Hanover, NH- It was a game that featured the second and third ranked teams in the Pairwise, but one team really stood out for all the wrong reasons and one for all the right reasons. Dartmouth struck first six minutes, five seconds into the first period as Nick Bligh found himself all alone in the high slot and fired it past UNH goaltender Casey Desmith. The Big Green would increase their lead to two as Ryan Bullock struck five minutes later to give Dartmouth the 2-0 lead after one stanza. Both of those goals were the first in their respective collegiate careers.

To begin the second period, UNH scored 46 seconds in to make it a game at 2-1, but Dartmouth would make it a 3-1 game off the stick of Tyler Sikura. The 3-1 score would hold until the end, where Dartmouth held on and added an empty netter to pull out the 4-1 victory over UNH in front of a sell out crowd of 4500 at Thompson Arena. UNH falls to 11-3-2 on the season, while Dartmouth improves to 8-2-2. (more…)

HAMDEN, Conn. — Two teams that pride themselves on defense ended up in a shootout Saturday, as Quinnipiac beat Nebraska-Omaha 5-4. Jordan Samuels-Thomas scored two goals for the Bobcats, including what proved to be the game-winner 3:47 into the third. Just three minutes after UNO’s Ryan Walters tied the game at 4-4, Matthew Peca led a 4-on-2 and found Samuels-Thomas in the high slot for the goal. Quinnipiac extended its unbeaten streak to 11 games with the win.

Samuels-Thomas and Peca also opened the scoring, as each scored within the game’s first four minutes to give the Bobcats (13-3-2) a 2-0 lead that they would hold until the end of the first. Matt White cut the lead in half early in the second before Ben Arnt restored Quinnipiac’s two-goal lead. The Mavericks (11-7-1) came back to tie the game at 3-3, though, as Johnnie Searfoss and Brian O’Rourke both found the back of the net. It looked like the game would go into the third deadlocked, but a UNO turnover behind the net allowed Kellen Jones to feed Kevin Bui in front to give the Bobcats a 4-3 lead with 1:06 left in the second.

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We have made it to the winter break and it has been a roller coaster ride in the ECAC. With most teams off until after the holiday break these rankings will be the ones that bring us into the much anticipated tournaments at the end of the month. The standings are starting to come together with the rankings, but there are still some deviations based on who is playing well. Quinnipiac is standing tall in the league standings with their closest competitor seven points behind and they will head into the break in the top spot in these rankings. Breaking from tradition a bit we will not only look at last weeks rankings but also preseason Power Rankings to see how well we have done. If you could make a guess, it is per usual and never set in stone.

1. Quinnipiac (12-3-2, 8-0-0)- Last Week 1, Preseason 4

The Bobcats keep winning and have entered the break on a ten game unbeaten streak. It was easy to be hesitant to put the Q in this position, they do have losses to AIC and Robert Morris on their resume, but at the end of the day they have been the only ECAC squad to assert themselves within the conference as a contender for the regular season title. They are undefeated, unblemished in conference play at 8-0-0 and stand clear of second place Dartmouth and Union by seven points. If anything the break was the last thing Quinnipiac wanted to see, but continue playing the way they have for past month after the break and we will be talking about the Q in March. (more…)

AMHERST, Mass. – Colgate rallied for four goals in the third period to overcome a 2-1 deficit and complete the weekend sweep of Massachusetts with a 5-2 win Saturday night at the Mullins Center.

Kurtis Bartliff, whom Colgate coach Don Vaughan called out to step up before the game, scored twice for the Raiders, including the game-tying goal four minutes, 39 seconds into the third period, while Tyson Spink and Kyle Baun each scored a power play goal.

Spencer Finney had a quiet night between the pipes, but was strong, making 31 saves and shutting out the Minutemen over the final two periods of play.

Kevin Boyle’s night was quite the opposite. The sophomore goaltender was solid for the first two periods, but fell apart in the final 20 minutes. He finished with 18 saves on the night.

What I Saw

• It appeared UMass was on its way to a grind-it-out, low-scoring victory throughout the second period and the early part of the third period with a 2-1 lead and Boyle playing strong. However, the third period belonged to the Raiders in every way possible. The rally started on a goal that falls solely on the shoulders of Boyle. Bartliff’s shot was a low-quality attempt at the net in which the puck deflected off the midsection of Boyle, and trickled between his legs before he could even locate it. The momentum continued to swing in Colgate’s favor when Joel Hanley was called for a questionable elbowing call that UMass coach John Micheletto was clearly upset about 8:51 into the period. That’s when the power play got back to work and Baun hit Tyson Spink with a cross-ice feed from the slot and Spink buried the puck into a wide open net, something similar to what the unit did to the Minutemen penalty kill the night before. Suddenly, Colgate had the 3-2 advantage as UMass reverted back to the struggles that plagued it on Friday. A pair of greasy goals from Billy Rivellini and Bartliff in front of the net were the finishing touches on a lopsided third period.  (more…)

North Andover, Mass.-  Harvard and Merrimack played to a 0-0 deadlock after one period and then Harvard stormed out in the second period to take a 2-0 on one shift. Tommy O Regan scored the first goal of the second period as he found a puck that boucned in the air and put it in the net for a 1-0 Harvard lead three minutes, 13 seconds into the period. But Harvard was not done as O’ Regan found a streaking Desmond Bergin 31 seconds later in the left slot and Bergin put it past Merrimack goalie, Sam Marotta for the 2-0 lead. Merrimack would respond on a shorthanded faceoff at 6:27 of the second period on a goal by Rhett Bly. Five minutes later Mike Collins would send a puck to the back of the net to send the teams into the second intermission tied at two goals apiece.

