2021–22 Union Dutchmen ice hockey season

2021–22 Union Dutchmen
ice hockey season
2021–22 Union Dutchmen; ice hockey season
Conference	7th ECAC Hockey
Home ice	Achilles Center
Rankings
USCHO	NR
USA Today	NR
Record
Overall	14–19–4
Conference	9–11–2
Home	8–6–2
Road	5–13–1
Neutral	1–0–0
Coaches and captains
Head coach	Rick Bennett (resigned); John Ronan (interim)
Assistant coaches	T. J. Manastersky
Captain(s)	Josh Kosack
Alternate captain(s)	Dylan Anhorn; Gabriel Seger
	Union Dutchmen ice hockey seasons; « 2020–21 2022–23 »

The 2021–22 Union Dutchmen ice hockey season was the 81st season of play for the program and the 30th season in the ECAC Hockey conference. The Dutchmen represented Union College and played their home games at Achilles Center, and were coached by Rick Bennett, in his 10th season.

Season

After losing the entirety of their previous season to the COVID-19 pandemic, Union got a slow start to their season. Neither the offense nor the defense were effective during the first month of the season but, once November rolled around, the Dutchmen began to show some promise. Inconsistent play had the team floating in the middle of the ECAC Hockey standings and by the winter break the team well out of the running for the NCAA tournament.

On January 19, the Union administration received an allegation regarding the conduct of head coach Rick Bennett. He was placed on paid administrative leave the following day when an investigation began and assistant coach John Ronan took over day-to-day responsibilities.^[1] Nine days later, after the investigation confirmed the allegation about 'coaching style and practices', Bennett resigned from his position.^[2] At the same time, Ronan was confirmed as the interim head coach and would remain in that position until at least the end of the season.

There was a brief uptick in the team's play during the transition but the team flagged in February, slipping down into the bottom third of the conference. Union managed to win its final two regular season games which pushed the team up to 7th and enabled the club to have a home date for the first round of the conference tournament.

The strong play that had suddenly appeared at the end continued into the postseason and Union was dominant in their two wins over Princeton. The team appeared to have turned a corner under Ronan and gave Clarkson everything they had. Against the second-seeded Golden Knights, Murphy was under a wither barrage of shots but he kept his team in both games, allowing the Dutchmen to tie the score on four separate occasions and push both matches into overtime. While the Dutchmen didn't have the firepower to win either contest, the team acquitted themselves well after a very trying campaign.

Departures

Player	Position	Nationality	Cause
Drew Blackmun	Forward	United States	Graduation (retired)
Taylor Brierly	Defenseman	United States	Transferred to (Wilkes)
Sean Harrison	Forward	United States	Graduation (retired)

Recruiting

Player	Position	Nationality	Age	Notes
Cullen Ferguson	Defenseman	Canada	20	Binbrook, ON
Collin Graf	Forward	United States	19	Lincoln, MA
Michael Hodge	Forward	Canada	21	Calgary, AB
Connor Murphy	Goaltender	United States	23	Hudson Falls, NY; transfer from (Northeastern)
Josh Phillips	Defenseman	United States	20	Getzville, NY
Tom Richter	Forward	United States	21	Greenwich, CT
Andrew Seaman	Forward	United States	21	Winnetka, IL
Joe Sharib	Goaltender	United States	20	Natick, MA
Caden Villegas	Forward	United States	20	Plano, TX

Roster

As of September 25, 2021.^[3]

