Last week: 6-2-1
Overall: 62-64-22
The league’s one-two combo of Quinnipiac and Princeton have the weekend off, so now’s a good time for the rest of the ECAC to start taking advantage of those games in hand. All start times are 7 p.m. unless noted. I’ll be in Providence for Dartmouth and Brown tomorrow, so follow along on Twitter: @NateOwen41.
Friday, Jan. 18
Colgate at Rensselaer
Friday marks the first conference game for the Raiders since a 5-4 win over Clarkson on Dec. 1. Colgate has played just four games in that span – sweeps of the University of Massachusetts and Sacred Heart – and enters on a five game winning streak. This is also RPI’s first annual Autism Awareness Game. Read more about it here. Colgate wins
Cornell at Union
Both the Big Red and Dutchmen have been atop the ECAC in recent years, but the pair enter Friday’s game a combined one game over .500 in league play. It’s Union’s first home game since Dec. 1, although as Dutchmen head coach Rick Bennett said earlier this week, being at home doesn’t always mean everything, citing Union’s 4-1 loss to Merrimack way back in the season opener. Union wins
Dartmouth at Brown
Big Green head coach Bob Gaudet can probably relate to what the Bears are going through, as it was only a year ago that Dartmouth was hit hard by injuries. It’s Brown’s turn this year, as the Bears have had a number of players out of the lineup, especially on defense. Dartmouth wins
Harvard at Yale, 7:30 p.m., NBC Sports Network
One of the nation’s oldest rivalries hits the national stage on NBC Sports Network. Yale is coming off its first North Country sweep since 2003-04, while Harvard’s only win over its last eight games was last week’s wild 6-5 overtime victory against Boston University. Yale wins
Saturday, Jan. 19
Harvard at Brown, 4 p.m.
Both of these shorthanded teams have struggled to score goals lately (with the exception of the aforementioned Harvard win against BU). I’ll take the Crimson.Harvard wins
Colgate at Union
Special teams should be the focal point in this one. Both Union’s (first in nation) and Colgate’s (12th) power plays have been clicking lately. But the Dutchmen’s penalty kill has been better thus far, and that should be the difference. Union wins
Dartmouth at Yale
The Big Green snapped a lengthy skid against the Bulldogs with a victory earlier in the year, but I think Yale takes this one at home. Yale wins
St. Lawrence at Clarkson
This is the last regular season matchup between these travel partners and North Country rivals. The Golden Knights are just 2-5 over their last seven games, with both those wins coming against the Saints in December. SLU hasn’t exactly been on fire lately either; the Saints are 2-1 over their last three, but had lost five in a row prior to that. Saints win
Cornell at Rensselaer
These teams return to ECAC play after facing a stretch of tough non-conference opponents. RPI was the first league team to take a point for Quinnipiac this season, and the Engineers handed Yale a 6-1 loss at Ingalls last month. Still, I think Cornell gets it done here. Cornell wins
