ECAC Hockey Report, Week of 1997 October 27

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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)

The Golden Knights of Clarkson rebounded last weekend with a pair of non-conference wins against Bowling Green of the CCHA. On Friday the Knights outshot the Falcons 33-20, but still had to come from behind to pull out a 4-3 win; the shooting was an even more lopsided 41-22 the following night, and Clarkson managed an easy 6-1 victory behind three power play goals in a penalty-filled weekend. The other North Country team, St. Lawrence, opened their season in Maine at the JC P*nn*y classic. The Saints continued the ECAC's woes against WCHA teams, being blown out of the water 12-3 by the Colorado College Tigers. SLU did rebound in the consolation game with an 8-6 win over New Brunswick's St. Thomas, 6-1 first-round losers to host school Maine. (Maine and CC tied at 6 in the final, but the Tigers won the tourney 3-2 on penalty shots.)

Saturday's nonconference slate saw Colgate edge an Army team which has played Central New York teams tough the past few years; the Red Raiders escaped West Point with a 4-3 overtime win, Dru Burgess completing a hat trick with the game-winner. In the renewal of the ECAC-Hockey East rivalry, the breakaway circuit got the upper hand, as the Vermont Catamounts were nipped by the BU Terriers 3-2 and Union fell 5-4 to Providence in overtime. RPI provided the ECAC's first win over their New England neighbors with a 4-2 decision against UMass-Lowell.

The Ivy exhibitions got started this weekend as well, with Princeton handling Division III Elmira 8-3 Friday, Cornell blanking Canadian opponent Ryerson 4-0 Saturday and Brown and Yale splitting a pair of two-period scrimmages Sunday. The Bruins took the first two-period contest 4-1 and the Elis claimed the second by a 5-2 margin.

Standings

This week's waiting-for-the-conference-season-to-start standings feature is an analysis of the early interconference play by ECAC teams by the conference of the opponents:

             Hockey
               East  CCHA  WHCA  Ind.  Total
Colgate              1-1         1-0    2-1
Clarkson       0-1   2-0   0-1          2-2(*)
RPI            1-1                      1-1
St. Lawrence               0-1          0-1
Union          0-1                      0-1
Vermont        0-2                      0-2
               HE    CCHA  WCHA  Ind.
Totals         1-5   3-1   0-2   1-0    5-8

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

The National Scene

Once again there is one ECAC team in the US College Hockey Online Poll, ranked tenth in the nation, but that honor now belongs to the third different team in as many weeks. Clarkson, thanks to their weekend sweep, take over the 10 spot from idle Cornell. The Big Red still top the "others receiving votes" category, where they are joined by ECAC colleagues RPI, Colgate and Vermont.

Upcoming Games

With only one week remaining before the start of conference play, almost all of the ECAC teams will see some action this weekend. Clarkson welcomes Ohio State for a two-game series in the North Country, while three ECAC squads head west for two-game series, St. Lawrence travelling to Ohio to face the Miami RedHawks, Vermont trekking out to Upper Michigan to play Lake State, and Princeton visiting Division I newcomers Nebraska-Omaha in the Mavericks' first NCAA home contests. In single games, Colgate and Cornell host Northeastern, Dartmouth are at Army Friday, RPI host New Hampshire and visit Army, Union head to Massachusetts to take on Merrimack Saturday, and Yale host Air Force Saturday, one night after tuning up with an exhibition against McGill. Harvard will see only exhibition play, entertaining McGill Saturday, and Brown is the one ECAC team idle this weekend.

No TV coverage this weekend, but the Clarkson and Union radio broadcasts should be available over the internet via RealAudio, along with Miami's broadcast of the SLU games.

Last Modified: 2011 October 9

Joe Schlobotnik / joe@amurgsval.org