No.	Player	Class	Pos	Height	Weight	DoB	Hometown	Previous team	NHL rights
1	Garrett Nieto	Junior	G	6' 3" (1.91 m)	245 lb (111 kg)	1998-05-15	Yorba Linda, California	Janesville (NAHL)	—
2	Josh Phillips	Freshman	D	6' 2" (1.88 m)	190 lb (86 kg)	2001-05-24	Getzville, New York	Minnesota Wilderness (NAHL)	—
4	Dylan Anhorn (A)	Junior	D	6' 0" (1.83 m)	183 lb (83 kg)	1999-01-21	Calgary, Alberta	Prince George (BCHL)	—
5	Nic Petruolo	Sophomore	D	6' 2" (1.88 m)	195 lb (88 kg)	2000-01-29	Neshanic Station, New Jersey	Green Bay (USHL)	—
6	Cullen Ferguson	Freshman	D	6' 0" (1.83 m)	185 lb (84 kg)	2001-02-16	Binbrook, Ontario	Aberdeen (NAHL)	—
7	Brandon Estes	Senior	D	6' 0" (1.83 m)	185 lb (84 kg)	1998-02-13	Richardson, Texas	Youngstown (USHL)	—
8	Chaz Smedsrud	Junior	F	6' 2" (1.88 m)	195 lb (88 kg)	1998-06-04	Luverne, Minnesota	Madison (USHL)	—
9	Gleb Murtazin	Sophomore	F	6' 3" (1.91 m)	205 lb (93 kg)	2000-10-26	Penza, Russia	Amarillo (NAHL)	—
10	Ryan Sidorski	Senior	D	6' 2" (1.88 m)	215 lb (98 kg)	1999-10-02	Williamsville, New York	Buffalo (OJHL)	—
11	Gabriel Seger (A)	Junior	F	6' 4" (1.93 m)	210 lb (95 kg)	1999-11-15	Uppsala, Sweden	Amarillo (NAHL)	—
12	Fletcher Fineman	Senior	D	6' 3" (1.91 m)	197 lb (89 kg)	1999-02-17	Lake Worth, Florida	Springfield (NAHL)	—
13	Tyler Watkins	Sophomore	F	5' 9" (1.75 m)	175 lb (79 kg)	1999-12-19	Hermantown, Minnesota	Minnesota Wilderness (NAHL)	—
14	Andrew Seaman	Freshman	F	5' 10" (1.78 m)	170 lb (77 kg)	2000-04-21	Winnetka, Illinois	Prince George (BCHL)	—
15	Thomas Richter	Freshman	F	6' 1" (1.85 m)	175 lb (79 kg)	2000-06-06	Greenwich, Connecticut	Penticton (BCHL)	—
16	Christian Sanda	Junior	F	6' 0" (1.83 m)	185 lb (84 kg)	1998-03-13	Vadnais Heights, Minnesota	Coquitlam (BCHL)	—
17	Matt Allen	Junior	F	6' 2" (1.88 m)	185 lb (84 kg)	1999-03-14	Smithfield, Rhode Island	Boston Jr. Bruins (NCDC)	—
18	Ville Immonen	Sophomore	F	6' 2" (1.88 m)	205 lb (93 kg)	1999-06-18	Seinäjoki, Finland	Minot (NAHL)	—
19	Liam Robertson	Sophomore	F	6' 2" (1.88 m)	170 lb (77 kg)	2000-05-14	Courtice, Ontario	Youngstown (USHL)	—
20	Collin Graf	Freshman	F	6' 0" (1.83 m)	180 lb (82 kg)	2002-09-21	Lincoln, Massachusetts	Boston Jr. Bruins (NCDC)	—
21	Michael Ryan	Senior	D	5' 10" (1.78 m)	175 lb (79 kg)	1997-01-19	Marion, Massachusetts	West Kelowna (BCHL)	—
22	Bram Scheerer	Sophomore	F	6' 3" (1.91 m)	205 lb (93 kg)	1999-06-03	Edina, Minnesota	Minnesota Wilderness (NAHL)	—
23	Trevor Adams	Sophomore	F	5' 9" (1.75 m)	165 lb (75 kg)	1999-08-19	Muskegon, Michigan	Chilliwack (BCHL)	—
24	Alex Cohen	Junior	F	6' 0" (1.83 m)	180 lb (82 kg)	1998-06-15	Boca Raton, Florida	Northeast (NAHL)	—
25	Owen Farris	Junior	F	6' 3" (1.91 m)	212 lb (96 kg)	2000-06-08	Dallas, Texas	MUskegon (USHL)	—
26	Nathan Kelly	Sophomore	D	6' 0" (1.83 m)	185 lb (84 kg)	2000-11-22	South Delta, British Columbia	Chilliwack (BCHL)	—
27	Josh Kosack (C)	Senior	F	6' 0" (1.83 m)	180 lb (82 kg)	1997-06-25	Oakville, Ontario	Green Bay (USHL)	—
28	Caden Villegas	Freshman	F	5' 8" (1.73 m)	165 lb (75 kg)	2001-02-19	Plano, Texas	Tri-City (USHL)	—
29	Michael Hodge	Freshman	F	5' 8" (1.73 m)	157 lb (71 kg)	2000-05-30	Calgary, Alberta	Fort McMurray (AJHL)	—
31	Connor Murphy	Junior	G	6' 4" (1.93 m)	200 lb (91 kg)	1998-09-01	Hudson Falls, New York	Northeastern (HEA)	—
33	Merek Pipes	Junior	G	5' 11" (1.8 m)	170 lb (77 kg)	1998-11-12	Cobble Hill, British Columbia	Swan Valley (MJHL)	—
35	Joe Sharib	Freshman	G	5' 11" (1.8 m)	165 lb (75 kg)	2001-08-16	Natick, Massachusetts	Connecticut (NCDC)	—

