It’s heating up now.
With only five weeks left in the regular season, the jockeying for positions to get into the ECAC playoffs has already begun. After this weekend, every team will have eight games left with which to determine their postseason fate.
Speaking of weekends, the last one was huge for four teams. St. Lawrence and Princeton swept series this past weekend to move into a first-place tie in the ECAC standings, while Clarkson’s sweep enabled the Golden Knights to slip into third and Yale’s pushed the Bulldogs into a fifth-place tie.
It was not good news for Union, Rensselaer, Colgate and Cornell, which were swept by the above four teams.
Vermont moved up to eighth place with an overtime victory over Dartmouth, leaving the Big Green tied with Harvard for the last playoff position.
This week’s ECAC honors: ECAC Player of the Week — Jason Windle, St. Lawrence ECAC Rookie of the Week — Shawn Grant, Clarkson ECAC Goaltender(s) of the Week — Eric Heffler, St. Lawrence and Scott Stirling, Brown
ECAC Standings
This weekend is pivotal, as there should be tremendous movement in the standings with three ties for positions, two points separating first place from fourth, four points separating fifth from eighth and six points separating fifth from 11th.
Last Week: 7-7 Season To Date: 86-61, .585
Princeton (14-4-1, 9-2-1 ECAC, T-1st) and Yale (8-10-1, 6-5-1 ECAC, T-5th) at Colgate (11-8-3, 6-5-1 ECAC, T-5th) Friday – Saturday, 7:30 pm – 7:00 pm, Starr Rink, Hamilton, NY Yale (8-10-1, 6-5-1 ECAC, T-5th) and Princeton (14-4-1, 9-2-1 ECAC, T- 1st) at Cornell (8-8-3, 5-4-3 ECAC, T-5th) Friday – Saturday, 7:30 pm – 7:00 pm, Lynah Rink, Ithaca, NY
Previous Meetings This Season: January 29 — Princeton 3, Cornell 2 and Yale 5, Colgate 1 January 30 — Princeton 2, Colgate 1 and Yale 4, Cornell 2
What’s that saying about good teams finding a way to win? Well, as trite as the cliche may be, that was the way of the Princeton Tigers last weekend. With heavy legs, and still trying to recover from a 19-day layoff, the Tigers fought back from a 2-0 deficit against Cornell on Friday night to claim their 14th victory of the season and retain a piece of first place in the ECAC hunt.
The heroes of the weekend — senior defensemen Steve Shirreffs, Jackson Hegland, and Michael Acosta — have been relatively silent offensively throughout the season, but chose an opportune time to dust the cobwebs off their sticks. After accounting for only two goals combined in the first 17 games of the season, each of three blueliners found the back of the net against Cornell.
"Every game you are going to have different guys contributing to the team," Acosta said. "Having the defense do it is just to our advantage, that we know that we can depend on the defense for a goal or two or sometimes even three."
Colgate, still smarting over a 5-1 pounding from Yale the night before, entered Hobey Baker Rink the following night with a much-improved game plan against Princeton. This time, the Tigers fell back upon old, reliable offensive guns as Jeff Halpern (18-11-24) and Scott Bertoli (7-10-17) scored the only goals they would need in the 2-1 victory which sealed the four-point weekend.
One of the brightest spots for Princeton was the play of its rotating netminders, senior Nick Rankin and freshman Dave Stathos. A source of worry at times for head coach Don "Toot" Cahoon, the two goalies turned in similarly-impressive performances, registering 29 and 30 saves, respectively, to give the Tigers a chance to come away with the two victories.
"Dave is a 20-year-old freshman. He has played at a real high level of junior hockey and that shows," Cahoon said. "He competed against (Cornell’s Matt Underhill) who is a pretty good goaltender. Dave is a good one but it is a day-to-day process. That position is so fragile and you have to stay with it."
The goaltending rotation will in all likelihood continue this weekend when, for the second straight week, Princeton takes on Colgate and Cornell. This time, however, the Tigers will play the role of the visitors, and they will also be carrying the weight of being frontrunners. Precariously tied atop the league with St. Lawrence, which is again playing solid hockey, Princeton will have to continue to find a way to win in order to be in the driver’s seat come March.
One week ago, Yale head coach Tim Taylor declared that the first two weekends in February would dictate the direction his team was heading.
