ALBANY — At last year’s ECAC Hockey men’s media day, Union coach Nate Leaman wasn’t concerned at all that his team was picked to finish in last place, which is where the Dutchmen finished in the 2006-07 season.

Union men's hockey coach Nate Leaman discusses the team's high ranking in preseason ECAC Hockey polls.
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When it was announced at Monday’s media day at the Hilton Garden Inn-Albany Med/University Heights that the Dutchmen, coming off last season’s program-best fourth-place finish, were picked to finish in the upper half of the league standings, Leaman had the same reaction.

“I’ll say what I said last year: These polls are so scientific,” Leaman said, tongue firmly in cheek.

Still, it was a special day for the Dutchmen. The coaches picked them to finish fifth in their poll, while the media has them finishing sixth.

It’s the first time the Dutchmen have been picked to finish that high since joining the Division I ranks in 1991. The highest they ever finished in the coaches’ poll was seventh, in 1994-95. In the media poll, the highest Union was ever picked was eighth, in 2005-06 and 2006-07.

The Dutchmen have been picked to finish last by the coaches six times, and the media three times.

“Realistically, the polls are nice,” Leaman said. “I think they’re inherently an outside look, on paper, of what people measure a talent of a team to be. But talent does not win games in this league. Talent gives you a chance to win games. Ultimately, it’s the team with talent that comes together, and works the hardest and plays the best as a team that wins games in this league.

“It’s going to be a tough battle. We’re going to try to manage the expectations, and try not to get too far ahead of ourselves and take it one game at a time.”

Not only did the Dutchmen

(10-7-5 ECACH, 15-14-6 overall) finish fourth, they earned their first-ever ECACH tournament first-round bye. They got to host a best-of-three quarterfinal series at home against fifth-seeded Cornell. A

series win would have meant Union’s first trip to the semifinals.

But the Big Red came to Messa Rink and swept the Dutchmen, winning two one-goal games. It’s a loss that still sticks with senior forward Matt Cook, who watched the championship round at the Times Union Center.

“You go down and see that tournament, obviously, you want to be there,” Cook said. “You feel like you should be there, and you want to play in that tournament. . . . We feel like we left the party a little early.”

The Dutchmen return 21 players from last year’s team. Sophomore forward Adam Presizniuk was their leading scorer last season with seven goals and 18 assists. Cook was the only other Dutchmen to reach double figures in goals with 10.

“We know we need to pick up our scoring from last year,” Cook said. “The coaching staff is working with us forwards on that. We have a lot of talent coming back, so we’ll be all right.”

There was another first for Union. Senior defenseman Lane Caffaro was chosen for the preseason all-conference team by the coaches and media. It is the first time a Union player has been

selected for that honor.

Caffaro was an All-ECACH second-team selection last year.

“He certainly is a high-end

defenseman within our league, and we’re very proud to have him recognized,” Leaman said. “Lane has been a rock back there. He’s an excellent captain. We put the ‘C’ on his jersey at Christmas last year, and we won 11 games after Christmas.”

RPI NEAR BOTTOM

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute was picked to finish ninth by the media, and 10th by the coaches.

The Engineers (6-13-3, 11-23-4) are coming off a 10th-place finish. They were 6-3-2 in their first 11 games, but went 5-20-2 the rest of the way. The Engineers suffered through a 10-game losing streak. During a

16-game stretch, they were 1-14-1. They were swept by Yale in the first round of the ECACH tourn­ament, with both games being decided in overtime.

Taking the same approach that Leaman did, RPI coach Seth

Appert isn’t fretting about where the Engineers were picked.

“The polls are for the fans, and for the media,” Appert said. “We like the polls because of that. You can take it with a little inspiration. But that’s so fleeting. That can maybe give you a little boost for a game or two, but they can’t give you a boost for the season.

“The motivational factors have to come from the inside. They have to come from the guys we have in that locker room. They have to have the determination and mindset that we’re going to take it upon ourselves to start making headway back into the upper half of the league.”

Recruit Delayed

Union recruit and Swedish defenseman Carl Ekstrom won’t begin his freshman year until the second trimester, Leaman said.

According to Leaman, Ekstrom is resolving some personal matters, and asked to delay his start with the school.