Standings

2021–22 ECAC Hockey Standings v t e
	Conference record										Overall record
	GP	W	L	T	OTW	OTL	3/SW	PTS	GF	GA	GP	W	L	T	GF	GA
#8 Quinnipiac †	22	17	4	1	0	1	1	54	71	14	42	32	7	3	139	53
#17 Clarkson	22	14	4	4	0	2	3	51	86	47	37	21	10	6	123	85
#15 Harvard *	22	14	6	2	0	0	2	46	69	46	35	21	11	3	116	82
Cornell	22	12	6	4	2	1	0	39	73	47	32	18	10	4	100	72
Colgate	22	9	9	4	1	0	3	33	55	57	40	18	18	4	111	112
Rensselaer	22	10	12	0	0	0	0	30	58	63	44	18	23	3	114	119
Union	22	9	11	2	3	1	0	27	52	66	37	14	19	4	89	110
St. Lawrence	22	7	10	5	2	0	2	26	44	60	37	11	19	7	72	110
Brown	22	6	12	4	0	1	2	25	36	61	31	7	20	4	50	100
Princeton	22	7	14	1	0	1	0	23	54	89	31	8	21	2	70	122
Yale	22	7	14	1	3	1	1	21	38	60	30	8	21	1	55	90
Dartmouth	22	5	15	2	0	3	1	21	45	71	32	7	22	3	69	110
Championship: March 19, 2022 † indicates conference regular season champion (Cleary Cup) * indicates conference tournament champion (Whitelaw Cup) Rankings: USCHO.com Top 20 Poll

