17-20-37
Achilles Rink hosted a first-round postseason tournament game for the first time in Union's 12-year association with the Eastern College Athletic Conference's Division I ice hockey league. While the outcome was not what the Dutchmen were hoping for, 2-1 and 3-2 losses to Rensselaer, it was a milestone in a season filled with milestones.
The Dutchmen's sixth-place finish (thanks to their 10-10-2 ECAC record) was the team's highest finish since the 1996-97 squad finished a team-record fifth. Union finished with an overall record of 14-18-4 to improve its victory total for the fifth-straight season (despite the absence of scholarships, which Union does not give) under fifth-year head coach
Kevin Sneddon. The team's 10 ECAC victories fell just one short the the 11 accomplished by the 1996-97 squad.
The Garnet's prevous success in the league has been built on a strong defense that is supported by outstanding goaltending. This year the Dutchmen added a scoring punch to their resume as the squad finished with 105 goals, the highest total since the 1996-97 team scored 106.
Team accomplishments come on the heals of individual accomplishments, and the 2002-03 Dutchmen had many of those.
For the first time in its Division I history, Union had four players with over 30 points. The top scoring line of senior
Nathan Gillies (Cambridge, Ont./St. Benedicts)–who had 17 goals, 19 assists and 36 points–and sophomores
Jordan Webb (Nepean, Ont./McCrae Secondary)–17-20-37–and Joel Beal (Brantford, Ont./St. John's)–8-29-37–combined for 110 points. Beal and Webb established a team record for most points in a season with 37, breaking the old record of 35 shared by Chris Ford (Class of' '94) and Cory Holborough (Class of '95). Beal's 29 assists were also a team record, breaking the previous mark of 28 established by Troy Stevens during the 1993-94 campaign.
The Dutchmen also enjoyed their first-ever road sweeps during the St. Lawrence-Clarkson and Dartmouth-Vermont trips.
A pair of sellout crowds witnessed college hockey at its best during the weekend of March 7 & 8., A number of television viewers also got to enjoy the “Battle of Route 7” as the opening game was the ECAC's “Game of the Week” on the NESN and YES cable networks.