The big take away in the conference from the first full weekend was a decent weekend against Hockey East schools. ECAC only lost one game. They won one and tied twice Quinnipiac finished in a deadlock with Boston College with a 1-1 tie at the Conte Forum. They found themselves again in OT Sunday afternoon as they dropped a 3-2 decision to Boston University in their regular season home opener.
The Bobcats probably will want the game against the Terriers back, but they played well on the weekend against two quality opponents.
Colgate welcomed Merrimack for a two game series. They came away with a 3-2 win Friday night and came back Saturday night in the third period with two goals to force a 2-2 tie with the Warriors.
Both teams have Hockey East opponents next weekend also. The Raiders travel to the University of New Hampshire to face the Wildcats who swept UMass-Lowell. Quinnipiac hosts Vermont on Saturday
Tough weekend for the Dutchmen in Duluth
Union took part in the unofficial opening of the college hockey season in the “IceBreaker Tournament put on by College Hockey Inc. and hosted by University Duluth this season. In their opening game against the eventual champions, Michigan Tech, the Huskies jumped on the Dutchmen early. The Huskies took a 3-1 lead after one and a 4-1 lead after two periods. Union did a good job getting back into the game as they did make 4-3 at one point before the Huskies added two insurance markers.
In the consolation game, the University of Minnesota controlled the game with a 2-0 win. The Golden Gophers outshot the Dutchmen 38-26.
Maybe home cooking will help them next weekend after an 0-3 start as they host UMass on Friday and Vermont on Sunday.
Slow start on the power play
Coaches in the ECAC and you could say all the cross the country are going to be working on their power play this week. The conference is 4-for-53 for the first week plus. Teams are getting plenty chances.
Clarkson in their wins over Penn State and Michigan went 1-for-9 while St. Lawrence also went 1-for-9 against Michigan and Penn State. Colgate was 1-for-10 on the weekend and 1-for-16 on the season.Union went 0-for-8 on the weekend and 1-for-12 on the year. Quinnipiac started the season 0-for-7.
One coach isn’t overly concerned. Bobcats coach Rand Pecknold told Kyle Levasseur of Q30 Television: “It’ll just take time. (The penalty kill) usually (is) ready before (the power play) this early in the season.”
