Clarkson is the consensus favorite in this season’s version of the ECACHL, as the Golden Knights were picked first by both the coaches and media at the league’s annual Media Day.
Clarkson earned the No. 1 spot on the coaches list with 121 total points and 11 first-place votes. Last year’s playoff runner-up, Quinnipiac, captured the second position with 104 points and one first-place vote, while 2006-07 regular-season champion St. Lawrence was No. 3, earning 98 total points.
Cornell came in at the No. 4 position with 91 points and Harvard received 73 points to earn the No. 5 position, followed by Colgate (71), Dartmouth (59), Princeton (49), Yale (42), Rensselaer (31), Brown (26) and Union (25).
In the media poll, Clarkson was selected first, earning 279 points with 18 first-place votes. It was the first time since 2001-02, and the third time overall — the most in the nine-year history of the media poll — that the Golden Knights claimed the top spot. Quinnipiac ranked second with 234 points and three first-place votes, while St. Lawrence was third with 223 points and one first-place nod. Cornell (222), notching one first-place vote, and Colgate (179) checked in at Nos. 4 and 5, respectively.
Dartmouth finished sixth in the media voting with 172 points, followed by Harvard (166) in the seventh spot. Princeton came in at eighth with 104 points, the highest slotting for the Tigers since 2001-02, when they were picked to finish seventh. Rensselaer (86), Yale (80), Brown (72), and Union (55) rounded out the remainder of the poll.
Also named at Media Day were the league’s preseason all-conference teams. Clarkson’s Nick Dodge, a 2006-07 first-team all-league pick and second-team All-American, and David Leggio, the 2006-07 ECACHL Goaltender of the Year, headline the preseason all-league team for both the coaches and media.
Colgate forward Tyler Burton and Brown defenseman Sean Hurley also are the coaches’ and media choices for all-league.
Forward Jesse Winchester of Colgate and Cornell defenseman Brendon Nash complete the coaches’ selections, while Harvard defenseman Alex Biega and Quinnipiac forward Brandon Wong were media choices.
