When I posted the blog last Wednesday about Union coach Nate Leaman being undecided about who would start in goal for the Dutchmen's weekend series in the North Country, I could hear the team's fans shaking their heads. With the team having such a powerful offense, the last thing they wanted to hear was that the Dutchmen having a goalie problem.

Leaman wasn't happy with Corey Milan's effort the previous two games against Brown and Yale. He allowed six goals in those games, and four of them could have been stopped.

Keith Kinkaid had only played in two games, and just one at Messa Rink. That game at Messa didn't inspire confidence as he allowed four first-period goals against Sacred Heart. Kinkaid was lifted after the period, and hadn't played since. For a guy who posted a 30-5 record with a 1.78 goals-against average, a .935 save percentage and seven shutouts for the North American League's St. Louis Bandits last season, and then went 10-2 with a 1.15 GAA, a .951 save percentage and three shutouts in leading the team to the NAHL title, this certainly wasn't what Kinkaid expected, nor Leaman and the fans.

But we may have seen a new No. 1 goalie emerge after the Dutchmen swept St. Lawrence and Clarkson. Kinkaid was sharp. He allowed four goals, none of which were his fault, although he believed he should have stopped the goal by St. Lawrence's Derek Keller late in the third period of Friday's 4-3 win. But I had a good view of it, and Kinkaid was screened as the shot from the top of the right circle flew over his right shoulder. The goal he allowed against Clarkson, a power-play tally by Brandon DeFazio, came off of a rebound. DeFazio was alone to Kinkaid's left as a two-man advantage turned into a one-man advantage.

Kinkaid seemed a lot more confident than he did against Sacred Heart. He was challenging the shooters. When he went down into his butterfly style, he wasn't giving up the upper half of the net. His 6-foot-3 frame makes a big difference. When the 5-10 Milan goes down, he exposes that upper half, especially when he goes down early. That happened on the goal scored by Yale's Sean Backman in the Nov. 7 game.

On Monday, Kinkaid was named ECACH rookie of the week. It is well deserved.

I won't be surprised to see Kinkaid get the majority of the starts. At the same time, Leaman can't forget about Milan. He is going to need him somewhere down the road. He will have to find the right spots to start him, and keep his confidence up.

Trip thoughts
Some personal thoughts from my North Country trip.

— Sometimes, the trip to Canton and Potsdam is dreaded because it can be cold and snowy.

But this trip was one of the best I've been on. It was sunny and warm on the way up Friday, and on the trip home Sunday. Saturday was rainy, but it beats trying to drive through snow, especially since I was staying in Ogdensburg. I normally stay at one of two hotels in Canton, but the rates they were charging were outrageous. The price I paid for the two nights I stayed in the Ogdensburg hotel would have gotten me one night in Canton.

— One of the other nice things about being on the road is getting to talk with some of the parents of the players. I had a chance to talk hockey with the parents of Mario Valery-Trabucco and Adam Presizniuk Friday night, and met Brock Matheson's parents Saturday night. And I want to thank them for reading my articles on our Web site.

— The pizza rolls at Sergei's restaurant in Canton are awesome!

Bergin questionable
RPI coach Seth Appert told me today that defenseman Mike Bergin is "50-50" for Wednesday's game at Niagara.

Bergin suffered an upper-body injury early in the first period of Friday's 5-2 win over Clarkson. It's the second straight season Bergin has been injured. He separated both shoulders last season, which ended his season in December.

Appert also said it's likely he will keep forward Tyler Helfrich out for the game. Helfrich has been out since injuring his ankle Oct. 24 against American International.

Forward C.J. Lee, who missed the North Country trip with a lower-body injury, won't play Wednesday, either.

Daily Gazette ECACH Team of the Week — Union
The Dutchmen erased the memory of their 3-3 ties against Brown and Yale by sweeping the North Country road trip for the first time since Jan. 31-Feb. 1, 2003, and it was Leaman's first win at Cheel Arena as Union's head coach.

Just wondering
I wonder if Union's Greg Coburn and Kelly Zajac will take a break from their studies tonight to watch their brothers in action.

Coburn's brother, Braydon, and his Philadelphia Flyers take on the New Jersey Devils and Zajac's brother, Travis, tonight at 7. Versus will televise the game.

I'm siding with the Coburns. Lets's go Flyers!

ECACH weekly winners
Besides Kinkaid, the other men's ECACH weekly award winners were Yale forward Brian O'Neill and Quinnipiac goalie Dan Clarke.

O'Neill was named player of the week. He had a goal and two assists in the Bulldogs' 4-2 win Friday over Cornell in a rematch of their ECACH tournament final. He added a goal and assist in a 3-3 tie with Colgate on Saturday.

Clarke was named goalie of the week. He had 27 saves in a 5-1 win over Harvard on Friday, and stopped 33 shots in Saturday's 4-2 win over Dartmouth.

On the women's side, Harvard players won two of the awards. Forward Kate Buesser was named player of the week after getting a goal and four assists in a 2-1 overtime loss to Princeton Saturday and a 7-2 win over Quinnipiac Saturday. Freshman forward Jillian Dempsey was named rookie of the week for her two-goal, one-assist effort against Quinnipiac.

Brown's Katie Jamieson was named goalie of the week. She stopped 67 of 68 shots in ties against Union and RPI.

The polls
RPI and Union received some votes in the USCHO.com/CBS College Sports college hockey poll. The Engineers earned 16 points, while the Dutchmen earned nine. RPI got three points in the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine poll.

Miami (Ohio) remains on top in both polls.

USCHO.com Division I Men's Poll
Team (First Place) Record Pts Last Week
1 Miami (42) 8-1-3 986 1
2 North Dakota ( 2) 7-2-1 916 2
3 Denver ( 2) 6-3-1 855 4
4 Mass.-Lowell ( 3) 7-2-1 824 5
5 Cornell 4-1-0 781 3
6 Michigan State ( 1) 9-2-1 727 13
7 Colorado College 7-2-1 695 10
8 Bemidji State 8-1-1 658 7
9 Yale 2-1-2 506 12
10 Alaska 7-2-1 505 9
11 Massachusetts 7-2-0 414 14
12 Nebraska-Omaha 5-2-3 371 11
13 Quinnipiac 8-1-0 366 20
14 Notre Dame 5-5-2 299 8
15 Wisconsin 6-3-1 242 NR
16 Michigan 4-6-0 230 6
17 Vermont 4-4-1 222 15
17 Boston College 4-3-1 222 16
19 Princeton 3-2-1 181 19
20 Minnesota-Duluth 7-4-1 175 18
Others receiving votes: Ferris State 128, St. Cloud State 46, Colgate 43, Boston University 41, Merrimack 17, RPI 16, Providence 12, Union 9, Northeastern 8, RIT 3, New Hampshire 2.

USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine Men's College Hockey Poll
(First-place votes in parentheses)
Rank School Last Poll's Ranking 2009-10 Record Weeks in Top-15
1 Miami University, 507 (31) 1 8-1-3 7
2 University of North Dakota, 448 (1) 2 7-2-1 7
3 University of Denver, 429 (1) 3 6-3-1 7
4 University of Massachusetts Lowell, 405 (1) 5 7-2-1 7
5 Cornell University, 342 4 4-1-0 7
6 Michigan State University, 329 14 9-2-1 2
7 Colorado College, 311 13 7-2-1 4
8 Bemidji State University, 271 7 8-1-1 4
9 Yale University, 218 11 2-1-2 7
10 University of Alaska, 176 9 7-2-1 3
11 University of Massachusetts, 141 10 7-2-0 2
12 University of Nebraska Omaha, 107 12 5-2-3 6
13 Quinnipiac University, 102 NR 8-1-0 1
14 University of Notre Dame, 54 8 5-5-2 7
15 University of Michigan, 52 6 4-6-0 7
Others receiving votes: University of Wisconsin, 47; University of Vermont, 34; Boston College, 30; Ferris State University, 24; Princeton University, 22; University of Minnesota Duluth, 15; Colgate University, 4; Lake Superior State University, 4; RPI, 3; Merrimack College, 2; RIT, 2; Boston University, 1

If you have any comments, post them below, or e-mail them to me at schott@dailygazette.com.