55:47] Speaker B: I think so too. And I think, and I think the big part of it too is that they're just better in back against Princeton's offense than Princeton is going to be against Union. You mentioned Corby and I know that he hasn't needed to or he has won a significant amount of games over the last month. I don't think he, I think he's lost. I don't think he's lost since the Quinnipiac game. But I do know that he. When you look at his numbers, he's never been tasked with making 40 saves. I know there are a couple 30 saves in there.
You know that ring a bell. Just because he was facing faster teams like Harvard. But the fact that you only need him to stop maybe 20 to 25 shots and he can stop 20 to 25 shots is, is something that Princeton has a harder time countering. Arthur Smith, bread and butter goaltender. But if you can get up to 25, 30 shots on him, he's going to let in a couple. That's just, that's just how he is. He's decent goalie. But you're not going to get goalie in the playoff series by Princeton. I think you can get goalie by Union.
[00:56:54] Speaker C: I'm going chalk in this quarterfinal round. How you, how you picking these games?
[00:56:58] Speaker B: Me. Me too.
I think the one team that maybe is. Is not going to win its series, if there is one. As much as it kills me to say it would be Dartmouth, just because I don't like the matchup with Colgate in particular.
But I ultimately think, I think that one's going three and there's probably an extra session in there. But I think I, I think top four advance here.
[00:57:20] Speaker C: Well, we'll be looking forward to talking about that next week. What's that?
[00:57:24] Speaker B: I was gonna say, I do think Colgate, I want to throw one other in there too, is that I do think Union can be Princeton and I do think that if they do, it's going to be. It's going to happen.
You know it. You're going to know it in the first place. 15 minutes of the first game.
[00:57:39] Speaker C: Interesting, interesting. So well Dan, appreciate as usual and we'll do this again next week as we get set for the final four and league placid.
[00:57:48] Speaker B: Sounds good.
[00:57:48] Speaker C: All right, thanks. That's Dan Rubin of ushow.com we'll be back to wrap up the podcast and have the latest winners in the Daily Gazettes auto racing contest in just a moment.
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[00:58:30] Speaker I: If you really want to know what's going on in your community, you have to read the Daily Gazette. We don't take a side. We're right down the middle and we're gonna get to the truth. Our reporters and photographers are out in the field bringing you updates every minute with trust, accuracy and integrity from the first page to the last page. Independent, probing journalism. We're finding finding out what's going on in community where nobody else is covering. It's who we are. It's what we do.
[00:59:01] Speaker C: Back to wrap up the podcast. The Week four winner in the Deli Gazette's auto racing contest was Jason Kranke of Saratoga Springs with 75 points. Very impressive. Jason wins a $50 gift card. Congratulations Jason. The VIP winner was Dwayne Leach of All Seasons Equipment with 60 points.
I'll announce the auto racing contest winner's name and that winner's name will appear in Saturday's Daily Gazette. To play, go to dailygazette.com and click on the Auto Racing contest banner.
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That wraps up another edition of the Parting Shots podcast. I want to thank Brandon Burr, Nick Young, Tyler Dunbar, Parker Lindauer, Ben Syer and Dan Rubin for being a part of the show.
If you have questions or comments about the podcast, email them to me at shot. That's S C-H O-T
[email protected] Follow me on X threads and bluesky at Slapshots.
The views expressed on the Parting Shots podcast are not necessarily those of the Gazette News Group. The Parting Shots podcast is a production of the Gazette News Group. I'm Ken Schatz. Thanks for listening and I'll catch you next time from the Parting Shots Podcast studio in Schenectady, New York. Good day, good hockey.