In clutch fashion, his players responded with two huge victories over Colgate and Cornell to move into a three-way tie for fifth place. In addition, the Bulldogs’ struggling offense was resuscitated (at least for two games) as the first line received some much-needed help. Even the special teams play showed signs of depth, taking pressure off Jeff Hamilton, who had been acting as Yale’s sole lifeline.
On Friday night against the Red Raiders, Yale produced its most decisive win of the season, jumping out to a 4-0 lead after two periods and then holding on for the 5-1 victory. After collecting only one assist against Colgate, Hamilton took charge the following night with two crucial goals, including the game-winner, in the first period to ice the Big Red.
"I think the special teams’ play was the key," said Taylor, whose team scored four power-play goals in the weekend sweep. Our second power-play unit did a great job of maintaining pressure and we had an awful lot of chances."
The story of the game, however, was senior netminder Alex Westlund, who not only finished with 31 saves, but became Yale’s all-time career saves leader. It was appropriate that Westlund placed his name in the Yale annals against Colgate, a team he has traditionally dominated. In his last four starts against Don Vaughan’s squad, the Bulldog goalie has allowed only two goals.
Westlund, last year’s ECAC Goaltender of the year, has been particularly affected by his team’s recent growing pains. Last weekend was perhaps the breakthrough he needed, as it marked one of the first times all season that the Yale defense was able to hold its own, perhaps finally letting the Bulldog faithful ask, "Ray who?"
"It was nice to break the record in front of the home crowd, but it was great just to win," said Westlund following the game. "We seem to play solidly against Colgate over the past couple of years. Our defense always seems to limit the quality shots against them."
Coming off such a successful weekend against Colgate and Cornell, Yale will have a chance to repeat its four-point performance as it heads North for the ECAC’s version of a home-and-home series.
"This is what we expect from ourselves every time we take the ice," said Yale senior captain Keith McCullough, who collected a goal and three assists in the two games.
"People try to tell us that last year was the exception, and that we can’t do it again, but my answer to that is no. We have basically the same personnel, and to say we’re not contenders to take the ECAC is crazy. I’m just proud as hell about these guys. We’re just tapping, just beginning to find out what we can do. We’re not going to be taken lightly anymore."
Things have not gone well as of late for Colgate. The Red Raiders are coming off a weekend in which they were swept by Yale and Princeton and have not won a game since a 4-3 overtime victory over Clarkson, a span of five games and have dropped three of those five.
In addition the Red Raiders have gone into an offensive funk. They have scored 13 goals in the last eight games, going 1-5-2 in that span.
"I am worried about our offense, mostly about the power play," head coach Don Vaughan said. "Our special teams are making the difference at this stage. Because we’ve been struggling, we’ve been pressing too hard at times. We have to be patient."
The Red Raiders have scored four power-play goals in 45 attempts in those eight games.
On Friday evening, the Red Raiders fell behind 4-0 after two periods of play and never recovered in the 5-1 loss. The next night against Princeton, the Tigers took a 2-0 lead before Colgate scored in the 2-1 loss.
"We got behind early and didn’t play particularly well after that," Vaughan said of Friday’s game. "When you’re already struggling with your offense and then you fall behind quickly, things get really tough.
"We actually played really well [Saturday]. We haven’t had much success there in the past and we fell behind early, but we battled back and probably out-chanced them on the night. The puck just didn’t bounce our way."
With the same set of teams this weekend, the Red Raiders are looking to right the ship.
"This kind of thing is a challenge every team faces at some point, but we know if we can take care of business at home it will pick us up," Vaughan said. "We just need to go out there and work really hard, stay patient but also take some chances. One thing’s for sure, though, we’ll be ready."
It was a lost weekend for the Cornell Big Red. The Big Red were swept by Princeton and Cornell. Before the weekend even began, Jeff Burgoyne was lost for the weekend with a case of the flu. Things did start well though for the Big Red as they took an early 2-0 lead on Princeton, but the second period saw two Tiger goals in the span of two minutes before the Tigers won it in the third period, 3-2.
"We’ve got to look at ourselves," Cornell head coach Mike Schafer said. "We’re the ones who made the mistakes in the second period to let them get back in the game. So, it was a frustrating night from that standpoint."
The next night the Big Red fell behind 3-0 in the first period, never were in the game and lost 4-2.
"It was a real disappointing weekend in the sense that I thought we got away, a couple of weeks ago, from making mental errors that were going to cost us games," Schafer said. "And we did the same thing [Saturday] and gave them a three-goal lead.
