With some teams having last weekend off while others played conference games, the league got a whole lot closer. Quinnipiac jumped to the lead after a weekend split but second place is a four team log-jam. Clarkson, with a four point weekend was the biggest mover as it jumped into the tie for second, which puts them just two points behind Quinnipiac. RPI, St. Lawrence and Harvard are the other three in that tie with Clarkson. All in all, the top eight are seperated by just four points. It is early, but early parity shows it could be a battle to the end in a wide open league.

Cornell got on track at home last weekend, as it swept Ivy league rivals Brown and Yale. Harvard is the early leader in that race with five points. Brown’s struggles continue, as it is now 0-6-0 ECAC play. The most telling stat of Brown’s struggles comes against its Ivy League rivals, where it has been outscored 16-2 in just three games. The Ivy League race, as much as most of us ignore it, is huge to those schools and thus I am going to try giving it a mention at least once a week. Brown’s struggles, though, probably wont fly for long and won’t be that bad as the season goes on.

St. Lawrence had Quinnpiac on the ropes on Saturday night. With a win the Saints would have left the weekend with the ECAC lead. I talked a couple of weeks back about SLU’s possession and in the last two weeks there has been improvement. SLU is so young that it can only get better. What I saw on Saturday bodes well for it too because the improvement is being seen almost by the minute. Quinnipiac is still the most impressive possession team in the league, but others are catching up to it. SLU and Clarkson both stayed with QU in possession. In all honesty, Clarkson’s performance was a memorable one for me and I mention below as to why. SLU though looked impressive late in that game but couldn’t find a way. The parity in the league is phenomenal right now. As fans of the league, we can do nothing but enjoy it.

Clarkson is improving by Day

I was pretty positive when I wrote my preview on Clarkson, probably more so than any team from 6-12. I felt as though it had the best shut down defense in the league, a feeling that I still hold. The offense is still a work in progress but signs of improvement were on display last weekend. The defense though is still what Tech is built on. Last weekend, taking four points from Quinnipiac and Princeton was definitely a step in the right direction.

Its game against Quinnipiac was a great example of what it can do. The Knights were physical and did everything it was capable of. I watch Quinnipiac a lot, it is a great team that  it sends everything at the net. Clarkson shut them down in a way I haven’t seen in the past few seasons. Defensively it was strong on its sticks, it got into lanes and it kept the puck away from the Bobcats in the grade-A areas of the ice. Offense was still a challenge, but it did control a good portion of the play in game, which is a direct effect of improved offense. It seemed as though every time QU got into a lane, one of Clarkson’s stud defensemen got their stick on the puck or closed that lane as quick as it opened. Entering the weekend, QU was ninth in the country in shots per game averaging a bloated 33 per game. On Friday, Tech held them to a paltry 17 shots on net and controlled a good portion of the possession against the usually possession dominant juggernaut.

The weekend as a whole proved to be a large step for them. Not only did it win its first two games of the year at home, it also scored four in a game on Saturday against Princeton. Steve Perry and the Clarkson defense allowed just a single goal on the weekend against ECAC competition, which is always an impressive feat. Getting offensive production will be the key for them going forward but signs point to improvement. With the ECAC so wide open, Clarkson currently sits in the four way tie for second place just two points behind Quinnipiac. Its defensive prowess could make it a threat come ECAC tournament time, as the offense should develop into a formidable threat as well.

Quinnipiac has a Jeckyll and Hyde side

I may be the only reporter in college hockey who has a negative opinion on QU. Sometimes I can only base things on what I see. the games I have seen it, it has not been good and that opinion did not change on Friday, when I watched its game against Clarkson. It was an all out struggle against a better defensive team. The defensive problems that plagued it early in the season were hardly present though. It was playing a team that has struggled offensively but Garteig played really strong in the loss, so that should be taken as a positive.

Its dominant possession game wins it hockey games and when it has it it is tough to beat. It was really lucky to get any points out of the weekend, as SLU had QU on the ropes late in that game on Saturday. In the last minute of regulation, the Saints had six quality shots on Garteig but he held. It dominated neither game over the weekend in the North Country, only outshooting SLU by a 29-28 margin. It was a not so Quinnipiac weekend. Q fans should hardly be concerned.

I am not saying Quinnipiac is a bad team, by any means because quite frankly they might be the best team in the league. It just seems as though the games I have seen have been their worst ones, which sometimes happens to teams. Consistency though seems to be an issue from week to week, Quinnipiac has just three losses on the season and is the ECAC leader heading into December, though. In games I haven’t seen it has probably been the best team in the country. Sorry if I cause concern in the minds of QU fans, I have just picked the wrong games to watch and see.

Colgate’s Recent Inconsistency is caused by Losing Key Many Pieces

Starting the year, Colgate was down Tylor Spink to an injury. Spink was the second leading scorer on the team last season and he has missed every game so far this season. The Raiders also recently lost third leading scorer from last year, Mike Borkowski, to a season ending injury. In recent weeks, Colgate has been wildly inconsistent and has gone just 3-3-1 over its past seven games. It has been a stretch many of us pundits hardly expected to begin the year, but we also didn’t expect the Raiders to lose two important scoring threats either.

On Friday, leading goal scorer Darcy Murphy received a game disqualification that saw him miss Saturday’s game against Yale and it will also cost him next Saturday’s game against Boston Univeristy. All in all, Gate will be missing three of its top four scorers when it embarks to Boston this weekend, a place it wishes to return to for the Frozen Four in April.

The man losses have added up for Colgate this season, which started the year as arguably the deepest team in the country and certainly the deepest in the ECAC. recently the losses have been adding up on the Raiders record as well. Losses to Mercyhurst, Quinnipiac and Yale in recent weeks have led to a sretch which Colgate hasn’t swept a weekend since late October. Many of us expected it to be a rosy season but the last few weeks have been rough.

Colgate has an absolutely huge game against Boston University this weekend. BU is leaps and bounds above most teams in the NCAA right now and it boasts phenom, Jack Eichel. Eichel will be a top two pick in next year’s NHL draft and he has been lighting up NCAA hockey in his freshman campaign. He leads the nation in points, with 19. Stopping him will be key for Colgate but with the losses up front does it still have the depth to do so?

Finally, an apology

In my preview on Thursday, I made a comment that I shouldn’t have when I was previewing the Princeton and Clarkson. In an attempt to be funny, I instead insulted both teams in the process. I was called out by a coach on the comment, and it shouldn’t have been made. I have a pretty good track record in my writing, as this was only the second time that a coach or SID has brought to my attention a mistake or problem in my writing, the first time in the ECAC actually. I will apologize to the coaches and players on both teams. Both Clarkson and Princeton have show improvements this season. It was a comment I regret but I guess we all make mistakes

Monday, November 24th, 2014 - 4:51 pm | Blogs, Commentary, ECAC, Notes, Thoughts, Ramblings