The Union College Dutchmen mens’ hockey team opens their regular season this weekend, traveling to Ann Arbor to face off against the Michigan Wolverines.
Michigan has been a force in the college hockey ranks for years, and they finished last season at 25-8-5, and were ranked 6th in the final poll last year. They are ranked #11 in this year’s preseason poll. However, they lost a lot from last year’s team, and will be somewhat inexperienced this season. A strong recruiting class helped the Wolverines earn the 11-spot in the preseason, a spot that they will look to prove they belong in this weekend. Zach Nagelvoort will take the reins as the starting goaltender, and he played well in the team’s preseason meeting with Windsor. They also got an encouraging sign with a nice goal from Nick Pastujov, the freshman who missed much of the summer following a shoulder injury.
For the Dutchmen, they will need all hands on deck to win this series. Alex Sakellaropoulos looks to build on his strong campaign last season, where he posted a 2.32 goals-against-average while recording a .921 Save Percentage. They also have Mike Vecchione (Preseason All-ECAC, 29 points last season) and Spencer Foo (25 points last season) returning. They’ll take a nice step forward this year after finishing under .500 last season, but they still have a little ways to go if they want to get back to the Frozen Four, where they won the national title in 2014. The big key to this opening weekend series is Sakellaropoulos. Michigan boasted the highest goals-per-game in the nation last year, and they should have a very talented offense again this year. Union will need Sakellaropoulos to be on his game in order to come out of the weekend with some wins.
