Over the weekend, the Power Rankings seemed to take hold, as all ECAC teams were in action. The Ivies finally began their seasons over the weekend, with Cornell and Brown looking the most impressive. From Brown’s impressive weekend at the Liberty Invitational to Clarkson’s continued success to the rest of the happenings within the conference, teams made statements from top to bottom.

Last night Harvard and Rensselaer kicked off the conference schedule with a tie. The tie seemed fitting based on how it looks like the conference will play out this year; a battle.It has been an interesting first month for ECAC teams but the month has been a downright success for the teams. Only Dartmouth, Union and Colgate will leave October with sub-500 records, with Dartmouth’s only losses at the Liberty Invitational over the weekend. Those teams will make up the bottom three positions, only because wins matter in Power Rankings. Without further ado I suppose here is my weekly take on how the teams stack up. (more…)

What a weekend for ECAC teams last weekend and in all honesty we have come to expect it. This weekend will see the first week of conference games, as all 12 teams will begin its run at an ECAC regular season crown. We will also see the final banner night of the season, the most important one, as Yale will begin its home slate with a game against St. Lawrence. All in all we will see just how deep the ECAC conference is; it should prove to be a great weekend of games around the conference.

With a another great weekend of non-conference play a few more trends have taken hold within the conference. From the success I keep talking about to Brown’s success at the Liberty Invitational there are many things happening here are the three I deem most important this weekend:

ECAC is the early season king of conferences

Yes, I am a bit biased but the early season has been a downright success for ECAC teams in non-conference action and its success should be no surprise. On Saturday night, ECAC teams went 6-1-0 in non-conference action taking the world by storm. Within those six wins were three wins over arguably the top two conferences in the country Hockey East and the NCHC; the ones that often call the ECAC four different letters (which won’t be mentioned). We all cringe when we hear it but we should all just quietly laugh the next time we hear it said, as what matters is what happens on the ice and the teams have done nothing but impress. (more…)

Hamden, Conn. – Quinnipiac earned its sixth-straight win Saturday afternoon at the TD Bank Sports Center, defeating Holy Cross 4-1 while also sweeping the home-and-home series. Sam Anas recorded two goals, while Bryce Van Brabant and Travis St. Denis tallied a score each. Mike Barrett recorded the lone goal for Holy Cross. Quinnipiac outshot Holy Cross 49-18 on the day, also converting on two of its six power plays.

What I saw:

– Quinnipiac had some trouble finishing its chances in the first period. The Bobcats played with plenty of speed, blowing past Holy Cross defenders in the offensive zone, but shots and passes kept getting broken up.

– Anas notched two more goals, bringing his season total to six with four coming in the past three games. Though one was a combination of a poor angle and an unlucky bounce, Anas had additional chances throughout the night, including a breakaway and a shot off the pipe. With Peter Quenneville out of the Bobcats lineup, Anas played on the first line with Connor and Kellen Jones to great success.

What I thought:

– Holy Cross held the tempo at times in the first period, especially when it scored its only goal, but never regrouped after Quinnipiac tied it.

– The Bobcats began to overpower the Crusaders in the second period, and it continued for the rest of the game. Quinnipiac held Holy Cross to just four shots on goal, also notching eight grade-a chances compared to the Crusaders’ zero in the stanza.

– Kellen Jones was tripped up on a breakaway and wasn’t given a penalty shot for some bizarre reason. Strange non-call, yet Quinnipiac ended up scoring on that power play anyway. Fortunately it wasn’t a huge difference maker.

What they said:

“They wore us down,” Holy Cross head coach Paul Pearl said. “We’re playing a lot of the same guys a ton of minutes. They play a good, thorough game. Their physicality and their speed wore us down.”

“Very happy with our effort tonight,” Quinnipiac head coach Rand Pecknold said. “Now our ECAC season starts. I like how we’re playing. We need to be healthy, hopefully we’ll get Quenneville back next weekend.”

“We’ve had a good mindset coming into these games, and it’s not gonna change,” Anas said. “We play our game, compete hard. We’re playing well.”

What else you need to know:

– Holy Cross opens up conference play on Nov. 1 when it hosts Sacred Heart.

– Quinnipiac starts league play on Nov. 1 when it travels to Colgate.

Half the conference has still not played a game yet, so the Power Rankings are still a work in progress. We should have a better idea next week of who the strongest teams are in the conference.  Quinnipiac looked impressive over the weekend against UMass-Lowell, while teams like Union, Colgate and St. Lawrence looked the opposite. Make sure to check out the ECAC Three Things I Think, as it will give you even more insight on what I think is happening in the conference. (more…)

This past weekend wasn’t as impressive as the weekend before within the conference but Quinnipiac had an impressive weekend and looked good in a sweep of UMass-Lowell. The Ivies will begin play this weekend with Yale, Dartmouth, Princeton and Brown all participating in the Liberty Hockey Invitational at the Prudential Center, in Newark New Jersey. Cornell will open its season with a pair against Nebraska-Omaha, while Harvard opens its season against Bentley for the second straight season. Having these teams playing will give more options in next week’s edition but in hindsight there are still some major trends that stood out for me over the weekend.

