Sure, many teams have four, five, six games under their belts so far this season, but this is truly the first full fledged week of the season as the Ivies come out of their safe little coccoons and join the rest of the world for a little old-fashioned ice hockey.

Cornell gave me a little scare last night as I diligently refreshed my cell phone using the new super-sweet CHN Wireless Scoreboard. Seeing it 2-1 in the 3rd was a bit scary. It either shows Cornell has a lot of rust, or Robert Morris has already come a long way in Division I. Cornell’s next test is an RIT team that has been known to keep up with the rest of D-I as well.

The big news this weekend is really the Wisconsin / BC Championship Rematch. They’re going to go at it on back-to-back nights, and it’s going to be some of the best hockey of the year, in one of the best college hockey towns, and even if you can’t be there, Badger fans have the fortune of seeing the game televised throughout Wisconsin, and also nationally on Fox Sports and CSTV (at least on Friday) Also, if you’re in Madison, have a beer for me, I wish I could be there.

The Lightning College Hockey Classic is happening this weekend, with Army, Air Force, Alabama-Huntsville and Notre Dame participating. I bet when that one was scheduled, no one expected to see THIS Irish squad coming into the tournament.

The first ever, ECAC Governor’s Cup is taking place in Albany at the Pepsi Arena featuring Colgate, Quinnipiac, Union and RPI in non-conference matchups. No one has figured out what happens if Quinnipiac wins. Will the NY fans riot? Will the Bobcats from CT refuse the trophy in disdain? While I’m a big fan of tournament hockey, it’s too bad it’s all ECAC teams. Some of these teams have a hard enough time schedule OOC opponents as is. Not sure if this is a case of the chicken (we made this tournament, we’re going to play), or the egg (no one will play us, so we’ll play each other), but it would’ve been nice to see other NY schools involved (and if we’re including Q, New England as well)

We’ll see a the CCHA and WCHA really begin to go at it this week, as both conference have a bunch of league games scheduled and ready to go.

Enjoy the weekend slate.

Friday, October 27th, 2006 - 4:06 pm | Regular Season