The teams would skate an even third period to head into overtime. At the end of the third period, Harvard captain Danny Biega took a five minute major for kneeing on Merrimack College forward Brian Christie. This meant that the Warriors were on the power-play for the entire overtime. They killed the penalty and escaped Lawler Arena with a 2-2 tie against Merrimack. (more…)

Dartmouth got an early goal from captain Mike Keenan at two minutes, 33 seconds of the first period and Vermont would respond nine minutes later to send the game into the first intermission deadlocked at one. The second period was the Dustin Walsh show, as he ripped a snipe in the slot past Hoffman just 29 seconds into the stanza and made it 3-1 with four minutes remaining. The lead was enough for Dartmouth, as they never looked back and defeated Vermont 4-2. Dartmouth improves to 7-2-2 on the season, while Vermont falls to 3-8-3.

What I Saw

• Vermont actually played one of the most confident games I have seen from them in the past two seasons. They were poised with the puck and played pretty good defense for the most part. The goals that Dartmouth scored on the night were on poor defensive coverage by the Catamounts, lapses that often happen against good teams, such as Dartmouth. (more…)

It is starting to become clear to me that we may finally have a top team in ECAC hockey, and that team is Quinnipiac. I was reluctant to put them there mainly because of one loss to AIC in early November, but I stand corrected and they have used this loss to propel them  into an eight game unbeaten streak. Quinnipiac’s success has put the conference on alert but Yale is also on an impressive four game winning streak. Both teams look strong and have overtaken the supposed top two of just a few weeks ago, Dartmouth and Union. Without further ado, here are this weeks Power Rankings…

1. Quinnipiac (10-3-2, 6-0-0) – Last Week 4

Quinnipiac is one of the hottest teams in the country going 7-0-1 in their last eight games and are unblemished against fellow conference foes. They are also this week’s CHN Team of the Week. The Bobcats now sit three points clear in the ECAC standings of Dartmouth and have more than proven themselves for this ranking. Last weekend they swept a pair of games on the road against Union and RPI. The former was last weeks number one team in these rankings and the Q held them to a paltry 20 shots on goal. Eric Hartzell was named ECAC goaltender of the week as he stopped 41 of 42 shots sent his way, on the weekend. (more…)

Another weekend of ECAC non-conference action brought us even more turmoil in these rankings. Yale went out to Colorado over the weekend and swept Denver and Colorado College. This sweep has to move them up in the rankings as they are the only ECAC team, save Union, to take two wins out of the weekend. Cornell also won against Michigan at Madison Square Garden on Saturday night.

Friday night was a success for the conference as a whole as the teams had an aggregate 4-0-1 record, but Saturday night was more of a struggle as the conference went 3-4-1 against teams from the other conferences. The conference still looks good in terms of non-conference tilts and should bode well going forward. Cornell and St. Lawrence have done well in their non-conference games while they have struggled within the league.

1. Union (8-2-1, 3-1-0) – Last Week 2

Troy Grosenick returned for the Dutchmen on Sunday and this can only improve an already good team that was ranked second last week in these rankings. Union swept Penn State over the weekend, sending 88 shots at the Penn State goal.  (more…)

Boston University outshot the Saints 17-8 in the first period and escaped the first period up 1-0, on a wicked wrister by Wade Megan at eleven minutes, 15 seconds that found the back of the net. The second period turned into the Matt Weninger show as he kept his Saints in the game by making 21 of 22 saves the Terriers sent his way in the period. BU would score two third period goals to put the game away and win it 4-0. The Terriers sent 47 shots at the St. Lawrence net and controlled the game from start to finish.

What I Saw

• Matt Weninger was the star of the show on this night despite giving up a goal apiece in the first two periods and two more in the third. The Terriers dominated the second period and until late in the period were unable to solve the Saints goaltender. For 19 minutes BU threw shot after shot at Weninger but he was able to come up big.   On the 22nd BU shot of the second period (more…)

Last weekend was another interesting weekend throughout the ECAC. The last undefeated team, Dartmouth, fell but does this mean we have a new number one? Quinnipiac is red hot and a perfect 4-0-0 in conference play, while Cornell continues to falter going 0-1-1 on the weekend. Dartmouth leads the conference outright with nine points, but parity throughout the conference is reigning supreme as every team except for RPI has points on the year and seven teams have five or more. With all the parity throughout, fans should be getting excited because there will be some great games at all the ECAC rinks his winter. In the mean time, enjoy the weekly Power Rankings. (more…)