I figured I would start a pre-weekend blog to go along with the Three Things I Think and the Power Rankings, which will commence with the Ivy League season. I figured a preview format would be pretty boring, I have tried it before. It was always long and tedious. Instead, each week I will pick a game on the ECAC calendar to call the game of the week. I will also provide my predictions for the weekend for all the games, while also providing a blurb  into my thought process.Without further ado, here’s to the inaugural edition.

St. Cloud State (1-1-0, 0-0-0 NCHC)

at Union (4-0-0, 0-0-0 ECAC)

All time series: 2-1-2 St. Cloud

Fri and Sat 7pm (more…)

Colgate and Union have steamrolled out of the gate. The two are a combined 6-1 on the young season and have done nothing but impress. The two were expected to be good, picked first and second in preseason, so the success is hardly a surprise.  Clarkson hit a rock over the weekend scoring just one goal in two games, while getting swept in a home and home by Vermont. St. Lawrence continues to surprise a bit, as the Saints were a goal away from sweeping the weekend against highly touted Ferris State. Instead, they picked up a win and a loss. Quinnipiac did little to impress me last weekend and I will discuss its struggles on Friday below.

The conference as a whole is looking good in terms of the inter-conference records, as the conference is 13-9-2 on the young season. It also has a winning record against Hockey East, which is always nice to see. With most of that action coming on the road against quality competition thus far it is so far so good in comparison to the other conferences.

The ECAC preview package was released late last week. Make sure to check out the team by team preview, the Watch List and my article on Union’s, Charlie Vasaturo. Without further ado here are the things I see as noteworthy for the week: (more…)

The college hockey season has commenced and we ECAC fans again have the privilege of fielding one of the deepest conferences in the country . One should expect the complete ECAC preview package to be released in the coming days. Fair warning, if you don’t like the opinions,  RPI coach Seth Appert said it right in his preseason conference call. Appert said, “generally speaking the coaches and media are wrong. That is pretty consistent and I don’t put a lot of stock in it.” He of course points out that preseason polls never pan out. There are always surprises and I am sure this year will prove to be another year where we aren’t even close, although we all strive to be as close as possible. Unlike teams, we get new chances every year to prove we are “experts.”

Colgate went out to St. Cloud, took a quick 2-0 lead in game 1 and were able to hold for the win against a solid Husky team. Colgate, though, is expected to win. Getting a big win on the road was exactly the start it needed and wanted. It dropped game 2 but winning one of two against SCSU is quite the start, also it could turn out to be a huge pairwise boost at the end of the season because of the way road games are weighted. Unlike Colgate, Rensselaer had no pressure to begin the season and it showed at the Icebreaker. RPI faced the host, Notre Dame, on opening night and came out with an impressive 3-2 victory in enemy territory. I will have more on the Engineers below, because I was quite impressed with what I saw. Both Rensselaer and Colgate have impressive, tough non-conference schedules, so be on the lookout when those big name teams come to your town. Without further ado, lets get to my thoughts of the week. (more…)

Conferences across the nation will crown their league champions, and NCAA automatic qualifiers, this upcoming weekend.

For some teams these will be do-or-die games. For others, there’s a trophy at stake but their tickets to the NCAA tournament have already been punched. Here’s what we know:

(more…)

In all honesty, I have no idea where the time went. The best time of the year is upon us, as eight teams will play this weekend for a chance to advance to the quarterfinal round, where Union, Colgate, Quinnipiac and Cornell wait in the wings with byes. I will have a more complete preview of the ECAC first round later this week.

The last weekend, showed the true grit of playoff hockey. Union, despite not playing for much, was locked into a battle with Brown on Saturday. On Friday night the Bears and RPI were locked into a playoff hockey game. Some teams flourish in the environment and it will be very interesting to see who that team is this season. Last season it was Brown, but this season there are a few teams that could be that team.

I am going to a highlight some things below and give some opinions on to who I think will go forward in the tournament. I don’t give much in the way of an opinion in the preview, so this is a much better avenue to do so. All in all, I could see 11 of the 12 teams going to Lake Placid, as the league is so strong. Right now the two favorites among readers seems to be Quinnipiac and a really gritty Union team, I would agree with them. Because of the way this season has gone, there is always thought that the clear-cut favorites wont make it and a team that no one expects will be there, I will say that probably will happen. (more…)

Providence, RI. – Brown had everything on the line, with home ice at stake in its game against Union. The Dutchmen had just the national picture to play for. For the second night in a row, Bruno played in a tight checking, physical playoff type game. Defensive and tentative best described the first two periods, as both teams were able to keep each other off the board.

