The first full weekend of the conference slate always tells us a lot, but it also tells us that we shouldn’t overreact to some of the results. Rensselaer took three out of four points in the North Country, while Union took a pair of points against SLU. The results were the most surprising in the league last weekend, as I really like both St. Lawrence and Clarkson. Both are going to be strong teams in the league this year. The three points, gives RPI seven out of eight possible points in ECAC play. It is an impressive start for a team that I put seventh in preseason but has struggled , save a win against Boston College. But lets not forget that last year, RPI raced out of the gates to lead for a while then dropped off. This year it seems more sustainable because of the lack of injury bug that it found last season.

The three elite teams, in Harvard, Yale and Quinnipiac all had come from behind victories over the weekend to Brown, Dartmouth and Cornell respectively. I was flying cross country that night and left Chicago knowing that Cornell had a 3-0 lead when I took off, while Yale trailed Dartmouth 2-0. QU and Yale both scored four unanswered to take home the wins. It seems as though both Yale and Harvard took a bit to come out of the emotional high that was the game at the Bright-Landry Hockey Center on Friday night. I will talk about that more below, but without further ado here are some thoughts.

I would also like to take this time, seeing it is Veterans day, to thank all my readers that have served in the armed forces. It is much appreciated what you have done and I hope you hear this a bunch today or this week.

Good Teams Find Ways to Win: the ECAC clearly has Three Elite Teams

On Friday night, I was able to catch Harvard against Yale. Both teams put on quite the show. Clearly these two teams are elite and have the talent we all thought they did, but to me these two teams have quite the challenger in Quinnipiac. I am convinced that these three teams are the best I have seen in the league, since I started covering the league in 2011, save Union in its national title year. What makes it fun, is that they are all elite in the same season and all three have the capability of making noise come tournament time.  Quinnipiac again proved how good it was in a comeback with Cornell, while Harvard and Yale did the same against their opponents on Saturday and in a thrilling game on Friday night.

Harvard has all the offense a team could ask for, and in all honesty so does Quinnipiac. The Bulldogs kept up with the Crimson’s speed and was able to clog up the neutral zone from the second period on but Harvard was able to find an equalizer in the third period. It was fun to see the clashing of styles, but I didn’t get everything that I expected. Harvard had the majority of the good chances in the game, just Yale as they usually are, were opportunistic on theirs. Other than its goals, the Elis really struggled to get into the scoring areas to get quality chances. It was an impressive display by Harvard, as one of its weaknesses coming into the season was going to be its defense. I am convinced that is not going to be a huge weakness like I thought but the true test will come against another of the Elite teams, Quinnipiac, on Friday.

I aforementioned, Quinnipiac’s offense in a previous blog post and now at 8-0-0, the Bobcats look like a team that has no signs of stopping. In eight games, it has scored 34 goals. The 4.38 goals per game is good for third in the country, behind Providence and Harvard. Quinnipiac is dangerous because it has an experienced goaltender and a great  defense to go along with it. All in all, us ECAC fans are in for a fun year. Enjoy it.

 Cornell Finding Offense Could mean Good Things For Them

The Big Red have scored 15 goals in its first four games, which is highly unexpected; all of us expected its offense to struggle mightily. The big reason for Cornell’s all of a sudden offensive success has been the addition of freshman Anthony Angello, who I should remind you all was pretty highly touted coming into the season. Angello has contributed  three goals and six points in his freshman year, and is also making a case that he should be part of the four-man race for rookie of the year, which includes Aldworth,  Snively and of course Donato. For an offense that scored so little last year, it has picked up the slack for a defense that has allowed just under three goals per game and four against Quinnipiac.

Any offense was going to a major boost to a Cornell season. Its lackluster returns on offense was the main reason I put them down at 11 in my preseason poll (shame on me, I know better than to put Cornell near the bottom). In the past teams that have had great defenses have gone higher in preseason for me, but I wasn’t convinced the additions were going to make a difference. I should probably not make judgments on just four games, but so far they have passed the test. 2.5 goals per game is acceptable in today’s college hockey and with a defense that can go with it, the Big Red should again be fine. Should have never doubted, I think I am going to regret it.

 Brown Needs a Five Man Defensive Game

For the second straight season Brown has had an awful start to the season, to put it lightly. Much like last season, the Bears look over-matched defensively. In three games, it has given up 19 goals. I personally didn’t think it could take a step back defensively, but that just might be the case. I felt as though Brown had some talent to work within its forward ranks, Its defense also appeared much deeper this season. The latter certainly hasn’t panned out and it has been a downright struggle on the back-end and in goal. The offense has panned out, however, as it has scored 10 goals in its three games. Scoring three goals and giving up six per game, just won’t work.

Brown is again digging itself a hole the size of Texas to climb out of. Last year it looked fine for the last month or two of the season. It still finished 11th, which was lackluster. Nick Lappin, Sam Lafferty, Tyler Bird and Mark Naclerio are talented players. The defensive and goaltending troubles are mounting during a period of time Brown should be good, finally. It seems like a wasted opportunity to improve a program that has struggled for so long.

Defense is a five man game, well six if you count the goaltender. Even if the defensive play on the blueline was lackluster, there is enough talent up front that some of the struggle should be compensated. There are signs of improvement over last season in advanced stats, but what is that worth? So far, its corsi is nearing 50 percent which shows me the defenders have been at least getting the puck to the forwards. It was Brown’s biggest weakness last season. At least this season, not like it is a consolation, they are not getting heavily outplayed from night to night. This could signify a turnaround of some sorts, so lets just wait and see what happens. I am just not sure I would bet on it.

Wednesday, November 11th, 2015 - 1:02 pm | Blogs, ECAC, Notes, Thoughts, Ramblings