Union takes care of Canisius
Dutchmen get out to a big lead, hold off the Golden Griffins in third
For a few minutes, there was a blip on the ice for Union College’s hockey team Saturday. It gave cause for concern, for sure, but the Dutchmen righted themselves and then dispatched of Canisius 5-3 in a nonleague game at Messa Rink.
In the first 40 minutes of the game, Union was mopping the Messa Rink ice with the Golden Griffins. The Dutchmen built a 4-1 lead and had a 32-9 advantage in shots on goal. Going into the final 20 minutes, this was going to be a breeze, a laugher.
And then it was anything but. Canisius put a mini-barrage on Union goalie Jake Kupsky in the first four minutes of the third and scored twice, turning the rout into a game. Canisius trailed 4-3 and had all the momentum.
“We came out a little lightly
(in the third period) and thought it would be too easy,” Union assistant captain Ryan Walker said. “They shoved it down our throats for the first four or five minutes and then the sense of urgency kicked in.”
Union (9-4-4), the 14th-ranked team in the country, got its game face back on and played the way it had before the start of the final period.
Union coach Rick Bennett said he was concerned with the way his team began the final period. He called his timeout, and gathered his team around the bench.
“We settled down,” Bennett said. “Early on in that period, we were not passing the test and then we did. It was kind of a tale of two periods. We were a little rugged and then we picked it up.”
Bennett said this effort was one of the strongest his team has given so far this year. He was not going to bark too much about the start of the third period. He was
happy with how the Dutchmen played in the first 40 minutes and the final 15 minutes of the third period.
Union got first-period goals from Sebastian Vidmar and Walker and then two more in the second from Michael Ryan and Zachary Emelifeonwu to take the commanding lead.
Canisius (6-9-2), which plays in Atlantic Hockey, tightened things up on goals from Austin Alger, his second of the game, and Mitchell Martan to start the third to cut its deficit to 4-3.
“I was happy with how we fought in the third period,” said Canisius coach Trevor Large. “I was disappointed in the effort we had in the first two. We had to have a sense of urgency and that is not a great recipe to win against anybody.”
Union ended the scoring when Brendan Taylor scored an emptynet goal with 44.6 seconds left after Large pulled freshman goalie Matt Ladd, who was making his first career start. He has only been with the team since Dec. 18.
In Friday night’s 2-2 tie, Canisius goalie Blake Weyrick stopped 42 of the 44 shots he saw. Large’s plan was to have Ladd play Saturday no matter what, but he admitted he thought about changing his mind after watching Weyrick play Friday.
Bennett said he did not go into this game trying to rattle the young Canisius goalie.
“When you face any goalie, you want to create a lot of traffic,” Bennett said. “That was the game plan whether it was (Ladd) or the other one. That’s how it works.”
Bennett did make some changes in the lineup, sitting junior defenseman Vas Kolias, who is considered the team’s best blue-liner, and winger Jack Adams, who has scored five goals this season. Of the 93 games Union has played since Kolias got on campus, this is just the fourth he has not played in.
Bennett said the reason he sat those two was a “coach’s decision.” But it was also a message being sent. He wasn’t happy with how those two played on Friday.
“Anytime there is a coach’s decision, there is usually a message behind it,” Bennett said. “Take it ... write it however you want.”