"Our guys were physically and mentally ready to play, but give Yale some credit, the first few chances they get to score, they score. Our guys don’t execute, and they put the puck in the back of the net.
"You can look back and say, `Yeah, we did a good job as far as trying to get back into the game.’ But you don’t get points for getting back into games, you get points for winning games and we didn’t do that [last weekend]."
One of the worrisome items for the Big Red has to be their lack of production. The Big Red have not scored more than four goals since Dec. 4, and have only tallied 26 goals in the 11 games since that date. In fact, the Big Red have scored four or more goals just three times this season.
"I asked some guys to start to step up their production because we’re depending on certain guys to carry the workload," said Schafer.
One of those "certain guys" has been the captain of the Big Red, Kyle Knopp. Knopp leads the team with 27 points, but only seven of those points have been goals. Freshman Denis Ladouceur has 10 goals to lead the team, while Doug Stienstra has seven goals on the season.
The Big Red will once again face off against Yale and Princeton this coming weekend — an oddity of the schedule, to say the least.
"It’ll be great to see the things that worked and didn’t work on video," said Schafer. "Obviously, it’s a great opportunity to get back and redeem ourselves after dropping two in a row down there.
"We didn’t play that well last weekend. You’ve got to give them credit — they played well against us. But the chance to play them again right off the bat is what we wanted. These are teams we feel we can beat. They’re good clubs, but so are we.
"I think it comes down to work ethic. If we work a little harder, we hustle after the puck and do the little things, it will lead to success this weekend."
Picks: Princeton at Colgate — The Princeton attack is still looking for consistent performances from both its offense and defense corps. As it stands, Colgate isn’t playing well enough to handle one or the other — let alone both at the same time. Princeton 4, Colgate 2. Yale at Cornell — The Big Red cannot be kept down for long. But then again Yale is one of the hottest teams in the league right now. But not at Lynah. Cornell 3, Yale 2. Yale at Colgate — The best news for Yale is that Colgate has entered the heart of its annual mid-season slump. After the Bulldogs dominated the Red Raiders at Ingalls Rink last Friday night, morale and confidence levels can’t be very high in Hamilton, N.Y. Yale 6, Colgate 1. Princeton at Cornell — The Big Red drop the season series to the Tigers, who actually win by more than one goal. Princeton 4, Cornell 2.
Dartmouth (7-11-1, 3-8-1 ECAC, T-10th) and Vermont (10-10-1, 4-7-1 ECAC, 8th) at Clarkson (12-9-1, 9-3-0 ECAC, 3rd) Friday – Saturday, 7:30 pm – 7:00 pm, Cheel Arena, Potsdam, NY Vermont (10-10-1, 4-7-1 ECAC, 8th) and Dartmouth (7-11-1, 3-8-1 ECAC, T-10th) at St. Lawrence (14-9-1, 9-2-1 ECAC, T-1st) Friday – Saturday, 7:30 pm – 7:00 pm, Appleton Arena, Canton, NY
Previous Meetings This Season: January 15 — Clarkson 4, Vermont 2 and St. Lawrence 4, Dartmouth 3 January 16 — Clarkson 6, Dartmouth 1 and St. Lawrence 6, Vermont 0
The deciding battle between travel partners last Saturday night could not have been more fitting. After Vermont and Dartmouth split their first two contests of the season, the showdown for bragging rights came center stage in Burlington, Vt.
And the winner? Following 64 minutes of hockey in which the teams registered 32 shots on net, Stephane Piche let loose the game-winning shot to give the home team the 3-2 overtime victory, its fourth of the ECAC season. It also delivered the Big Green a crushing blow as Dartmouth’s hopes to move into the heart of the playoff race continued to slip by the wayside.
"We wanted to prove that we’re a better hockey team than they are," said Dartmouth head coach Bob Gaudet. "They’re starting a line of seniors and we’re playing a bunch of freshmen, but our kids played hard. I’m disappointed in the loss."
Disappointment and near-misses have been the story of the 1998-99 season for Dartmouth, which continually battles with its youth across the board. A seemingly revitalizing three-point weekend against Yale and Princeton three weeks ago, for example, was quickly negated by two losses to St. Lawrence and Clarkson and then again by the heartbreaking defeat at the hands of the Catamounts on Saturday.
