I have been pretty good doing Ken Schott’s weekly fan picks, where I have a record of 18-3-1. What I pick there I will also post here weekly, with a bit of a blurb on each game. This week features the season opening weekend for the Ivy League squads and the opening of conference play. I am especially interested to see how Cornell fares against Michigan State, while a fun Princeton squad opens up against a free-shooting Penn State team.

Season Record: 18-3-1

Last Week: 8-1-0

Friday

Yale (0-0-0, 0-0-0 ECAC) at Brown (0-0-0, 0-0-0), 7 pm ET

Yale returns much of its squad and has added some talent coming into the year, while Brown should be pretty strong on the backend. It is always fun to see how the Ivies start off and given it is against each other, the rust should be evident everywhere.

Yale 4-2

Union (4-0-1, 0-0-0) at RPI (0-3-0,0-0-0), 7 pm ET

Two teams heading in opposite directions will meet for a pair this weekend. I can only see a sweep here. I am also not confident either of the games will be close…

Union 5-1

Quinnipiac (3-0-0, 0-0-0) at AIC (2-2-1), 7 pm ET.

Quinnipiac is off to a semi-surprising 3-0 start to the season, but it really shouldn’t be much of a surprise. This weekend they have two winnable games and think they will do just that. For them, just scoring a few goals might be the biggest hope for the weekend. Prove they can do that and it might be a nice season in Hamden.

Quinnipiac 5-2

Princeton (0-0-0, 0-0-0) at Penn State (4-0-0), 7 pm ET.

Princeton is going to be good this year, but this is a big test right out of the gate that will tell us a lot about the Tigers. The rust will show early, but when these Tigers get going they will be fun to watch. Verroneau has a big night and Princeton will pull out a big win.

Princeton 5-4

Michigan State (1-1-0) at Cornell (0-0-0, 0-0-0), 7pm ET.

Regardless of the team, games against the Big Ten are big for the ECAC. Because there are so few games, Pairwise comparisons can be tilted with games against teams in that league. Cornell should have a good weekend and I think they will.

Cornell 3-1

St. Lawrence (1-3-0, 0-0-0) vs Michigan (1-2-0), 7:30 pm ET.

Losses to Vermont and Western Michigan has the Wolverines entering this weekend pretty desperate. Michigan has tons of talent, much more so than St. Lawrence, but sometimes that isn’t a big deal. In this case, however, I think the young Saints are just overmatched.

Michigan 6-2

Colgate (2-1-0, 0-0-0) at Miami (4-2-0), 7:35 pm ET.

Colgate had a letdown last weekend against RIT, as it just looked lost. The Tigers will face a Miami team that has had a decent start to the year, at 4-2-0. This series, despite being in Oxford, has split written all over it, but I also think Colgate can make some noise this weekend.

Gate 2-1

Saturday

Harvard at Dartmouth, 7 pm ET.

Both of these teams should be battling for a bye at the end of year. After Dartmouth charged hard last year to take home the fifth spot, they will return most of their core and are still relatively young. Harvard, meanwhile, has one of the best, if not the best, defenses in the league. Harvard usually comes out quick to begin the year and Dartmouth almost always struggles. I can see the same again this year, but I think it will be close.

Harvard 3-2

Rensselaer at Union, 7 pm. ET.

More of the same, I think this weekend belongs to Union to up its record to 6-1-0. But hey, rivalries sometimes have shocking results. And yes, an RPI win would be an upset to me. (Yes I said it). If you called Union beating Northeastern one, shame on you, it is not close to one.

Union 3-2

Colgate at Miami, 5:05 pm ET.

Colgate will get a big weekend from its defense to pull the sweep. Yes, I am this crazy.

Colgate 3-0

American International at Quinnipiac, 7 pm ET.

I will never pick the Bobcats again, if they drop one this weekend. If they want to be serious about an NCAA spot, they need a sweep this weekend. A good team should win these games.

Quinnipiac 5-2

Canisius at Clarkson (2-2-0, 0-0-0), 7 pm ET

Clarkson has the offense to win this game and I really liked what I saw from the Golden Knight freshmen last weekend. I particularly liked the wrinkle Brian Hurley gives them on the back-end. His presence was felt, as he won the league’s rookie of the week honor.

Clarkson 5 Canisius 3

Michigan State at Cornell, 7 pm ET.

Cornell should be back to being the big, bad Big Red… Yup, to most teams in college hockey, good luck scoring goals against them this year.

Cornell 3-0

St. Lawrence at Michigan, 8:05 pm ET.

This could be a tough weekend for St. Lawrence, but getting a split would be a big deal. I just don’t see it happening, Michigan just has too much.

Michigan 3-2

Sunday

Brown at Vermont, 5 pm ET.

Brown will make the long trip up to Burlington on Sunday afternoon and it should be a chance to come home with a win. I think they will do just that… Someone just has to put the biscuit in the net.

Brown 4-1

Also one more thing: I watch games until 3am here in England, where I am living for three months, please no overtimes please…

Thursday, October 25th, 2018 - 6:44 pm | Blogs, ECAC, Notes, Thoughts, Ramblings