Quinnipiac has all but locked up the Cleary Cup. It can do so at home against its rival, Yale, on Friday night. Hypothetically it would only clinch a share, but nonetheless to do so in front of your biggest rival is always something special. St. Lawrence is in second place in the standings and in pretty good shape, as it is clear of third place Yale by three points. At that point it gets interesting, as four points separate positions 3-8. Harvard holds the fourth and final bye, which in all honesty it needs to make a run. Dartmouth however is just a point back, while Colgate is two points back of that all important bye. It seems as though, Union and RPI are all but eliminated from contention for the final first round home series. The Engineers are four behind eighth, while its capital region counterpart is five points back.

The national picture is again looking ok for the league, as three teams currently sit in the top 15 of the Pairwise. Quinnipiac is the highest ranked league team, in tenth place. Yale and Harvard are in 14th and 15th respectively, hardly comfortable positioning going forward. Yale could really help itself with a win against Quinnipiac on Friday, ditto Harvard picking up some road wins in the North Country.

Princeton and Brown’s improvement the Last Couple Weeks is Good for the League

Some people may have written off Brown and Princeton long ago, it was probably a mistake and unfair. Last weekend the two bottom teams in the ECAC, combined to pick up seven out of a possible eight points. Princeton picked up a win against Clarkson on Friday night. It followed it up with a tie against second place, St Lawrence on Saturday. Brown, equally impressive, picked up wins against Rensselaer and falling Union on the road. Bruno has now won three consecutive games, allowing just four goals in the process. For the league, having a good top to bottom presence and tough games throughout the schedule, is a great thing to have.

Brown was supposed to be better than its position in the standings, and maybe it is finally gaining the confidence to be that team. The three game winning streak is its first unbeaten streak of the season. Things don’t overnight get better, but for the Bears anything was better than its performances for much of the season. In January, the Bears struggled as it had only five defensemen available to play

Now it has a full compliment of healthy blue liners to at least dress players in the correct position, i has paid immediate dividends. Whenever Brown got down, it lost more confidence. There was never doubting the young talent on the team. None of us expected it to take this long.

Princeton is doing all the little things right in recent weeks and it is finally paying off for them. The three point weekend was its best showing since February 8-9, 2013. For Princeton, the weekend was much needed and it showed improvement that I think most people have been looking for. The Tigers need goal scoring in the worst way. They  average an NCAA worst 1.38 per game, but it can play defense which can always make it dangerous. The league is better with a strong Princeton and they are heading in the right direction.

For the right now, the fact that the Bears and Tigers are picking off wins is a good thing for the league. Ya it may hurt the NCAA hopes of some of the league teams, but going forward the fact they are giving opposition games is a good thing. I would give Brown the better chance to pick up an upset win in the ECAC playoffs because they can put the puck in the net and have been playing more consistent. But I am not ready to say, either is evidently going to be a threat to do so. It is nice to see both have a successful weekend at the same time.

Quinnipiac Always has Character and Sells itself Well

One of the things I enjoy most about what I do, is the fact I get to talk to some great kids. It never ceases to amaze me how intelligent the kids are in college hockey and how willing they are to talk about their experiences. For me hearing about the small towns they come from and their stories of perseverance makes the job I do fun. There are a lot of great parents out there, be assured of that if it is something that you think is becoming rare.

I am well aware many followers of other programs are not the biggest fans of Rand Pecknold and what he does. That is ok, but one thing that is constant with the Quinnipiac teams is the character that lines the roster, year in and year out. QU players are always approachable and always sell the Quinnipiac program well, with a smile and exuberant nature. It is almost as though they get training in how to do an interview, but it is more an indication of how good the leadership is around them.

As a reporter, I always look forward to talking to certain players more than I do others, it is this reason you might see a certain player’s name in various features more than others. Sam Anas is about as honest as a kid as you will ever meet, ditto Matt Peca and the rest of the Bobcats. For me, it makes my job a ton easier knowing that I will get a good, honest answer for a question that is asked. Landon Smith is the most recent addition to that character.

Of course not everything I talk to with a player is put in an article, which of course is on purpose. I often talk with players and coaches after interviews, so called off the record. It always strikes me how intelligent and knowledgeable about the game Rand’s players are in the grand scheme of things. Most importantly it always seems they are the most approachable of any players in the country, which they no doubt are.

Dartmouth Has a Chance to do Something it hasn’t Done in a Long Time, But Needs Help

In the past, I have in a way dismissed the importance of the Ivy League in the grand scheme of the ECAC. It really does not matter to an outsider and to someone who really pays attention to the sport of hockey. That feeling is often mutual throughout the league for casual supporters of the league’s non-ivy league followers. I will never question the indifference towards it because it really hardly matters, I cannot stress this enough. For the Ivy League schools it is a big deal, however, and it is not dismissed by their alumni and fans. Hence I think it is very important to point something out.

Cornell, Yale and Harvard have all but dominated the Ivy League Title for the past 35 seasons. Cornell holds the all time lead with 21 and its bitter rival Harvard has 20. I happened to snap a peek the other day at at this year’s standings, I usually do a couple times a season. I realized that sitting at the top was one of the schools that has struggled in the past three decades to find itself at the top in the ten games that encompass the Ivy schedule.  Currently Dartmouth leads those standings by a single point over Yale, which has a game in hand. Dartmouth needs help from the Bulldogs, mainly a loss to attain the title but with a game against Princeton next weekend, the Green could win some prestige in hockey for the first time in a long time. Yale finishes its Ivy season against Princeton on the road, in a game that could be a trap, and Cornell at home, who it lost to earlier in the season.

I grew up in Northern New Hampshire and knew of Dartmouth probably before I did UNH. It was amazing to go through the Ivy League history to realize, that Dartmouth has not won an Ivy  League Title outright, since get this the 1979-1980 season, or 35 years. It has only shared the title once in that time span, in 2006-2007. Dartmouth is seriously due to win the prestige to itself, or so it seems to me. Dartmouth may be eliminated from the ECAC regular season title, but man it would be fun to see them pull this off for the first time in long while.

Wednesday, February 18th, 2015 - 9:10 pm | Blogs, ECAC, Notes, Thoughts, Ramblings