It's hard to believe that it was nine years ago when Union was last ranked in the USCHO.com NCAA hockey poll.
On Dec. 4, 2000, the Dutchmen were ranked 12th, when it was a top-15 poll. Now, nine years and three days later, they are back.
Union is ranked 20th in the poll that was released Monday afternoon. The Dutchmen earned 79 points, easily outdistancing Vermont. And there is a little bit of irony in that. Vermont coach Kevin Sneddon was the Dutchmen's coach when Union was last in the poll.
I have a vote in the poll, and I picked Union 14th. Why not? The Dutchmen have been on a roll, going 4-0-4 in their last eight games. They are the only team that is unbeaten in ECAC Hockey play at 3-0-3. They went unbeaten in November, capping the month by winning the Rensselaer Holiday Tournament title, doing with several key players missing because of suspension.
I was planning to go over to Union to get material for my story previewing Wednesday's game between the Dutchmen and RPI, so when I was told that the Dutchmen were solidly at No. 20, I knew I had to get some reaction.
I had a feeling that no one would be over excited about it. Union coach Nate Leaman said as much following Saturday's 2-2 tie with seventh-ranked Cornell.
"We don't put a lot into the polls, one way or the other," Leaman said. "Some of the teams in the polls are in chiefly on reputation, and not results and that's the way it goes. You have to earn your respect when you're a program like Union, and you're building like we're building. That's the bottom line."
And Leaman's attitude didn't change when I spoke to him early Monday afternoon.
"I don't put anything into it," Leaman said. "It's not worth putting anything into. It doesn't mean anything at this time of the year. It's not even something we're focused on. We're just focused on a big game against RPI [on Wednesday] right now."
And the players feel the same way.
"It's nice, but it doesn't mean a whole lot to us," forward Jason Walters said. "The game is played on the ice, no matter what you're ranked."
The only one who seemed excited about the possibility of Union being ranked was Cornell coach Mike Schafer. He praised the Dutchmen after Saturday's game.
"Union is probably one of the best teams, if not the best team, we've played this year," Schafer said. "Nate has done a great job with them. It's funny about polls. I have a hard time understanding why when people look across the country, they don't look at them as a ranked hockey team. They swept Maine at home. They're near the top of the league. They're a team that deserves to be in the top 15, as far as the country's concerned."
Union's ranking will probably rankle the RPI fans, which will make Wednesday's game at Houston Field House even more exciting.
It will be a big test for the Dutchmen. Instead of being the team trying to make an impression against ranked teams, they are the team that others will be trying to knock off and prove they aren't deserving of the ranking. It should be a great time at RPI on Wednesday.
The polls
Here are the polls. Union received eight points in the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine poll.
USCHO.com Division I Men's Poll
Team (First Place) Record Pts Last Week
1 Miami (36) 11-2-5 977 1
2 Denver (11) 10-4-2 956 2
3 North Dakota 9-5-2 860 3
4 Bemidji State (2) 13-2-1 843 5
5 Cornell (1) 7-2-2 756 7
6 Colorado College 10-4-2 726 6
7 Quinnipiac 12-3-0 635 4
8 Yale 7-3-2 606 10
9 Mass.-Lowell 9-5-1 578 8
10 Boston College 8-3-2 542 15
11 Wisconsin 10-5-1 489 16
12 Minnesota Duluth 10-5-1 438 12
13 Ferris State 11-3-2 419 17
14 Michigan State 10-6-2 399 11
15 Massachusetts 9-5-0 383 9
16 Alaska 8-4-4 233 12
17 St. Cloud State 8-6-2 194 20
18 Notre Dame 7-7-4 127 14
19 New Hampshire 7-6-3 112 NR
20 Union 7-3-5 79 NR
Others receiving votes: Vermont 47, Michigan 30, RIT 27, Nebraska-Omaha 17, Northern Michigan 10, Maine 8, Colgate 7, Air Force 2.
USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine Men's College Hockey Poll
(First-place votes in parentheses)
Rank School Last Poll's Ranking 2009-10 Record Weeks in Top-15
1 Miami University, 505 (29) 1 11-2-5 10
2 University of Denver, 478 (5) 2 10-4-2 10
3 University of North Dakota, 426 3 9-5-2 10
4 Bemidji State University, 398 4 13-2-1 7
5 Cornell University, 358 7 7-2-2 10
6 Colorado College, 328 5 10-4-2 7
7 Yale University, 287 10 7-3-2 10
8 Quinnipiac University, 239 6 12-3-0 4
9 University of Massachusetts Lowell, 223 8 9-5-1 10
10 Boston College, 207 14 8-3-2 7
11 University of Wisconsin, 162 NR 10-5-1 3
12 Ferris State University, 116 NR 11-3-2 1
13 Michigan State University, 113 11 10-6-2 5
14 University of Minnesota Duluth, 104 12 10-5-1 4
15 University of Massachusetts, 79 9 9-5-0 5
Others receiving votes: University of Alaska, 19; University of New Hampshire, 11; Union, 8; St. Cloud State University, 6; University of Notre Dame, 4; Northern Michigan University, 3; Rochester Institute of Technology, 3; Colgate University, 1; University of Michigan, 1; University of Nebraska Omaha, 1.
Two Dutchmen honored
More good news for the Dutchmen. They had two players honored by the ECACH.
Senior forward Mario Valery-Trabucco was named player of the week. He had two goals and two assists in the weekend games against Colgate and Cornell.
Freshman goalie Keith Kinkaid was named rookie of the week for the second time this season. Kinkaid, who leads ECACH goalies with a 1.71 goals-against average in league play, had 57 saves in the two games, including a career-high 31 in Friday's 3-1 win over Colgate.
It's the second straight week Kinkaid has won an award. He won goalie of the week last week.
Daily Gazette ECACH team of the week — Brown
One award Union won't get is my weekly award. That is going to Brown.
The Bears won three games last week, beating Harvard on the road and an impressive home sweep of Princeton and Quinnipiac over the weekend.
A big reason for the Bears' success is goalie Mike Clemente. He had 100 saves in the three games.
After starting the season 0-7-1, Brown has won four straight.
Feola to Olympics
ECAC Hockey referee Peter Feola is going to the Winter Olympics.
Feola will serve as a linesmen for the Olympic men's hockey tournament, it was announced Monday.
Feola has been an ECACH official since the 1998-99 season. He is also a linesmen in the AHL. He has worked the World Junior Championships in 2002, 2003 and 2008, and the World Championships in 2004, 2005 and 2007.
Meet the parents
I had a chance, along with the Union radio broadcast team of Matt DuBrey and Brian Unger, had a chance to meet some of the Union players' parents prior to Saturday's game.
It was nice to talk to them, and I want to thank them for all the kind words to say about my coverage. It is very much appreciated.
If you have any comments, post them below, or e-mail them to me at schott@dailygazette.com.