Schedule and results

Date	Time	Opponent^#	Site	Decision	Result	Attendance	Record
Exhibition
October 2	4:00 PM	Rensselaer*	Achilles Rink • Schenectady, New York (Exhibition)		L 2–5	0
Regular Season
October 8	7:00 PM	at New Hampshire*	Whittemore Center • Durham, New Hampshire	Murphy	L 1–4	3,409	0–1–0
October 9	7:00 PM	at New Hampshire*	Whittemore Center • Durham, New Hampshire	Murphy	L 2–3	3,273	0–2–0
October 15	7:00 PM	Colorado College*	Achilles Rink • Schenectady, New York	Murphy	W 2–1	1,435	1–2–0
October 16	7:00 PM	Colorado College*	Achilles Rink • Schenectady, New York	Murphy	T 3–3	0	1–2–1
October 22	7:00 PM	at Lake Superior State*	Taffy Abel Arena • Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan	Murphy	L 4–7	1,109	1–3–1
October 23	7:00 PM	at Lake Superior State*	Taffy Abel Arena • Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan	Murphy	L 2–5	965	1–4–1
October 29	7:00 PM	Rensselaer	Achilles Rink • Schenectady, New York	Murphy	L 2–4	1,738	1–5–1 (0–1–0)
October 30	7:00 PM	at Rensselaer	Houston Field House • Troy, New York	Murphy	L 0–3	693	1–6–1 (0–2–0)
November 5	7:00 PM	Clarkson	Achilles Rink • Schenectady, New York	Murphy	W 4–3 ^OT	1,691	2–6–1 (1–2–0)
November 6	7:00 PM	St. Lawrence	Achilles Rink • Schenectady, New York	Nieto	T 2–2 ^SOL	1,594	2–6–2 (1–2–1)
November 12	7:00 PM	at #13 Cornell	Lynah Rink • Ithaca, New York	Murphy	L 1–4	2,411	2–7–2 (1–3–1)
November 13	7:00 PM	at Colgate	Class of 1965 Arena • Hamilton, New York	Murphy	W 2–0	528	3–7–2 (2–3–1)
November 27	4:00 PM	at Merrimack*	J. Thom Lawler Rink • North Andover, Massachusetts	Murphy	W 3–2	1,746	4–7–2
December 3	7:00 PM	Princeton	Achilles Rink • Schenectady, New York	Murphy	W 1–0 ^OT	1,250	5–7–2 (3–3–1)
December 4	7:00 PM	#4 Quinnipiac	Achilles Rink • Schenectady, New York	Murphy	L 0–4	1,723	5–8–2 (3–4–1)
December 10	7:30 PM	at Maine*	Alfond Arena • Orono, Maine	Murphy	T 1–1	2,631	5–8–3
December 11	5:00 PM	at Maine*	Alfond Arena • Orono, Maine	Murphy	L 3–4	3,065	5–9–3
January 8	7:00 PM	at #19 Harvard	Bright-Landry Hockey Center • Boston, Massachusetts	Murphy	L 1–4	250	5–10–3 (3–5–1)
January 14	7:00 PM	at St. Lawrence	Appleton Arena • Canton, New York	Murphy	W 3–2 ^OT	492	6–10–3 (4–5–1)
January 15	7:00 PM	at Clarkson	Cheel Arena • Potsdam, New York	Murphy	L 2–8	2,336	6–11–3 (4–6–1)
January 21	7:00 PM	Brown	Achilles Rink • Schenectady, New York	Murphy	W 3–1	1,493	7–11–3 (5–6–1)
January 22	7:00 PM	Yale	Achilles Rink • Schenectady, New York	Murphy	L 2–3 ^OT	1,572	7–12–3 (5–7–1)
January 26	7:00 PM	at Dartmouth	Thompson Arena • Hanover, New Hampshire	Murphy	W 3–2	118	8–12–3 (6–7–1)
January 29	2:00 PM	vs. Rensselaer*	Times Union Center • Albany, New York (Mayor's Cup)	Murphy	W 2–0	4,222	9–12–3
February 1	7:00 PM	Long Island*	Times Union Center • Albany, New York	Murphy	L 1–4	1,252	9–13–3
February 4	7:00 PM	at #2 Quinnipiac	People's United Center • Hamden, Connecticut	Murphy	L 1–2	2,939	9–14–3 (6–8–1)
February 5	7:00 PM	at Princeton	Hobey Baker Memorial Rink • Princeton, New Jersey	Murphy	W 7–3	1,256	10–14–3 (7–8–1)
February 11	7:00 PM	Colgate	Achilles Rink • Schenectady, New York	Murphy	L 4–6	1,325	10–15–3 (7–9–1)
February 12	7:00 PM	#16 Cornell	Achilles Rink • Schenectady, New York	Murphy	L 2–5	1,721	10–16–3 (7–10–1)
February 18	7:00 PM	at Yale	Ingalls Rink • New Haven, Connecticut	Murphy	L 2–3	903	10–17–3 (7–11–1)
February 19	7:00 PM	at Brown	Meehan Auditorium • Providence, Rhode Island	Murphy	T 2–2 ^SOL	537	10–17–4 (7–11–2)
February 25	7:00 PM	Harvard	Achilles Rink • Schenectady, New York	Murphy	W 5–3	1,551	11–17–4 (8–11–2)
February 26	7:00 PM	Dartmouth	Achilles Rink • Schenectady, New York	Murphy	W 3–2 ^OT	1,537	12–17–4 (9–11–2)
ECAC Hockey Tournament
March 4	7:00 PM	Princeton*	Achilles Rink • Schenectady, New York (First Round game 1)	Murphy	W 3–2	1,473	13–17–4
March 5	7:00 PM	Princeton*	Achilles Rink • Schenectady, New York (First Round game 2)	Murphy	W 5–1	1,435	14–17–4
Union Won Series 2–0
March 11	7:00 PM	at #17 Clarkson*	Cheel Arena • Potsdam, New York (Quarterfinal game 1)	Murphy	L 2–3 ^OT	1,847	14–18–4
March 12	7:00 PM	at #17 Clarkson*	Cheel Arena • Potsdam, New York (Quarterfinal game 2)	Murphy	L 4–5 ^OT	2,077	14–19–4
Union Lost Series 0–2
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from USCHO.com Poll. All times are in Eastern Time. Source:^[4]

