SCHENECTADY — As a center in his first two years at Union College, Mario Valery-Trabucco was a streaky player, having stretches in which he would collect points in consecutive games, but then suffer through prolonged droughts.
After Valery-Trabucco’s sophomore year, Dutchmen coach Nate Leaman moved his talented, but inconsistent forward to right wing.
The move turned Valery-Trabucco into “Super Mario.”
Valery-Trabucco has scored 71 points over the last two seasons, and this season has been a career-year for the senior. His 21 goals and 21 assists for 42 points are a big reason why the 17th-ranked Dutchmen (18-10-6) earned the third seed and a first-round bye in the ECAC Hockey tournament, have been ranked in the USCHO.com NCAA top-20 college hockey poll for 12 straight weeks and have been on the bubble for a spot in the NCAA tournament. The Dutchmen host seventh-seeded Quinnipiac (19-16-2) in the best-of-three quarter- final series starting tonight at 7 at Messa Rink.
Valery-Trabucco in one of the frontrunners for the league’s Player of the Year Award, and also won the first phase of the Hobey Baker Award fan vote, collecting 20,743 votes.
Before the season began, Valery-Trabucco couldn’t imagine what kind of year he would have.
“I worked hard all summer,” said Valery-Trabucco, who was named to the ECACH All-Conference second team last week. “This is the year I wanted to have. But I couldn’t have thought it would be this good at this point, with the way our team is doing and the way I’m going.”
During his first two years at Union, Valery-Trabucco scored 21 goals and 19 assists. Those numbers weren’t bad, but Leaman knew Valery-Trabucco could do better. He wanted to see the player that produced 78 goals and 80 assists in 140 games at The Northwood School in Lake Placid.
“Up until this year, Mario would be a streaky player,” Leaman said. “He would go into these long streaks of seven, eight games of having a lot points, and then go seven, eight games without producing a lot. I think part of it was his conditioning. I think he’s done a much better job of that over the summer this past year.”
Valery-Trabucco was second in league scoring with 32 points, and was was second in goals with 19.
“The most important thing is that he brought the focus game to game, and he’s been a lot more desperate game to game,” said Leaman. “You have to be consistent to be successful in our league. Certainly, 19 goals in 22 [ECACH] games is about as consistent as you can get.”
In each of his first two years, Valery-Trabucco scored just three goals after Jan. 1., and he knew he wasn’t getting the job done.
“[I was told] not just by Nate, but by the assistant coaches, too, and my supporters, like my parents, and myself, too,” Valery-Trabucco said. “I told myself that if I eventually want to play at the next level, I’m going to have to step it up and bring it for a full season. That’s what I’ve been working on in the summers, and it’s been paying off this year.”
A big key to Valery-Trabucco’s turnaround came after his sophomore year, when Leaman decided to switch him from center to right wing.
“Your freshman year, it’s an adjustment. Everything is fast,” Leaman said. “Sophomore, we lost T.J. [Fox]. We had Mario as a [No.] 1-2 centerman, and that’s not quite fair for a sophomore, sometimes. And I don’t think he had the strength to be completely in that role. Junior year and senior year, we move him to wing. He’s a lot stronger. The big thing is he’s just learned to be more consistent.”
The switch benefitted Valery-Trabucco. Last year, he scored 11 goals of his 15 goals after Jan. 1. This season, he has 11 goals since the start of 2010.
“[Moving to right wing] gave me a lot more freedom,” Valery-Trabucco said. “I get to fly the zone half the time on our breakouts and create a little more offense. When you’re a centerman, you have to play in the defensive zone, and you get caught down low often and you have to come back all the way down the ice if you want to play offense.”
His 21 goals and 42 points are the most by a Dutchmen in their Division I existence. His 42 points broke the single-season record of 38, set last season by left wing and linemate Adam Presizniuk. The previous record for goals in a season was 20 by Chris Ford in 1993-94.
Valery-Trabucco also broke the record for goals in a career. His 57 goals surpassed Jordan Webb’s total of 55 from 2001-05.
He also has scored some big goals. He scored the game-winner in last year’s Governor’s Cup championship game over Colgate, giving the Dutchmen their first tournament title since 1993-94. He has had two hat tricks this season, including one against Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in a 5-4 win Dec. 9. The last two goals early in the third period rallied the Dutchmen from a 3-1 deficit. And in a 4-1 win Feb. 19 against Princeton, he scored the game’s first goal that helped Union clinch a first-round bye.
Valery-Trabucco takes a five-game goal-scoring streak, and an eight-game point-scoring streak (nine goals, five assists) into the quarterfinals.
“You hear it from coach all the time, the more he shoots the puck, the better the team we are,” said senior center and linemate Jason Walters. “He’s riding the hot stick, right now. That shot of his is lethal. When he uses it, we’re a better team.”
At Northwood, Valery-Trabucco was coached by Mark Morris, the former Clarkson head coach and one-time Union assistant coach under Charlie Morrison at Union. At the time, Valery-Trabucco didn’t know how important Morris’ influence would be on his college career.
“He was a great college coach at Clarkson,” Valery-Trabucco said. “He coached us like college players, even though we were in high school. That really helped me make the step from high school to college. I’m grateful I had him as a coach at Northwood.”
Morris, now the head coach of the American Hockey League’s Manchester Monarchs, saw great potential in Valery-Trabucco.
“He was a tremendously talented kid,” Morris said. “The college game was something I was familiar with, and I guess I had the inside track on what those guys needed to do to be successful at the next level. A young guy of his talent level just needed a little bit of guidance in learning how to defend, and learning how to get the puck back. His skating ability, and his vision and his creativity was apparent.
“There may have been a little tough love at the start until we got him playing with a little bit more structure, but he really bought in. Under the guidance of Nate Leaman, he’s taken it to the next level.”
After Valery-Trabucco’s college career is done, he should get a chance to sign with a professional team, whether it be NHL, AHL or ECHL.
“There’s no doubt in my mind he can play because he thinks the game well, and he knows what he wants to do with the puck,” Leaman said. “His release has beaten all the best goaltenders we’ve played against.”
Years from now, when Valery-Trabucco looks back at his Union career, he will be proud of what he accomplished. He hopes the career is capped with an ECACH tournament title.
“I’m going to look back and be happy that I was pretty successful,” Valery-Trabucco said. “But in the big picture, it’s all about the team. I’m going to look back and see what this program has accomplished in the four years, and be proud of that.”