Goaltender Eric Almon has posted solid numbers — allowing only three goals per league contest — but can’t make up for the defensive breakdowns and lack of consistency on the offensive end by the skaters in front of him. Admittedly, with each contest Dartmouth has taken strides, but as is the case with all young teams, each time on the ice is still a lot like a game of Russian roulette.
"I thought we outplayed UVM in the third period, but they came back and played really well in the overtime," said Gaudet, who did get a two-point performance from freshman Dan Casella against Vermont. "Our kids played hard and we had excellent goaltending, but we just couldn’t do it in overtime."
The road does not get much smoother for the Big Green, who heads north to take on two of the hottest teams in the ECAC — St. Lawrence and Clarkson. The last time these teams met, Dartmouth came close to upsetting the Skating Saints the first night, but fell short. That blow was too much for the Big Green as the next night ended in a disastrous 6-1 embarrassment to Clarkson. Gaudet just hopes that his team will show more mental durability this time around.
To say that the overtime win over Dartmouth was needed is an understatement for Vermont. After coming close to upsetting Clarkson a few weeks ago, the Catamounts lost to St. Lawrence and Dartmouth and were starting to free-fall in the league standings.
The Cats had gone winless in the ECAC since November, and were winless in 1999 (0-6-1, all ECAC games), plummeting from fourth in the standings to ninth.
There is still a great need for the Cats to get some wins and to get some points. The Cats can now move all the way into sixth place with two wins and some help from other teams.
Don’t look now, but the Clarkson Golden Knights are making a statement. After a weekend sweep of Union and Rensselaer, the Knights are sitting in third place, just one point behind leaders St. Lawrence and Princeton. That’s a move you might not have seen coming if you only looked at Clarkson’s 1-6-0 start to the season.
"We had a nightmare of a start to the season — we had a lot of quality teams right out of the chute and we weren’t quite ready to play those teams, and it affected our confidence quite a bit," said head coach Mark Morris. "We have a lot of young guys in the lineup and it’s taken them some time to mature. It’s encouraging to know they are getting more experience and some of our more notable players are starting to play the way we know they can."
But then again, those around ECAC hockey know that the Golden Knights are always a second-half team. It looks like no exception this year.
"I wish I knew," joked Morris about the second-half runs. "There’s always room for improvement, but we’re making progress. Our guys are starting to become believers as to what we are after and it’s a learning process for all of us to find the pieces of the puzzle."
The learning has helped his team and helped them to this point in the season where the Knights are poised to take a run at the regular season title.
"I think that we demand a lot of our players and we’re willing to sacrifice wins for eliminating undisciplined play," said Morris about his formula. "Anytime you make a decision for the sake of winning a game you are sending the wrong message. When a kid needs to be disciplined he needs to sit out or to be sat out. Our team has had a lot of learning to do in the first half.
"We’ve got a lot of battles left to play yet, but to know that we’re inching towards the top is encouraging."
After a weekend sweep of Rensselaer and Union, the Saints of St. Lawrence are back into first place.
"It was a good way to come off of an emotional loss to Clarkson," said head coach Joe Marsh after Friday’s win over Rensselaer. "We worked hard and the guys know that Heffler is capable of big saves. It’s a big win for us but tomorrow is just as big right now and the thing with this team is the ability to stay focused, especially on the road. It was a good experience, especially for the younger guys, and we’re fortunate to get the two points."
The last-second win over the Engineers was followed up by a 4-0 defeat of the Dutchmen.
"The Union game wasn’t the prettiest thing you’ll ever see, but we’ll certainly take the result," said Marsh. "They are a scrappy team, and it is one of those games that scares you coming off a big win on Friday, but once again we played a solid second period and the special teams got the job done."
The Saints have done it from all facets of the game — goaltending, special teams, offense and defense.
"We had a number of guys step up and contribute this weekend, which is really nice to see," said Marsh. "Unfortunately, we did have some injuries on the road trip. But thanks to being able to play a lot of guys early, we do have people who can step in and contribute, and that showed on Saturday. Hopefully we’ll get everyone back in short order, but we do have the depth to allow the injured guys to get 100 percent healthy before they get back into the lineup."
This has been quite the turnaround for the Saints, who last season needed a last-minute goal in order to make the ECAC playoffs.
"I give this team a lot of credit, this is a team that has worked hard," said Marsh. "It was a real good response and it’s a long season and they’ve been able to keep the straight and narrow."
