A full slate of games this weekend, as most teams will return to conference play and some will play non-conference games. In the non-conference slate of games, rivalries will take center stage. Dartmouth travels to in-state rival New Hampshire, Brown will play Providence in the Mayor’s Cup and Yale faces off with its historic rival, Harvard at Madison Square Garden.

This could be separation week in the standings for a few teams, but as I caution below don’t take much into the league standings after this weekend because some teams will have more games remaining than others. The national picture will not be mentioned this week, because quite frankly it depresses me (ECAC has just one team in the top 15 and the last three out are from the league.). This weekend will also bring about one of the last chances for the league to do some damage in non-conference play, as four games against teams from the Hockey East are on the docket. Damage needs to be done this weekend because lately that has not happened.

Rivalry on Ice is a Spectacle

Once I saw the schedule this season, I circled the Rivalry on Ice game at Madison Square Garden as a must see event. Growing up in the northern reaches of New Hampshire, New York City was some kind of mystical and special place to me. I went once in my lifetime before last year, when I attended the first Rivalry on Ice game. This season I will make it two consecutive years and I hope every ECAC fan watches or attends the game. Madison Square Garden is a special place for a rivalry game and of course there should be 15000 plus watching a college hockey game, which is always a good thing.

The game itself of course is going to be fantastic hockey. Harvard is really good if you didn’t know and Yale is right there with them. The two teams couldn’t be more different in styles, however. Whereas Harvard is an up and down team, Yale is built from the net out with a strong defense and good goaltender. Harvard has the highet scoring margin in the country, at 2.07 and averages a national leading 3.92 goals per game. Yale is 42nd in the country in scoring, but fourth in scoring defense.

Harvard will enter the weekend as the top team in the pairwise rankings, while Yale will begin just outside the top 15, in position 17. Yale boasts he distinction of being the only team to beat the Crimson so far this season. The Elis results were consistent for a while, but there are some bad losses on its results bored. For them, when Alex Lyon and its defense is in the game, it has one of the top teams in the nation and in the ECAC. Yale has played three games since the 30th of December and Harvard has not played since that same day. That may be something to watch because layoffs make a huge difference. Yale should be on its game early, but Harvard is really good and has proven that if it isn’t on early, it will be later in the game.

Mark Messier, Mike Richter and George Pataki will drop the ceremonial first puck in the game, while notable dignitaries should also be attendance. According to Chip Malafronte of the New Haven Register, 11,000 tickets have been sold for the game that puts this years sales behind 2000 in comparison to this date last year. Last year 17,000 fans dawned Madison Square Garden. If you cannot make it to the Garden, the game will also be on national television. NBCSN will have the contest with NHL giants, Pierre McGuire and Dave Strader on the call. If you have never heard Pierre on the call of a college hockey game, I suggest it because his knowledge of the game and where your favorite player has come from, is unmatched.

Brown Needs to Improve

If you didn’t checkout my article on Brown’s struggles this season, I suggest it because I really liked the way it came together. As always, Brendan Whittet is candid and very honest.  But I can write all I want about them, but at the end of the day this is a results driven business. It has been downright bad this season.

Brown will play a really good Providence team in a home-and-home series this weekend. Bruno has the talent to be better but its defense is decimated. The latter is working against it but it can only go up in the standings and pick up wins in the second half. Despite a lackluster effort against a shorthanded Boston College team last Friday, Brown got better for a Saturday game against Denver. It led large portions of that contest against one of the better team’s in the nation. In all honesty, the way it played was the way I assumed Brown would play the whole season but again lapses and loss of confidence killed any hopes of a win.

The night to night improvement of the Bears was a great sign for them, but it needs to carry it over when it plays its crosstown rival, anything less would seem a failure to me and I suppose to Brendan Whittet as well. The conversation I had with Whittet on Friday resonates with me because I am not sure I have ever talked to a coach that was more upset with his team tha he was on that night. His team clearly responded the next night but the efforts need to continue and need to become 60 minutes at a time.

Brown had some laughers in the first half, but I think those are now behind it. I see a team behind the scenes that wants to fix its identity and to make it better. Yes being down to five defensemen doesn’t help. Friday night, Brown was not hungry and on Saturday it was. I can imagine it will be hungry for the remainder of the season. Also, when I write articles on struggling teams, they usually get better. Expect it and mark my words, Brown will be much improved in the second half, as long as the will and effort become better.

Return to conference play for eight teams

Quinnipiac leads the conference by two points over Harvard, but after this weekend of play the Crimson will have three games in hand against probably its biggest competition for the Cleary Cup. One shouldn’t put too much stock in the league standings after this weekend. Quinnipiac will be the league leader, probably by six points, but it will have a good number of games less than its competition. If folks are wondering why I haven’t been hyping up the Bobcats in league play it is for this reason. Yes they lead but teams like Yale, Colgate, Cornell among many others have more games against league competition going forward.

Clarkson has the biggest chance this weekend to make some ground. Sitting in third place in the league bodes well for it going forward because it has played just six conference games, the lowest number in the ECAC. In those six games, the Knights have put points on the board in all but one game. Much has been written about its struggles outside the league, but its in league play has been impressive. It has beaten Quinnipiac and tied both Yale and Colgate. This weekend Clarkson will look to put more points on the board at home against Cornell and Colgate.

Something may have to give on Saturday, as Rensselaer and Princeton will meet. The two foes enter the weekend on extended losing streaks, as the Engineers have lost seven in a row and the Tigers six. After a strong start to league play that saw it blast to the top, Rensselaer has done nothing but drop.  RPI has lost four consecutive ECAC games and have dropped all the way to fifth in the standings. This game could be the one that changes the momentum for either team, hence it shouldn’t be overlooked in the grand scheme of the league.

Cornell and Colgate travel to the North Country, while Princeton and Quinnipiac will travel to the Capital Region. Union and Quinnipiac on Friday will be a huge indicator on where both of those teams are going forward in the league. The two always produce great games but all eight league games have great story-lines.

Picks of the week (Ya I am pretty awful at these)

Friday

Colgate at Clarkson: 2-1 Gate

Union at Princeton: 4-1 Union

Rensselaer at Quinnipiac: 4-3 Quinnipiac (Something tells me though, RPI is going to come out firing and mad)

Cornell at SLU: 4-1 SLU

Dartmouth at UNH: 5-4 Dartmouth

Providence at Brown: 5-4 Brown

Saturday

Cornell at Clarkson: 1-0 Clarkson

RPI at Princeton: 3-1 RPI

Union at Quinnipiac: 4-3 Union

Colgate at SLU: 4-2 Gate

Brown at Providence: 5-1 Providence

Yale vs Harvard (NC, Madison Square Garden): 3-2 Yale

Harvard needs to prove to me it is ready for the big stage, before I pick them on a big stage.

Sunday

Vermont at Dartmouth: 3-1 Dartmouth

Thursday, January 8th, 2015 - 10:04 pm | Blogs, ECAC, Notes, Thoughts, Ramblings