Scoring statistics

Name	Position	Games	Goals	Assists	Points	PIM
Brandon Estes	D	37	7	22	29	10
Collin Graf	C/RW	37	11	11	22	10
Gabriel Seger	C/LW	34	7	14	21	21
Dylan Anhorn	D	29	7	13	20	6
Liam Robertson	C	35	13	6	19	18
Chaz Smedsrud	LW	37	5	11	16	10
Tyler Watkins	F	34	4	12	16	4
Josh Kosack	RW	37	8	6	14	12
Michael Hodge	F	34	5	5	10	12
Cullen Ferguson	D	37	0	10	10	22
Owen Farris	F	22	3	5	8	12
Caden Villegas	F	32	3	5	8	10
Matthew Allen	C	25	2	5	7	6
Christian Sanda	F	24	3	3	6	25
Ville Immonen	C	37	3	3	6	12
Nicolas Petruolo	D	27	1	5	6	26
Andrew Seaman	F	23	3	2	5	4
Gleb Murtazin	RW	16	2	1	3	12
Bram Scheerer	LW	8	0	3	3	25
Nathan Kelly	D	32	0	3	3	6
Ryan Sidorski	D	35	0	3	3	22
Trevor Adams	F	13	0	2	2	4
Tom Richter	F	11	1	0	1	0
Michael Ryan	D	16	1	0	1	0
Joe Sharib	G	1	0	0	0	0
Alex Cohen	C	3	0	0	0	2
Garrett Nieto	G	3	0	0	0	0
Josh Phillips	D	12	0	0	0	10
Fletcher Fineman	D	14	0	0	0	0
Connor Murphy	G	37	0	0	0	4
Bench	-	-	-	-	-	4
Total			89	150	239	309

^[5]

Goaltending statistics

Name	Games	Minutes	Wins	Losses	Ties	Goals Against	Saves	Shut Outs	SV %	GAA
Joe Sharib	1	5	0	0	0	0	1	0	1.000	0.00
Connor Murphy	37	2123	14	18	3	94	1060	3	.919	2.66
Garrett Nieto	3	115	0	1	1	8	42	0	.840	4.18
Empty Net	-	22	-	-	-	8	-	-	-	-
Total	37	2268	14	19	4	110	1103	3	.903	2.91

Rankings

Poll	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25 (Final)
USCHO.com	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	-	NR
USA Today	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR

Note: USCHO did not release a poll in week 24.^[6]

Awards and honors

Player	Award	Ref
Josh Kosack	ECAC Hockey Student-Athlete of the Year	^[7]
Brandon Estes	ECAC Hockey Third Team	^[8]

References

^ "Report: Union men's hockey coach Bennett being investigated after allegation, placed on paid administrative leave". USCHO. January 20, 2022. Retrieved January 29, 2022.
^ "Union men's hockey coach Bennett steps down after 'an allegation about his coaching style and practices that was substantiated through an investigation by the college'". USCHO. January 29, 2022. Retrieved January 29, 2022.
^ "Men's Ice Hockey Roster". Union College. Retrieved January 25, 2021.
^ "Union 2021-22 Team Schedule". College Hockey Inc. Retrieved February 2, 2022.
^ "Union College 2021-2022 Skater Stats". Elite Prospects. Retrieved March 7, 2020.
^ "USCHO Division I Men's Poll". USCHO.com. Retrieved November 26, 2019.
^ "Josh Kosack Named 2022 Student-Athlete of the Year". ECAC Hockey. March 17, 2022. Retrieved March 16, 2022.
^ "ECAC Hockey Announces 2022 Third-Team All-League". ECAC Hockey. March 9, 2022. Retrieved March 16, 2022.

[1] "Report: Union men's hockey coach Bennett being investigated after allegation, placed on paid administrative leave". USCHO. January 20, 2022. Retrieved January 29, 2022.

[2] "Union men's hockey coach Bennett steps down after 'an allegation about his coaching style and practices that was substantiated through an investigation by the college'". USCHO. January 29, 2022. Retrieved January 29, 2022.

[3] "Men's Ice Hockey Roster". Union College. Retrieved January 25, 2021.

[4] "Union 2021-22 Team Schedule". College Hockey Inc. Retrieved February 2, 2022.

[5] "Union College 2021-2022 Skater Stats". Elite Prospects. Retrieved March 7, 2020.

[6] "USCHO Division I Men's Poll". USCHO.com. Retrieved November 26, 2019.

[7] "Josh Kosack Named 2022 Student-Athlete of the Year". ECAC Hockey. March 17, 2022. Retrieved March 16, 2022.

[8] "ECAC Hockey Announces 2022 Third-Team All-League". ECAC Hockey. March 9, 2022. Retrieved March 16, 2022.

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