Looking down on a good college hockey game between RPI and Quinnipiac while writing this, I cannot help but think of all the great ECAC games I have seen the last couple of weeks. This weekend there will be eight league games, while Quinnipiac, Princeton, Union and RPI all have Friday ad Saturday off from league games. Union and RPI will play their annual Capital Region Mayor’s cup game at the Times Union Center, in front of 8,000 or so college hockey fans. The game will be a Times Union Center dress rehearsal for when it hosts the NCAA East Regional in late March.

The standings are close and every game matters from this point on out. Harvard and Cornell will play their annual game in front of a packed Lynah crowd on Saturday night, which I will be checking out for the first time. Dartmouth has looked good in recent weeks and will play a big game with Cornell on Friday. With very little separation from second all the way down to the bottom, every game should be good from here on out.

RPI and Quinnipiac played an entertaining tie on Thursday night. Sam Anas, which is usually the case when I am in the building, scored a goal with 9.4 seconds left in regulation to force overtime. Quinnipiac remains unbeaten in league play, with three ties on its record against RPI, SLU and Clarkson. The Bobcats have a long blemish on their overall record and remain in first place in the all important Pairwise rankings. They next play at Dartmouth on January 29th.

Harvard at Colgate

Harvard in recent weeks has given up all the gains it had made during the early portion of the league slate. It now sits in fourth in the league standings and is in jeopardy of dropping lower in the tight mid-section of the ECAC. The Crimson have just one win in their last four games, including a 5-1 loss over the weekend to struggling Clarkson. Colgate is on a three game unbeaten streak, its longest of the year and will be looking to continue its success to move even further up the league table, which it has moved itself up to eighth place.

Prediction: Harvard 5-2

Dartmouth at Cornell

Is there is a hotter team in the ECAC right now than Dartmouth? Since coming back from the break the Big Green are 5-1-0 and have just done everything better. After a murderous first half, the Big Green almost look like the second best team in the league right now. Its defense has been better and so has Charles Grant in net. Cornell struggled last weekend on the road in the capital region, picking up a lone point after a loss to RPI and a tie against Union. Cornell and RPI sit in third and sixth in the ECAC, seperated by only four points. So this could be a huge swing for the Big Green.

Prediction: Dartmouth 3-2

Yale at Clarkson

This could be a defensive showcase, as both teams pride themselves on that end of the ice. Yale is unbeaten in six games, with a record of 5-0-1 in that timeframe and Clarkson enters off a win against Harvard. For Yale its patented defense has been good, while Alex Lyon has been himself. Clarkson has been really good at home this year with a 7-1-1 record, which is notable because eight of its last 12 all come on home ice.

Prediction: 2-1 Clarkson

Brown at St. Lawrence

To say St. Lawrence is on a slump is being mild, because they have lost five in a row entering the weekend. Brown struggled last weekend against travel partner Yale, but looked decent in both games. It is no secret that Brown has struggled defensively, but St. Lawrence needs to break its slump. SLU has struggled to score, despite Hayton still being strong. I think this is the game that SLU breaks it, because it is at home but Brown has given most teams fits in recent weeks.

Prediction: 5-4 SLU

Saturday

Harvard at Cornell

One of the biggest rivalries in college hockey will be renewed on Saturday night, as Harvard travels to the unfriendly confines of Lynah rink. Cornell is unbeaten in five games against the Crimson at a record of 3-0-2. What is always fun about this matchup is how much of a stylistic mismatch these teams are and this weekend should provide another classic example of that. Whereas Cornell is more defensive minded, Harvard plays the up and down style that fans have come to love in Cambridge this season. These teams have played three overtime games in their last five meetings.

Prediction: Harvard 4-3

Dartmouth at Colgate

Colgate is unbeaten in its last six games against Dartmouth, with five wins in that time frame but the games have been relatively close. Both the Big Green and Raiders have come back to look better in the second half. These teams are a combined 7-2-1 in their last ten games, which means this could be an interesting guage as to where each is. This a bigger matchup in terms of the standings, as both could move up with a four point weekend. Dartmouth is in sixth, which Colgate is right behind in eighth.

Prediction: Dartmouth 6-1

Brown at Clarkson

Clarkson has won its last four meetings against Brown, with three of those being close. The last meeting of these teams occurred last season, a 6-0 win by the Golden Knights in Potsdam. This is a weird matchup of a team that should be good defensively, Clarkson, against a team that should struggle and have, Brown. Both of these teams need league wins in the worst way. These teams are tied for last place in the league standings, but both are within shouting distance of a home-ice berth in the first round of the ECAC playoffs.

Prediction: Clarkson 3-2

Yale at St. Lawrence

These teams produce great matchups, which are usually pretty open. The Saints won both matchups between the teams last season, including an overtime thriller in Canton in January. This matchup will also feature two of the better goalies in the ECAC, as both Lyon and Hayton are really good in their respective nets. Both Hayton and Lyon are in the top 10 in the country in terms of save percentage.

Prediction: 1-0 Yale

Union vs RPI (Mayor’s Cup, Times Union Center Albany) Non-conference game

RPI’s tough tie on Thursday night, will be tough to recover from but what I saw out of RPI is something I didn’t expect. The Engineers were better defensively than Quinnipiac and in all honesty, despite getting heavily outshot and attempted, they had complete control of the game until QU scored a fluke goal with 9.4 seconds left to tie it. Defensively the Engineers are good in the trenches and have good sticks, I will have more on them next week in Three Things I Think.

RPI has won five of the last six matchups, including a sweep in this year’s two game league set, The Dutchmen have played better of late but struggled last weekend picking up only a point at home against Cornell and Colgate. This game always provides a little bit of everything, so one should expect much of the same this weekend.

Prediction: RPI 3-2

Power Rankings

1. Quinnipiac

2. Yale

3. Rensselaer

4. Harvard

5. Cornell

6. Dartmouth

7. St. Lawrence

8. Union

9. Clarkson

10. Brown

11. Colgate

12.  Princeton

Friday, January 22nd, 2016 - 9:00 am | Blogs, ECAC, Notes, Thoughts, Ramblings