My Thoughts on Union, Hobey, Tampa, and the Frozen Four

The 2011-12 ECAC Hockey season officially ended on Thursday as the Union College Dutchmen fell to Ferris State 3-1 in the Frozen Four semifinals. The league has yet to have a representative play for the national championship since Colgate in 1990.

I thought the Dutchmen didn't bring their best game to the big stage. They weren't able to get much going and looked sloppy and timid at times. The Bulldogs were excellent defensively and in their transition game, and in the end came up with the big plays. But, I thought Ferris played their best game of the weekend on Saturday in the 4-1 loss to Boston College. If the Dutchmen played with more poise, I think they could haveve definitely won that game. Against Boston College, well, that might have been a different story.

Mat Bodie was called for an elbow on this play

While Union hurt themselves with their play, I also felt they were hurt by the refereeing. The Dutchmen thrive on the power-play and were going up against the 10th most penalized team in the nation, which looked like a good matchup. But, the Dutchmen only received one man advantage (which didn't even last the full two minutes), while the Bulldogs received four PP opportunities, converting once. The one call the really stood out to me was when Josh Jooris was called for high-sticking with about 40 seconds left in Union's only power-play chance. I've watched about 50 college hockey games this year, and I think this call was the one of the worst I saw all season. In the play Ferris goalie Taylor Nelson covered up the puck, and one of the Ferris defenders put up his hands and then so did Jooris. They both hit in to each other, but the Ferris player fell, prompting the ref to call a penalty ONLY on Jooris. There shouldn't have been a penalty to either player anyways. I was shocked, especially since in another instance in the game, Union's Kevin Sullivan was sucker punched in the back of the head while driving the net on a shot and nothing was called. It was infuriating.

But, at the end of the day you have to earn your penalties and goals, and overcome adversity.

It was very depressing to see the Bulldogs score the empty netter, knowing that the season was over. But, I feel the Dutchmen have a good chance of being back next year. They have been building a great program and have been reaching new heights every year. But, as a league we are still... 1989 & Still Waiting.

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Austin Smith sitting on the far right

I was hoping the weekend could be salvaged on Friday with the announcement of the Hobey Baker Award. While all the candidates were definitely deserving of this great honor, Colgate's Austin Smith was definitely the most deserving candidate THIS SEASON. Just read my analysis of the candidates, and it's pretty obvious who should have won... SHOULD HAVE WON. Instead of Smith, Minnesota-Duluth's Jack Connolly won the award. Don't get me wrong, Connolly had a tremendous career (one that was better than Smith's), won a national championship, and was one of the best players during the past four seasons, but he was not better than Smith this season. I feel that Connolly was given the award based on his career achievements. But, this is not a CAREER award, it's an SINGLE SEASON award. Some voters might have discounted Smith's numbers because he played in the ECAC, which they might feel is "lesser" competition. To some extent I understand that, but this season was one of the tougher seasons in league history in a long time. I mean, seven of the 12 All-America East selections were from the ECAC. Austin Smith was robbed of this award, and the league is, once again, 1989 & Still Waiting. 

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Plaza in front of the Tampa Bay Times Forum

On a more positive note, I thought the city of Tampa did a great job hosting this great event. You could really tell that the people involved and the the city really cared about the event. There was great signage around the city and the events were well put together. I also thought the Tampa Bay Times Forum was a great venue. It's a very nice arena with good food, short lines, and other nice pieces to it. I liked the plaza where the Frozen Fest was held. But, I do have one big knock on the event... it didn't sell out. That's a HUGE for the event and college hockey as a whole. You have to sell out the Frozen Four. So, while maybe the event was great, maybe it wasn't good for the game as a whole. I do think the Frozen Four will be back in Tampa, but hopefully by that time the event will easily sell out.

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Overall, this was a very exciting but disappointing weekend for ECAC Hockey. But, the league and its members have a lot to be proud of. I think this season was a statement to the changing college hockey world saying that we're here to compete with the big boys and we can succeed doing it. Not only do we have great academics, but we have great teams and players. WATCH OUT AND RESPECT US! But, there is still more respect to be gained. I think many feel that until an ECAC team wins a national championship, that the league is a "lesser" league. Hopefully we don't have too much longer to wait for that moment. 

We will have to earn this moment: