Hanover, NH - Harvard and Dartmouth took to the ice on Sunday evening, with their seasons hanging in the balance and that was easily noticeable given the play. The Green and the Crimson came out flying in the early going, as the speed was just a notch higher than the regular season. The teams would play a scoreless first 19 minutes, but that would change late in the first period as Luke Grenier came out from the back of the net untouched. He scored over Charles Grant’s glove to give the Crimson the 1-0 lead at 19 minutes, 28 seconds of the first period and that lead would hold into the first intermission. The Big Green exploded for three goals in the first 7:26 of the second period, as Brad Schierhorn, Tim O’Brien and Eric Robinson all tallied for Dartmouth. That three goal outburst sent the game into the second intermission with the Big Green leading 3-1.

The third brought much of the same for Dartmouth as Nick Bligh would add an early insurance marker, giving his Big Green a 4-1 lead 16:30 remaining in the game. The lead would be enough, as Dartmouth would hold on to defeat Harvard, 6-3,  in the third game of the ECAC first round series. The win advances Dartmouth to the Quarter-finals, where they will face Union College at Messa Rink in Schenectady, New York. It also keeps alive their chance at an NCAA berth, that is slim at best, sitting at 20th in the Pairwise rankings.

The loss ends the Crimson’s disappointing season at 10-19-3. It was a season that was filled with high hope coming in but was marred with with an academic scandal that saw four players removed from their roster. They were picked near the top of the ECAC in most preseason polls, so saying the season was a disappointment is an understatement. (more…)

HANOVER- Being the 12th seed means little when the playoff start, as Harvard proved in its hard fought 2-1 victory over 5th seeded Dartmouth on Friday night. Freshman forward Brian Hart stole the show with a fantastic game winning goal late in the third.

Dartmouth seemingly was the stronger and more active team, but could not solve goaltender Raphael Girard. The senior goaltender had one of his best performances of the season for Harvard, saving 39 of 40 shots.

What I Saw: 

- Harvard really took the chances that presented themselves. Desmond Bergin’s second period goal was really against the run of play and deflated Dartmouth for the rest of the period. Hart’s game winner was earned by a great forecheck late in the game. The Crimson only got 24 shots on net all night, but certainly made them count.

- The Big Green actually played a very good game. There was a constant movement of the puck and lots of possession. It seemed that Harvard really did a good job of pushing play to outside within their own zone. This prevented Dartmouth from getting the best possible shots on goal. Defensively the team only had five defensemen, due to an illness to Andy Simpson.

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It’s been quite the year for Rand Pecknold and his Quinnipiac Bobcats.

During the best regular season in program history, the team won the Cleary Cup by a very large margin and is the number one team in the Pairwise rankings. Quinnipiac surprised many in the ECAC despite an eventful off season, in which Pecknold was being courted for the head coaching position vacated by Toot Cahoon at UMass. His decision to stay with the Bobcats certainly looks like the right one at this point.

A 21 game unbeaten run put the Bobcats far ahead of anyone else in the league. In fact the Bobcats clinched the Cleary with five games left to play in the regular season.

Going into the ECAC Tournament, the Bobcats have to be favorites with the number one seed and home ice in the second round. Goaltender Eric Hartzell is easily  the top goaltender in the country and hasn’t skipped a beat all year,

“I think he is the best player in our league,” said Pecknold. “He is probably one of the two or three best players in college hockey. He is why we have had the season we’ve had.”

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It is hard to believe that we have reached the final week of the regular season in the ECAC, as it seems very recent that Quinnipiac opened up the regular season schedule against Maine on the road picking up a win at the famed Alfond Arena. This guy would have not have foreseen the successes watching that game from the press box that night, but the rest is history and the Bobcats had the Cleary Cup clinched entering last weekend. Quinnipiac enters the weekend with just one loss in conference play, as they face Harvard and Dartmouth on the road.

Coming into the weekend seven teams will fight for three first round byes, as the top four teams get a bye. Currently Rensselaer, St. Lawrence and Yale control their own destinies as they enter this weekend with those positions joining Quinnipiac who has long clinched. Dartmouth, Union, Clarkson and Brown also have numerical shots at byes, but will need help from those above them. Home-ice advantage goes to positions five through eight in the standings, which numerically 11 out of 12 ECAC teams could end up hosting. See the current standings and I will go into the possibilities for each team.

If the NCAA tournament began today four ECAC teams would be included, but the scary part of it for the ECAC is the fact that Yale and Rensselaer are tied for 16th in the Pairwise Rankings that determine the NCAA Tournament field. This is the last entry without any surprise teams earning a berth from outside the top 16 and usually there is at least one from outside the top 16 that makes it. Realistically that means that one team, Quinnipiac, is a number one seed, while Dartmouth (13th), Yale (15) and Rensselaer (16) are all on the bubble. (more…)

The news of the weekend had to be St. Lawrence ending Quinnipiac’s 21 game unbeaten streak. The Saints and Rensselaer are now the two hottest teams in the ECAC, as St.Lawrence is 7-2-2 in their last 11 games and RPI is on a six game winning streak. Quinnipiac got back in the win column on Saturday, as they defeated Clarkson 2-1.

Positions two through six in the standings are separated by just 2 points and Rensselaer with their four point weekend leapfrogged a few teams to jump into second place all their own. Clarkson and Princeton also have a chance at a bye as they sit four points behind second place and three points behind Union and St. Lawrence for an ever important top four position.  Top four teams get a first round bye in the ECAC tournament, while positions five through eight get home ice in the first round. Check out the standings to see where your favorite team sits in a close race for the byes and home ice.

If the tournament were to start today, Quinnipiac would be the top ranked team in the NCAA tournament, per the Pairwise rankings. The ECAC would also have Yale (12) in the tournament and that would be it. Union sits in 16th but Merrimack leads Hockey East so they would be the presumed winner of the auto-bid, as they sit outside the top 16. Rensselaer and Dartmouth also sit on the bubble, but on the outside looking in. (more…)

With two weeks remaining in the ECAC regular season, it is crunch time for many ECAC teams to make the NCAA Tournament in March.

Quinnipiac locked up the Cleary Cup this weekend and can coast its way into a second round series at home. The Bobcats also currently sit in first place within the all important pairwise rankings. It seems that the team will likely be a first seed in the national tournament, that is of course if the team does not collapse in the next couple weeks. Still it has to look good for the league to have a team at the top of pairwise for a good chunk of the season.

RPI sits in second place in the ECAC standings. Who would have thought that after the first month of league play? It seemed that this team would be dangerous late in the season, but to be in play for a first round bye is incredible. Head coach Seth Appert has really taken the reigns of this team and could make it to the NCAA Tournament. Right now the Engineers sit in 17th place and can push their way into the top 16 over the next two weeks very easily.

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Cambridge, MASS. - The first period was played to a scoreless tie, but the second period would be much different as both teams combined to put on an offensive showcase. Harvard began the scoring as Alex Fallstrom put in a rebound just 43 seconds into the period. Not to be outdone Colgate would score on the power-play five minutes later to tie the game at one apiece. But Harvard would get two goals by Marshall Everson four minutes apart to give them the 3-1 second intermission lead.

Harvard would add an empty-netter in the third period to make the final 4-1 in favor of the Crimson. Harvard improves to 7-15-2 on the season, 4-12-1 in ECAC play while Colgate falls to 13-12-4, 5-9-3. Colgate will remain in tenth place in the ECAC standings with the loss, but both Harvard and Cornell pulls closer to them, at four and one points respectively. Harvard remains in last place, but remain three points behind Cornell for eleventh and four points behind Colgate for tenth. The loss will move Colgate even further away from an at large spot, according to the Pairwise. (more…)

With Quinnipiac miles away from everyone else at the top, it has come time to focus on the great race that has developed behind them. Six points separate second place Yale and tenth place Colgate in the standings, while third to ninth are separated by a mere two points. The parity within ECAC has turned out to be awesome, it will make for a great few weeks of conference action, as most teams have just six games remaining in the regular season. If the season ended today Quinnipiac and Yale would be in the NCAA tournament, while Dartmouth would join them per the Pairwise Rankings.

