{"id":97617,"date":"2013-12-15T20:21:46","date_gmt":"2013-12-16T02:21:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.uscho.com\/ecac-blog\/?p=1594"},"modified":"2013-12-15T20:21:46","modified_gmt":"2013-12-16T02:21:46","slug":"the-snowball-effect-goes-both-ways","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2013\/12\/15\/the-snowball-effect-goes-both-ways\/","title":{"rendered":"The “snowball effect” goes both ways"},"content":{"rendered":"
(Anyone who read that with Professor Farnsworth’s voice in mind, well done.) Union finished the week 2-0-1, taking two league points from Dartmouth on Wednesday and all but<\/i> sweeping No. 1 St. Cloud on the road this weekend. A huge pair of results that are sure to knock the Huskies off their one-week perch and boost Union near the Top 5.<\/p>\n
“All-in-all, for the adversity this team faced with the tough stretch of games, the players did a great job and I’m proud of them,” coach Rick Bennett said, as quoted by Ken Schott of the Schenectady Daily Gazette. “It was a good road trip,” he continued. “If you had told the coaching staff before the trip that we would come away with a win and a tie against the top team in the nation we would have been pleased. But we are far from satisfied.”<\/p>\n
Union is making a serious run, now unbeaten in 10 games (9-0-1) and 11-1-2 since starting the season 1-2-1. At the top of the ECAC standings through nine games, the Dutchmen have two points and a game in hand on second-place Quinnipiac. Yeah, it’s too early to start calculating “magic numbers” and all that, but it has nonetheless been an impressive 2013 half of the 2013-14 season for the Garnet & White.<\/p>\n
Rensselaer, Colgate and St. Lawrence – on the other hand – had weekends to forget. RPI lost and tied No. 20 Denver in Troy. The Raiders were swept at home by what had been a four-win Massachusetts club (now 6-11-2). The Saints, once looking like a top-10 team, have lost seven of their last nine games… including Saturday’s 5-1 loss at Vermont.<\/p>\n
This leaves ECAC Hockey with nine teams entering the holiday break on a down note: Colgate, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, Princeton, Quinnipiac, RPI (exhibition win over US National Development Team notwithstanding), SLU, and Yale all concluded their pre-Christmas schedule with losses and\/or winless skids.<\/p>\n
Statistical tidings following this game-light weekend:<\/p>\n