Guild men’s hockey needs to increase penalty kills

Thirteen days ago, Union College men’s hockey team’s penalty kill had a great game. The Dutch killed all six of Colorado College’s power games, including the main five minutes, and it was a big reason they earned a 2-1 win for their first win of the season.

But in their last three games, the penalty kills have been less than stellar. The Dutch team have allowed seven power-play goals in 14 shorthanded situations.

Union knows it has to shore up its penalty-killing unit, especially with ECAC Hockey games starting Friday night against Capital Territory rivals RPI at Messa Rink. In the six non-conference matches they have played, the Netherlands (1-4-1) have killed 19 of 29 power plays. That’s 65.5%, and that’s not good.

This is a combination of things that are detrimental to the Netherlands. One is a lack of discipline and taking some punishments prematurely.

Sophomore forward Bram Scheerer was an unfortunate victim in both games over the weekend against Lake Superior State. In last Friday’s 7-4 loss, the Dutch side trailed 5-4 when Scheerer was called upon for a goalkeeper intervention with 4:10 remaining in the third period. Harrison Roy scored a power-play, the Lakers’ third of the game, with 2:48 to go effectively killing Union hopes of tying the score.

With the score at 2-2 in last Saturday’s rematch, Scheerer went into the box for a high score at 11:18 of the third period. Timo Bakos scored 1:40 later to put the Lakers in front, and they won 5-2.

“PK starts with the coach and the fact that we need to be more disciplined,” Union head coach Rick Bennett said on Tuesday’s team media availability at Messa Rink. “We can’t continue [the penalty kill] five, six times a night, and it started with me. For me to help our coaching staff and the players at PK is [that] I have to deliver that message [that] we have to be a little more disciplined.”

About the penalty shoot-out at the end of the game, Bennett said, “It’s awareness of the game and, basically, time management, self-management. We messed up a bit, and it caught us a few times here. Hopefully, through the experiences we share here, we’ve come to know a little bit about it. So when we go into Friday night we’ve learned a lot in just six games…let’s just say our mistakes.”

Union senior forward and team captain Josh Kosack said penalty killers had to trust the system.

“It’s worked in the past,” said Kosack. “I think it’s just a bad record. We believe in the people who are coached out there. Everyone is willing to do what it takes to kill the punishment. But at the end of the day, we have to get the job done and we haven’t, so we definitely have to curb that.”

The Netherlands must be more disciplined when executing penalties. They couldn’t be caught running around in the defense zone.

“I would just think more straight lines, a little more stop and start,” said Bennett. “You can’t curl up and go round and round in PK. A good team will find your stitches, and they will burn you.”

NO MORE TICKETS

If you’re planning on buying tickets for Friday’s game, forget it. A Union Athletics spokesperson said there there are no more tickets available for the game, and no walkup sales will be available on Friday.

RPI’s policy of allowing only students, faculty, and staff for athletic events remains in effect.

INJURY UPDATE

Bennett said junior defender Dylan Anhorn and junior forward Owen Farris remained week after week with undisclosed injuries.

Anhorn has not played since the October 9 game against New Hampshire. Farris hasn’t played yet.

Categories: College Sports, Sports