Is it time to panic in Schenectady? (more…)

Lowell, Mass – UML and Quinnipiac were both Frozen Four participants last season, but they didn’t play each other . You couldn’t tell by the play on the ice. After a scoreless first period where Quinnipiac dominated play, the Bobcats came out in the second and stifled a good Lowell team, holding them 0-5 on the power-play and limiting them to no quality chances.

Jordan Samuel-Thomas opened the scoring at two minutes, three seconds of the second on a beautiful slot to slot pass from Peter Quenneville leaving the former with nothing but a wide open net to shoot at. QU took a 2-0 lead seven minutes later as Connor Clifton sent a point shot in that deflected off of Connor Jones into the net. The Bobcats finished the scoring in the second at 13:25 of the period when Derek Smith’s point shot beat Connor Hellebuyck to give Quinnipiac the 3-0 second intermission lead.

It was much of the same in the third period, as Lowell turned it up a bit scoring an early third period goal but they would eventually fall  3-1 to the Bobcats. Lowell falls 1-2-0 on the young season, while Quinnipiac improves to 2-1-0. (more…)

It is a bit early to be doing Power Rankings, but in all reality the season has to start at some point and no better time than right now. Many teams have begun the season, including Clarkson and Colgate who have combined to play 7 games already. Both of those teams have looked good in the early going and all the other teams that began last weekend looked good as well, as the conference has gone 10-4-1 in early non-conference action. To preface, the preseason rankings are the ones that will be seen on the ECAC preview article when it is released on the site. It has changed a bit in my mind, already but I have tried to keep teams, mainly the Ivy’s, that haven’t played in their positions. It was tough mainly because the teams that have played, looked really good. (more…)

While the other conferences were overly-written about in the offseason because of the massive change of landscape that has occurred around College Hockey, the ECAC stayed relatively uniform and out of the national news. In some senses, it has been left in the shadow of the other conferences despite its most crowning achievement in two decades, Yale’s national title victory in April.

Last season, was a successful one for the conference and if it is any indication this season could be much of the same. In the first two weeks of the season, the conference has gone 10-4-1 in non-conference games. Of course the Ivy league teams don’t join the party for another two weeks but the conference as a whole looks to be deep and stacked, especially at the forward position. Colgate and Clarkson have combined for half of the games that have been played, and for two teams that struggled for large portions of last year they have impressed. Those two have combined for a combined 5-2-0 mark in the early going.

With week one in the books, trends are starting to take shape. Here are three of the most noteworthy: (more…)

Two regular season, non-conference games will highlight the weekend schedule, as both Colgate and Clarkson begin their respective seasons. Both of the teams struggled mightily down the stretch of last season and will be looking for a new beginning this season. St Lawrence and Rensselaer host exhibition games on Saturday while Quinnipiac hosts one in Hamden on Sunday.

I will have a full ECAC preview available in the coming weeks, but in the mean time lets enjoy the hockey this weekend. it should only be a preview of what is to come around the country. (more…)

Hanover, NH – Harvard and Dartmouth took to the ice on Sunday evening, with their seasons hanging in the balance and that was easily noticeable given the play. The Green and the Crimson came out flying in the early going, as the speed was just a notch higher than the regular season. The teams would play a scoreless first 19 minutes, but that would change late in the first period as Luke Grenier came out from the back of the net untouched. He scored over Charles Grant’s glove to give the Crimson the 1-0 lead at 19 minutes, 28 seconds of the first period and that lead would hold into the first intermission. The Big Green exploded for three goals in the first 7:26 of the second period, as Brad Schierhorn, Tim O’Brien and Eric Robinson all tallied for Dartmouth. That three goal outburst sent the game into the second intermission with the Big Green leading 3-1.

The third brought much of the same for Dartmouth as Nick Bligh would add an early insurance marker, giving his Big Green a 4-1 lead 16:30 remaining in the game. The lead would be enough, as Dartmouth would hold on to defeat Harvard, 6-3,  in the third game of the ECAC first round series. The win advances Dartmouth to the Quarter-finals, where they will face Union College at Messa Rink in Schenectady, New York. It also keeps alive their chance at an NCAA berth, that is slim at best, sitting at 20th in the Pairwise rankings.

The loss ends the Crimson’s disappointing season at 10-19-3. It was a season that was filled with high hope coming in but was marred with with an academic scandal that saw four players removed from their roster. They were picked near the top of the ECAC in most preseason polls, so saying the season was a disappointment is an understatement. (more…)