ECAC Hockey Report, Week of 1997 December 1

© 1997, Joe Schlobotnik (archives)

URL for this frameset: http://slack.net/~whelan/tbrw/tbrw.cgi?1998/ecac.971203.shtml

Recent Action

(scores are linked to box scores and recaps on US College Hockey Online, which is not affiliated with The Big Red What? or Joe Schlobotnik)

Over the holiday weekend, there was only one ECAC contest, with Harvard defeating Brown 5-3 in the first ECAC Game of the Week to be televised by the New England Sports Network.

There was plenty of non-conference action, though, starting Tuesday night with a few ECAC-Hockey East matchups. Harvard were 5-3 losers against Boston University and Brown dropped yet another two-goal lead to fall 6-3 to Boston College, while Vermont used a pair of 4-on-4 goals, one in the closing minutes of regulation and one in overtime, to defeat Mass-Amherst 3-2. Meanwhile in New Jersey, Princeton pounded former ECAC travel partner Army 9-3.

Over the weekend in Boston, the Beantown Boys continued their massacre of ECAC teams, as St. Lawrence went down 6-0 to BC and 6-3 to BU, while Clarkson fell 4-0 to the Terriers before defeating BC 4-3 Saturday to avoid the weekend sweep. Senior Chris Bernard had 24 saves for the Knights Saturday, after Dan Murphy stopped only 15 of the 18 shots he faced against BU.

Vermont got some clutch goaltending in the Governor's Cup tournament, as Andrew Allen had 30 saves in a 3-1 loss to Maine in the first round, and James Tierney stopped all 32 Mass-Lowell shots in a 4-0 Consolation win. With the two wins over the UMass schools, the Cats upped their record against Hockey East teams to 2-3. Unfortunately, they're still looking for their first ECAC win at 0-3-2. For the record, host school New Hampshire ran away with the tournament, using two short-handed goals to defeat Lowell 4-2 and pummelling Maine 7-0 in the title game.

Yale split with a pair of Hockey East foes, losing at Providence 5-2 and beating Merrimack 6-2 at home, while Union split out West at Nebraska-Omaha, falling 6-3 and then winning by an identical score.

On Sunday, Princeton (2-0 victors over Merrimack Friday night) deadlocked 4-4 with Providence, thanks to a last-second Friar goal, while the ECAC teams swept at the Punch Imlach College Hockey Showcase in Buffalo, Colgate winning a 3-2 exhibition with York and Cornell holding off pesky Niagra 2-0, The Purple Eagles have fallen to ECAC teams in their only two Division I contests, but by respectable scores (the other being 4-2 to at RPI a few weeks back).

Standings

Not much movement in the ECAC standings with the single league game: Harvard join the pack at the break-even mark, while Brown drop to join last-place Vermont at the Mendoza line.
                          ECAC                    Ivy
                   W-L-T  PF-PA   Pct     W-L-T  PF-PA   Pct  
 1  Yale           5-1-0  10-2   .833     2-1-0   4-2   .667
 2  Cornell        4-1-1   9-3   .750     4-1-0   8-2   .800
 3  Colgate        4-2-0   8-4   .667
 4  Princeton      2-2-2   6-6   .500     1-1-1   3-3   .500
    Clarkson       2-2-1   5-5   .500
    St. Lawrence   2-2-1   5-5   .500
    Harvard        2-2-1   5-5   .500     1-2-1   3-5   .375
    RPI            2-2-0   4-4   .500
 9  Union          1-2-1   3-5   .375
10  Dartmouth      1-3-1   3-7   .300     0-1-0   0-2   .000
11  Brown          1-4-0   2-8   .200     1-3-0   2-6   .250
    Vermont        0-3-2   2-8   .200
With all the non-conference action, though, it's a good time to look at how the ECAC teams are faring so far in interconference competition. After an unprecedented winning record against Hockey East teams last year, the senior circuit is back to its old position of being dominated by the rebels.
               Hockey             Major Minor non- Total
          ECAC  East  CCHA  WHCA  Indy  Indy  DivI  N/C
Brown           0-2                                 0-2
Clarkson        1-2  2-1-1  0-1                    3-4-1(*)
Colgate         1-0   1-1         1-0               3-1
Cornell         1-0                     1-0         2-0
Dartmouth                         1-0               1-0
Harvard         0-2                                 0-2
Princeton      1-0-1              3-0              4-0-1
RPI       1-0   1-2               1-0   1-0         4-2
SLU             0-2   0-2   0-1               1-0   1-5
Union     0-1   0-4               1-1               1-6
Vermont         2-3   1-1                           3-4
Yale            1-1               1-0               2-1
          ECAC  HE    CCHA  WHCA  Major Minor Non-I Total
Totals   [1-1] 8-18-1 4-5-1 0-2   8-1   2-0   1-0  24-27-2

(*)Clarkson's losses to Wisconsin and BU in the Ice Breaker tournament
may be considered exhibitions

"Major Indy" refers to Division I Independents who play 20 games or
more against other division I teams, namely Air Force, Army, Mankato
State and Nebraska-Omaha.  "Minor Indy" teams are the remaining D1
independents, games against whom do not count towards NCAA tournament
selection criteria.

The National Scene

Cornell remains at ninth as the only ECAC team to place in the US College Hockey Online Poll this week. Yale, Princeton and Colgate also received votes.

Upcoming Games

The highlights of the slightly abbreviated weekend schedule should be in the Capital Dsitrict, where Colgate and Cornell take on RPI and Union. Farther North, Harvard and Brown visit Clarkson and St. Lawrence. And Saturday night in a game of unexpected importance Princeton host travel partner and Ivy rival Yale.

Last Modified: 2011 October 9

Joe Schlobotnik / joe@amurgsval.org

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