Greetings from Messa Rink, where it's time for ECAC Hockey action between Union and defending league champion Yale. The game is being televised by Time Warner Cable channel 3.
The Dutchmen are coming off Friday's 3-3 tie against Brown. The Dutchmen had to rally from a 3-1 deficit to get the tie. Union gave up two short-handed goals in the game, and its power play was just 1-for-6.
After sitting out last night's game for their undisciplined penalties in last Friday's game against RPI, forwards Stephane Boileau and Brian Yanovitch are back in the lineup. They will be on the third line centered by Kelly Zajac. Kyle Bodie and Luke Cain are scratched.
Union coach Nate Leaman is keeping the top two lines intact, and it's doubtful that the line of Adam Presizniuk, Jason Walters and Mario Valery-Trabucco will be back together any time soon. Presizniuk was on the line with the Simpson brothers, while Jeremy Welsh played with Walters and Valery-Trabucco.
"I'll be honest, I haven't found the right chemistry with any of our lines," Leaman said after last night's game. "It's one of the things we've struggled with this year so far.
"I won't go back with 'Prez,' Trabucco and 'Wally.' When those three guys have played together, they are looking to the other guy to do the work a little bit."
Here is Union's lineup, starting with the forwards (LW-C-RW):
Jeremy Welsh/Jason Walters/Mario Valery-Trabucco
Adam Presizniuk/John Simpson/Wayne Simpson
Brian Yanovitch/Kelly Zajac/Stephane Boileau
Andrew Buote/Jon Lareau/Jason Shaffer
The defensive pairings are:
Mike Wakita/Greg Coburn
Brock Matheson/Ryan Forgaard
Mike Schreiber/Shawn Stuart
Corey Milan will start in goal.
Sixth-ranked Yale is smarting after last night's 5-2 loss to RPI. The Bulldogs fell behind, 2-0, rallied to tie it and then watched the Engineers score three unanswered goals to pull away.
The Bulldogs' forwards are:
Antoine Laganiere/Andrew Miller/Josh Balch
Denny Kearney/Kevin Limbert/Broc Little
Brian O'Neill/Mark Arcobello/Sean Backman
Jeff Anderson/Brendan Mason/Charles Brockett
The defensive pairings are:
Kevin Peel/Colin Dueck
Mike Matczak/Ken Trentowski
Ryan Donald/Jimmy Martin
Ryan Rondeau will start in goal.
Scott Whittemore and Jay Durfee are the referees. Brett Reed and Marc Sullivan are the linesmen.
I will have live updates on my "Parting Schotts" blog, as well as on Twitter. Also, I will be the first intermission guest with Brian Unger on WRUC-FM (89.7) an Teamline.
