{"id":29734,"date":"2008-03-06T19:58:49","date_gmt":"2008-03-07T01:58:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2008\/03\/06\/this-week-in-the-ecac-east-and-nescac\/"},"modified":"2010-08-17T19:57:11","modified_gmt":"2010-08-18T00:57:11","slug":"this-week-in-the-ecac-east-and-nescac","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2008\/03\/06\/this-week-in-the-ecac-east-and-nescac\/","title":{"rendered":"This Week in the ECAC East and NESCAC"},"content":{"rendered":"
It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s here and by most coaches\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 accounts there should be a heavy presence of local and state law enforcement officials around hosting arenas and nearby towns looking out for those who have outstanding warrants for grand larceny. <\/p>\n
It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been happening in college towns and ice arenas all over New England all winter. <\/p>\n
The suspects are heavily padded and wear distinctive masks in an effort to keep their identities hidden. They make no bones about robbing opposing offensive players of sure goals and stealing wins for their teams. At this the most critical time of the season, they are bold enough to do it in full sight of thousands of fans both at home and on the road. <\/p>\n
Yes, right now it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s all about the goaltenders and which team has the hottest netminder coming into the final four pairings for each conference this weekend in Northfield and Waterville.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s really all about goaltending and special teams at this time of the year,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d noted Middlebury head coach Bill Beaney. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Everyone left needs to continue to have that position play well if they want to keep playing. We are lucky in having two guys with big game experience who really haven\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t lost other than last year\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s NCAA championship game. The experience is great but they still have to go out and play well.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s amazing how much goaltending controls the game now,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said Norwich head coach Mike McShane. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Everyone left in the playoffs has had great goaltending and [Ryan] Donovan from UMass-Boston has been a big reason for their success this year. He stood on his head when we beat them in overtime in the regular season so the kids know we can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t take anything for granted in getting something on the scoreboard this weekend.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
We have already seen surprises in the quarterfinal round and wonder: are there more to be seen this weekend? The ECAC East has the number 1, 4, 6 and 7 seeds remaining in the tournament and NESCAC has the number 1, 2, 4 and 6 seeds remaining. The match-ups are set so let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s see if I can improve on my 50% pick rate from last weekend and define the 2007-08 conference champs.<\/p>\n
#7 UMass-Boston @ #1 Norwich <\/b> <\/p>\n
The Cadets are hosting again this year — not much of a surprise there as it has become an end of winter ritual for the conference championships to be held in Northfield. When the Cadets have it going in all phases they are as good as anyone in the country so look for Norwich to play aggressive attacking hockey and try to play the game with an early lead. <\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We had a close game the first time around even though we outshot them by a 3-1 margin,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d commented McShane. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Right now we have to play smart and take care of the puck and stay out of the box. They have some very talented players and Peter [Belisle] has got them going good right now. They have nothing to lose so you know they will be loose and we need to step up and play our game. The crowd will be a big help for us and being at home is a factor.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
For the upstart Beacons, the trip to the final four is a step this team couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have thought possible just a season ago. New blood, a new coach and a hot goaltender has changed all of that and they are not afraid of anyone now having knocked off the defending conference champion last week at Babson. <\/p>\n