1. Quinnipiac (21-3-4, 14-0-2) – Last Week 1

The unbeaten streak is up to 21 games now after a pair of win on the road against Cornell and Colgate. I guess we should start expecting nothing less from the Bobcats, as they have been number one in both Pairwise and Krach for some time now.  But the time will come to prove said rankings when it actually matters. For now though, the Bobcats hang onto the number one position in these rankings. They are balanced and play the best defensive game in the country. The Only question left to be answered is whether an ECAC can find it in them to defeat them. With Yale’s defeat at the hands of Brown the Bobcats need just one tie to clinch at least a share of the Cleary Cup or a win to clinch it outright. It will probably happen this week. (more…)

Another interesting weekend in the ECAC and again Quinnipiac remained undefeated in conference play. The Bobcats defeated Yale 6-2 on Saturday to further solidify their hold on the standings. It’s not what’s going on at the top that is intriguing, but its what is happening in the middle that is interesting. A mere three points separate positions three to ten. Union and Dartmouth are tied for third place, while five teams sit in a tie for sixth.

Rensselaer, St. Lawrence and Brown are trending upwards, while Dartmouth and Cornell have trended down in recent weeks. If the season ended today, Quinnipiac would be the number one seed in the NCAA tournament according to the Pairwise, while Yale and Dartmouth would join them in the tournament. The latter is right on the bubble, while Colgate and Union sit on the wrong side of that bubble just out of the tournament. All around interesting stuff going on within the conference as so much parity is reigning supreme.
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In case you missed it, the 61st annual Beanpot kicked off Monday night in the city I call home.

Northeastern defeated Boston University in the tournament for the first time in 25 years. Boston College defeated a fledgling Harvard team without any trouble, receiving a pair of goals from grinder Quinn Smith. The games set up next Monday’s matchups with BU and Harvard playing the consolation game, and Northeastern and BC battling for a Beanpot championship.

The storylines for each club couldn’t be more starkly contrasted. BC is looking for its fourth straight Beanpot title, a feat the program has never accomplished. Northeastern, on the other hand, seeks its first tournament championship since 1988. None of the players on Northeastern’s roster were born the last time the club won the tournament. Despite the dominance of BU and BC in the last two-plus decades, it’s shocking, really, that 25 years could pass without Northeastern winning. The fact that it’s now 20 years without a championship from Harvard is equally astounding.

The “Harvard is all about academics argument” doesn’t hold water in regard to hockey, since its one of the few sports an Ivy League school can still attract top talent in. Similarly, Northeastern’s problems are strange given the improving talent level on St. Botolph Street. Even with their struggles in Hockey East in the last four seasons, the Huskies’ roster features several high-end players.

Watching the two games last night really made the last 20 tournaments even stranger than I already thought they were. There are countless examples of a lesser opponents beating a better team during college hockey’s regular season and even into the regional and national playoffs. Never in the Beanpot, though. BC and Northeastern will play for the tournament championship next Monday, and history tells us the game is in the bag for the Eagles. As does the 9-3 drubbing they handed the Huskies on Jan. 19.

Northeastern coach Jim Madigan, his captain Vinny Saponari and freshman star Kevin Roy — who tallied a hat trick in Monday’s win over BU — unanimously agreed that a quarter decade of failure has nothing to do with next week’s game. They’re right, of course, but a loss would only add to the stigma and frustration for the program and those that follow it.

The Beanpot still matters

BU captain Wade Megan is the most prominent member of the first BU class to graduate without winning the tournament since 1965. After last night’s game, he fought back tears to address the issue. Composing himself just enough to answer questions from them media, Megan expressed his genuine guilt at failing to bring the trophy back to the East End of Commonwealth Avenue. (more…)