Picks: Dartmouth at Clarkson — The Golden Knights are on a roll, in which case their home ice is not someplace you want to be. The Big Green find that out. Clarkson 6, Dartmouth 1. Vermont at St. Lawrence — A pivotal point in the season for both teams. The Saints are trying to stay up top with Princeton; the Cats are trying to find themselves. St. Lawrence 4, Vermont 2. Vermont at Clarkson — Now what did we say about Cheel Arena? Clarkson 5, Vermont 1. Dartmouth at St. Lawrence — It would be too much to ask of Dartmouth to upend St. Lawrence in Appleton Arena. The Skating Saints will also be looking for revenge after barely escaping Hanover with a win. And there is also that little matter of Eric Heffler. St. Lawrence 5, Dartmouth 1.
Harvard (8-10-1, 3-9-1 ECAC, T-10th) and Brown (6-8-5, 2-6-4 ECAC, 9th) at Union (3-17-2, 1-10-1 ECAC, 12th) Friday – Saturday, 7:30 pm – 7:00 pm, Achilles Rink, Schenectady, NY Brown (6-8-5, 2-6-4 ECAC, 9th) at Rensselaer (15-7-1, 8-4-1 ECAC, 4th) Friday, 7:30 pm, Houston Field House, Troy, NY Beanpot Consolation Harvard (8-10-1, 3-9-1 ECAC, T-10th) vs. Boston College (16-9-2, 11-5- 0 Hockey East, 3rd) Monday, 6:00 pm, Fleet Center, Boston, MA
Previous Meetings This Season: January 8 — Brown 3, Union 3 January 9 — Rensselaer 2, Brown 0 and Harvard 4, Union 3 January 12 — Harvard 3, Boston College 1
For the second straight year, Harvard added a dramatic touch to the annual Beanpot tournament when junior defenseman Matt Scorsune scored the game-tying goal with a mere 4.2 seconds left on the clock to send the first-round contest against Northeastern into overtime.
However, for the second straight year at the Beanpot, it was not meant to be for the Crimson, who watched as Huskies sophomore Brian Cummings knocked home a rebound 4:35 into the overtime period to prevent Harvard from advancing to the coveted championship game on Monday night.
"A little deja vu did cross my mind," said Harvard head coach Ronn Tomassoni, alluding to last year’s semifinal, in which Harvard was able to defeat Boston College in overtime after similar regulation-time heroics. "We all felt good heading into overtime, it just wasn’t in the cards. I thought the third period was really ours. Our team is in really good condition and we had lots of opportunities to score."
Despite the obvious skating advantage — due to the likes of Steve Moore, Chris Bala, and Craig Adams — over Northeastern, Harvard was unable to take advantage of the larger FleetCenter ice surface and had difficulty adjusting in the early going. A back-checking miscue and then a defensive breakdown at the Harvard blueline led to the first two Huskies’ goals and it wasn’t until the third period when the Crimson began to generate its best offensive opportunities.
"We were sluggish at the start of the first period and we were sluggish at the start of the second," Tomassoni said. "For some reason it took us a while to find our legs in each period. We certainly had our opportunities, though. Our power play really hasn’t clicked for us lately and we had difficulty setting up."
None of that mattered, however, when Scorsune one-timed a Ben Storey feed into the lower left-hand corner near the end of regulation. Ironically, however, it was Scorsune who was unable to control the lobbed puck into the Crimson defensive zone which led to Cummings’ game winner.
Before Harvard serves out its fate by playing in the consolation game against Boston College on Monday night, the team must travel to Union to take on the Skating Dutchmen in a crucial ECAC contest. Harvard has made a valiant move up the league ladder after its disastrous 0-8-1 start, but it will have to lift its chin out of its navel following the loss to Northeastern in order to stay in the playoff hunt.
The Scott Stirling that everyone at Brown knew and loved has made a return to the Bears lineup. After struggling through a series of losses the past couple of months and actually losing the starting position for a few games, the Brown netminder delivered his best performances of the year this past weekend in his team’s two victories over MSU-Mankato.
On Saturday night, Stirling was phenomenal as he knocked away a game-high 40 saves for his first shutout of the season. The next afternoon, he wasn’t able to repeat the shutout feat, but he did play well enough to although his team to post four goals before allowing two Mankato goals in the third period. By that time, however, the game had been sealed and delivered as Brown cruised to an easy 8-3 win over the host team.
