Another successful weekend in non-conference play has the conference in pretty good shape going forward. In terms of strength of schedule according to Krach, league teams have been pretty successful and have played some of the more difficult schedules in college hockey. The ECAC owns 10 of the top 18 schedules nationally, which is a direct consequence of the league’s non-conference winning percentage. The inter-conference record dropped a tad over the weekend, but still sits at a national best of .648. This all means good things, as the ECAC currently has seven of the top 16 teams in the Pairwise. It probably won’t stay at that, but its fun to look at because there still is good chance the league will have four, maybe five teams.

Brown’s Weekend Proved What I Said

I felt that Brown had improved more than anyone was giving them credit for, and I think the Friendship Four tournament proved that to be the case. On Friday against Colgate, they suffocated a usually good Raider offense and held them to just 14 shots in the game. Against Lowell, it again scored five goals but gave up five. Lowell is a good defensive team and the Bears did a great job getting through its usually solid defense. Ya, they gave up five goals but that was the game that presented itself. Bruno came back, twice, from down two and held a late lead. This is a sign of progress, as it picked up a tie in the game against a good team and one of the best teams in the nation.

In its last six games, the Bears have lost just once. Ya they have just two wins in that time, but compared to where they were at this point last season they are miles ahead. Being able to finish games will be the key for them going forward. Against Lowell they gave up a goal in the last minute and against Rensselaer two weeks ago, they allowed two goals late with a two goal lead to setle for a tie.

Nick Lappin and the offense are scoring at a high pace. Over the weekend, Lappin was named the ECAC player of the week, while freshman Tommy Marchin was named rookie of the week and national first star. Lappin had a goal with six assists on the weekend and Marchin had four goals with a pair of assists. The two paired with Mark Naclerio has been arugbaly the second best line in the ECAC and second best in the country. They have been scoring at will, which was something that it struggled with last season. But at the end of the day, it sure helps both ends of the ice when the defense is actually able to keep the puck out of the net.

Colgate’s Demise has Been Quick and Painful

Change happens every offseason, but for Colgate the losses were much more painful than a normal offseason. It meant the loss of many key players and pieces from a squad that had made two ECAC finals in a row. Kyle Baun, Darcy Murphy and Ryan Johnston all left the program early to pursue pro opportunities, while Spiro Goulakos, John Lidgett, among others left after graduation. The early losses have taken their toll and that was on full display, for better or worse over the weekend.

On the big sheet, the Raiders struggled to find consistency and more importantly depth to compete on both nights. The Raiders were outscored 12-1 on the weekend and mustered just 26 shots on goal. With the extra difference to cover and the travel, the lack of depth in its forward units really showed. I had a feeling they would struggle this year during preseason and those worst case scenarios seem to be coming to fruition. They have one good, well lets say great line, with three average lines. The struggles were going to happen, it is time to realize that Colgate probably won’t make the ECAC final, but who knows that’s why they play the games. That one line has a boat load of talent and has the ability to carry the load this season.

Yale is Still a Good Hockey Team, but…

One of the knocks on Yale last season was that despite having a plethora of great scoring opportunities, it just could not finish. I have seen Yale twice this season, once against a good Harvard team where it had few chances and over the weekend against Providence team, who in my estimation is the best team in the country right now, Yale had many chances. Yale could have won against Providence, but its inability to finish some great chances came back to bite them. I do think they are better at it this season but at 40th in the country in shoothing percentage, an improvement seems minimal.

To be taken seriously as a national contender, Yale needs to find a finisher. It seemed as though Joe Snively was that guy when he burst on to the scene with four goals in his first three games, but it doesn’t seem like that success will continue as the freshman has just two assists in six games since then. Snively and Ryan Hitchcock have four goals, while John Hayden has three. No one has really stepped up to take the reign of the offense, which should concern some Eli fans. Yale scored three against Providence, but two were 19 seconds apart on the power-play. On five on five it just never seemed Yale could get in the scoring areas to finish chances, which to me looked a lot like last year. It is concerning, but hey the sample size is still small. Yale will still be good, so much worry about nothing.

Tuesday, December 1st, 2015 - 10:54 pm | Blogs, ECAC, Notes, Thoughts, Ramblings