Union assistant joins Friars’ Hall of Fame

PHOTOGRAPHER: Ken Schott

Rick Bennett had many accomplishments during his four-year college hockey career at Provdence College. Tonight, the Union hockey associate head coach will be recognized for that.

Bennett will be inducted into the Providence Athletic Hall of Fame. Unfortunately, Bennett won’t be able to attend the ceremony. Between helping the ECAC Hockey regular-season-champion Dutchmen get ready for next weekend’s ECACH tournament quarterfinal series and recruiting, Bennett needs to stay in Schenectady.

“I am excited,” Bennett said. “I’ve got a great person who’s going to fill in for me, Joseph D’Antonio, who was the equipment person at that time. I couldn’t be more happy for him to accept it on my behalf.”

Bennett ranks 24th on Providence’s all-time scoring list with 134 points in 128 games. He was named the team’s most valuable player twice. He was named to the Hockey East All-Rookie Team in 1986-87, was a second team All-America pick in 1988-89 and a second team All-Hockey East selection in 1989-90. That season, Bennett was a finalist for the Hobey Baker Award.

The Friars reached the Hockey East tournament semifinals in 1988 and 1989. They won the 1989 third-place game, 3-2, over Northeastern.

“I’ve always felt that [being recognized] is such an individual award,” Bennett said. “There’s so much more that goes into it. All the people that helped you to get there. It’s nice to be recognized, but it’s not something I ever dreamed of. I went to Providence College to, first and foremost, get a degree, and second was to win a national championship. I got one of the two.”

That was a degree in liberal arts.

Bennett played forward and defense during his Providence career. If he was asked to play goalie, he probably would have done it.

“Again, it was a team thing,” Bennett said. “My sophomore year, they wanted me to go back on defense because on the PK [penalty kill], I used to go back on defense. At certain points of games, you would go back on defense to try and protect leads. Honestly, it was a great experience. It taught you playing the game, playing both sides of it.”

THIS WEEK IN UNION HISTORY

Time for another stroll down memory lane in Union hockey’s 20th year at the Division I level. These are games that didn’t make my top 20 list in the October special section.

u Union 5, Clarkson 3 (March 6, 2009).

Stephane Boileau’s goal at 7:05 of the third period snapped a 3-3 tie and lifted the Dutchmen past the Golden Knights in Game 1 of the ECAC Hockey tournament first-round series. Mario Valery-Trabucco scored twice, and Adam Presizniuk had a goal and two assists for Union, which won Game 1 of a playoff series for the first time since beating Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 4-3, in the quarterfinals.

u Union 2, Clarkson 1, OT (March 5, 2005).

In a first-round series that saw all three games decided in overtime, Scott Brady scored at 10:39 of OT to give the Dutchmen a win in Game 2 to even the series.

Top 50 players

The ninth edition of ECAC Hockey’s top 50 all-time players was announced Wednesday.

Heading the latest list is Quinnipiac defneseman Reid Cashman, who played for the Bobcats from 2003-07. Cashman’s first two years were spent in Atlantic Hockey before the Bobcats joined the ECACH in 2005. He was a two-time All-ECACH First Team (2006, 2007), and was the team captain when the Bobcats reached the ECACH tournament championship game in just their second year in the league.

Cashman had 82 points in 79 games in his two years in ECACH, and was the league’s top-scoring defenseman both years.

Also making the list is Harvard forward Scott Fusco, who played from 1982-83 and 1984-86. Fusco is one of only two players to win consecutive ECACH Player of the Year Awards, taking it in 1985 and 1986. RPI’s Bob Brinkworth (1963, 1964) was the first to do it.

Fusco, who played for the 1984 U.S. Olympic hockey team, won the 1986 Hobey Baker Award.

The rest of the honorees are Boston College defenseman Tom Mellor (1969-71, 1972-73), Providence defneseman Randy Velischek (1979-83) and Clarkson goalie Terry Yurkiewicz (1963-66).

The final list will be announced March 16.