Offensively, the Bears saw an even scoring attack as eight different Brown players scored on the weekend, including two-goals a piece from Mike Bent, Paul Giblin, and Josh Barker. The team also notched three power-play goals on the weekend, which drew a sigh of relief from Brown head coach Roger Grillo, who had seen his special teams struggle during its recent non-league stretch.
Now that Brown has found a way to knock off non-league opponents, it has to return to league play as it travels to RPI and Union this weekend. The Engineers were the last ECAC opponent the Bears faced, but that was a month ago before Brown embarked on its seven- game non-league stretch.
Union College had just gotten a few monkeys off of its back with its first win since November, but was brought rudely back to the losing trend by Clarkson and St. Lawrence.
A 5-3 loss to the Knights was followed up with a 4-0 loss to the Saints. The losses continue to leave the Dutchmen in last place in the ECAC, four points out of a playoff berth.
"It’s been a frustrating year," said head coach Kevin Sneddon. "We’re in a situation where we have a fear of failure. We see ourselves playing with the attitude of going out there and playing and it’s just a matter of time before something is going to happen to make us fail. We’re playing not to lose right now.
"It’s all attitude. The next thing is getting the experience that we need. We need the experience in how to win close games. I had thought that the RPI game back in November when we won in overtime would kickstart us in that direction, but it just didn’t happen."
It has been hard for the Dutchmen. But with ten games left in the season, that is plenty of time for a turnaround and plenty of opportunity to make the playoffs and make some noise.
"Even though we lost two this weekend we had some good moments," said Sneddon. "The guys came into practice this week with a great attitude and what we have done is reevaluate our goals for the last ten games and what to do with those ten games. Right now we’re in 12th place, we can’t go any lower and we’ve got nothing to lose."
The Rensselaer Engineers’ winning streak of nine came to a screeching halt this past weekend with losses to St. Lawrence and Clarkson. A last second loss to the Saints was followed by a loss in which the Engineers never held the lead against the Golden Knights.
"You’re going to have ups and downs in a season," said head coach Dan Fridgen. "All of a sudden you’re on a nine-game winning streak and you’re the heroes. Lose a couple and you’re back to reality, you’re bums again. Such is life."
The Engineers fell from first place to fourth in the standings after the weekend, and with one fewer game to play than ten other ECAC teams, it might have been the biggest weekend of the season.
"When you look at this weekend as far as coming out with two victories, [that] would have put us in exceptional shape," said Fridgen. "But we’re in good shape. I’m not saying that losing is something you accept; yeah, we’re hurting because of the two games, but there are still points to be had.
"We’re faced with a little adversity and the sign of a good team is how you handle that adversity. Do you pack your bags and go home or do you accept the challenge? We’ll see what we’re made of. This is the bigger challenge — what we face this weekend."
Picks: Harvard at Union — Kevin Sneddon vs. Ronn Tomassoni. It will be the student vs. the mentor for the second time. Sneddon has done some good things with the struggling Union program, but the talent factor rests on the side of his alma mater. Harvard 4, Union 2. Brown at Rensselaer — This is an important game for both teams. The Bears are looking to move up and the Engineers are looking to regroup. With Stirling hot, this game is going to be closer than the last one between these two. Rensselaer 3, Brown 2. Brown at Union — Brown has an uphill road in its quest for decent playoff position, but with Stirling finally finding his rhythm, things should only get better for the Bears, who cap off another zero-point weekend for Union. Brown 5, Union 2. Harvard vs. Boston College — Harvard has already beaten Boston College this season and should repeat the feat. Unfortunately, consolation games in front of approximately a dozen fans in the FleetCenter bring out a depressing quality in the Crimson skaters. A meaningless game for both teams, it will be a yawner. Boston College 3, Harvard 2.
Next Week in the ECAC Friday, February 12 Rensselaer at Clarkson Union at St. Lawrence Princeton at Harvard Yale at Brown Colgate at Dartmouth Cornell at Vermont
Saturday, February 13 Union at Clarkson Rensselaer at St. Lawrence Yale at Harvard Princeton at Brown Cornell at Dartmouth Colgate at Vermont
Thanks to Jay Wang, Michael Sharp and Steve Marsi for their contributions to this preview.
All photographs used by permission of the appropriate Sports Information Departments. Any reproduction without authorization is prohibited.
Becky Blaeser and Jayson Moy are ECAC Correspondents for U.S. College Hockey Online.
Copyright 1999 Becky Blaeser and Jayson Moy. All rights reserved.
