{"id":30898,"date":"2010-01-07T12:44:10","date_gmt":"2010-01-07T18:44:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2010\/01\/07\/this-week-in-ecac-hockey-jan-7-2010\/"},"modified":"2010-08-17T19:57:50","modified_gmt":"2010-08-18T00:57:50","slug":"this-week-in-ecac-hockey-jan-7-2010","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2010\/01\/07\/this-week-in-ecac-hockey-jan-7-2010\/","title":{"rendered":"This Week in ECAC Hockey: Jan. 7, 2010"},"content":{"rendered":"
Nine ECAC Hockey teams played in holiday tournaments this year, but none of them took home any hardware. Yale and St. Lawrence came closest, but each team lost its finale by shootout.<\/p>\n
UConn Hockey Classic<\/b><\/p>\n
Massachusetts went to 3-1 against the ECAC on the season by coming back to beat Union 4-3 in the opener. The Dutchmen lost both a 3-1 lead and a nine-game winning streak in the process, but bounced back nicely in a 7-0 victory over host Connecticut the following afternoon. The win was the 100th in coach Nate Leaman’s career, extending his school record for wins at the D-I level. Following a win over Army, Leaman now sits 22 behind Charles Morrison’s 123, won at the D-III level between 1978 and 1988.<\/p>\n
Florida College Classic<\/b><\/p>\n
Resilient Princeton came back from 4-1 and 6-4 deficits to tie Maine in Game 1, going 4-for-8 on the power play (but also allowing three goals against on six penalty kills). Maine ultimately won the shootout, but it was a big win for the decimated Tigers on the heels of a 3-2 win at Massachusetts-Lowell. <\/p>\n
In the other opener, Cornell couldn’t get it going against Joe Howe and Colorado College. The netminder stopped 25 of 27 and only allowed one power-play goal on six Big Red advantages. CC and CU split the second period, 2-2, despite the Colorado Tigers’ 21-3 shot advantage.<\/p>\n
In the consolation game, Princeton upended their league-mate 3-2, once again by way of a comeback. The Big Red held a 2-1 lead early in the third period, but goals three and a half minutes apart by team leaders Dan Bartlett (on the power play) and Mike Kramer (shorthanded) put the Tigers on top to stay.<\/p>\n
Great Lakes Invitational<\/b><\/p>\n
Rensselaer did the ECAC proud in the opener, toppling home-standing Michigan 4-3 despite an overwhelming shot deficit. Allen York stoned the Wolverines on 43 of 46 bids (and 19 of 21 in the third), while the Engineers capitalized on four of their paltry 13 tries — including two goals on three first-period shots. The ‘Tute then withstood several UM power plays in the final frame, including a full two-minute 5-on-3; while the Wolverines tied the game with just under eight minutes to play, RPI’s Marty O’Grady responded in kind 46 seconds later to earn the Trojans the win. <\/p>\n
The championship was, unfortunately, a repeat of RPI’s last trip to the GLI in 1985. That year, the Engineers defeated Michigan first, before losing to Michigan State in the finale. Two dozen years later, history repeated itself in a 6-1 MSU trouncing. Freshman Bryce Merriam started between the pipes for RPI, but was yanked after getting beat on two of his first nine shots against. York didn’t fare as well in Round 2, either, giving up four goals on 22 shots in long relief.<\/p>\n
Denver Cup<\/b><\/p>\n
St. Lawrence overcame a 27-year, 13-game slump against former ECAC foe Boston College in the Mile High opener, topping the Eagles 5-2. The upset ended an 11-0-2 run by BC over SLU dating back to 1982, a time predating even Joe Marsh, a quarter-century fixture behind the Saints’ bench.<\/p>\n
“It’s a huge win for us; I’ve never been part of a St. Lawrence team that’s beaten Boston College,” he told USCHO.com’s Candace Horgan after the game. <\/p>\n
The following night didn’t go too badly for the Saints, either, though they certainly had their hands full with Nebraska-Omaha. Kyle Flanagan had a goal and a helper and Mike McKenzie had two assists in the 2-2 draw, which UNO claimed in a shootout. Kain Tisi stopped 37 of 39, to run his tournament total to 68 shots, four goals. <\/p>\n
Dodge Holiday Classic<\/b><\/p>\n
Nothing doing in Minneapolis for Clarkson, which dropped games against a middling Northern Michigan (9-8-4) team and a downright awful Bowling Green club (3-15-2). Things went bad from the get-go as the Wildcats buried the Golden Knights under a 15-4 shot deficit in the first period en route to a 4-0 final. Bowling Green took a similar 2-0 first-period lead the second night, but Clarkson’s comeback to tie it in the second period went for naught as BGSU piled on two more in the third. The Knights were scoreless in nine power plays in the tournament.<\/p>\n
Badger Showdown<\/b><\/p>\n