The third period was much of the same, until Kevin Sullivan fed a wide open Daniel Ciampini in front of the net to give the Dutchmen the 1-0 lead at 12 minutes, 51 seconds of the third period. Daniel Carr added his 17^th of the year at 16:17 to give the Dutch a commanding 2-0 lead. Kevin Sullivan added an empty netter and Union defeated Brown, 3-0.

With the win, Union finishes the regular season 24-6-4, 18-3-1 in the ECAC. Brown squandered its opportunity to host a first round series with the loss. Its record falls to 11-15-3, 8-13-1 to finish the regular season. Union will have next weekend off with the bye and the number one seed, while Brown will travel to St. Lawrence for a series against the Saints in the first round of the ECAC tournament. (more…)

Lots of shuffling occurred at the top on Friday night, while RPI clinched home ice in the first round and Quinnipiac clinched the third of four byes. The championship is locked up for Union but the final bye and final home ice spot are up for grabs in the last weekend. Lets go through some scenarios but check out the standings page for a more complete record and pts standing. (more…)

Providence, RI. – Brown and RPI entered Friday night with a lot on the line. Rensselaer entered the evening in seventh place, just two points ahead of Bruno for that spot. Both teams could clinch home ice with a win and the way the chips fell, Rensselaer would have left the night with home ice, win, loss or tie.

The game had a playoff type feel and both goaltenders went toe toe. The first two periods did not disappoint, as the teams entered the third period scoreless. Jacob Laliberte broke the tie at five minutes, 45 seconds of the third period as a loose puck came to him on the doorstep of the net and he was true to give Rensselaer the first lead of the game. Mark Miller scored five minutes later to make it 2-0 Engineers. Rensselaer added an empty netter off the stick of Zach Schroeder and would hold on to the defeat Brown, 3-0. The win clinched home ice in the first round for the Engineers, while Brown holds on to dear life to eighth place one point up on Harvard, SLU and Dartmouth in the ECAC Standings for home ice in the first round.
(more…)

Can anyone else believe that we have hit the last weekend of the season? It seems like just yesterday that Clarkson faced off in the Ice Breaker, but we have reached the last weekend of the year my friends. Union clinched the Cleary Cup outright on Saturday night with its win against St. Lawrence. Colgate became the second team to clinch a first round bye in the ECAC tournament, as it defeated QU on the road. Quinnipiac at 25 points needs just one point to clinch a first round bye, while Cornell sits in fourth and needs a win to clinch because Clarkson three points behind owns the tiebreaker on it. Only Yale and Clarkson could stake a claim on catching QU or Cornell for a bye.

Just like the battle for positioning for byes is interesting so is home ice, but Clarkson and Yale have clinched spots for home ice if they are unable to catch a bye. Rensselaer and Brown currently hold the final two home ice positions. RPI sits in good position but needs to pick up two points, either by a win or a St. Lawrence loss because the Saints would hold the tiebreaker if RPI only picked up one point when St. Lawrence picked up two wins. Complicated stuff but it’s like that I guess. Brown is ahead of St. Lawrence by one point and ahead of both Dartmouth and Harvard by three. The right things would have to fall into place fr Harvard or Dartmouth to get a first round home series, but it isn’t impossible. Princeton will enter the ECAC tournament as the twelfth and final seed, finishing in last place. (more…)

Hamden CT. – Colgate and Quinnipiac entered the night deadlocked for second place in the ECAC. The first period is exactly what one would have expected, as the two played up and down hockey. Quinnipiac appeared to score twice in the period, only to be ruled no goal on the ice. The first was when Brice van Brabant went in all alone but held up a Colgate player to get the puck originally. The second was a controversial kicking call, called on the ice as such. Those two were the only close calls in the period, which ended with the teams both scoreless. Colgate took the lead at nine minutes, 14 seconds of the second period when Tylor Spink went around the net and sent a wicked wrister straight past QU goaltender, Michael Garteig. QU responded minutes later when Matthew Peca sent a wrister toward the net that was tipped home by Connor Jones.

The teams entered the third period tied at one goal apiece. It stayed that way until Tylor Spink scored his second of the game, deking Garteig out as he was all alone in front of him. Darcy Murphy added an empty net goal late in the third period, giving Colgate a 3-1 victory at Quinnipiac. The win moves Colgate into second place all alone with a record of 16-11-5 overall, and 12-5-3 in the ECAC. Quinnipiac, meanwhile, falls to 21-8-5, 11-6-3 and to third in the ECAC standings. QU also falls to seventh in the Pairwise rankings, while Colgate rises into an at large bid at 13. (more…)