ECAC Hockey Report, Week of 1997 November 24

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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)

This weekend saw the top four teams in the league do battle in Central New York, and the surprise victors were the Yale Elis, who dominated Colgate 5-1 Friday, and edged Cornell 2-1 in overtime. For the second straight year, the Big Red were the last Division I team to lose, and for the scond straight year, it was the Bulldogs who handed them their first loss. Meanwhile, Princeton, who entered the weekend the only other undefeated team in Division I College Hockey, were saddled with their first two losses of the season. Friday night, they fell 2-1 to Cornell in a battle of the unbeatens, then endured an 8-4 drubbing at the hands of Colgate, due in part to Rob Mara's hat trick for the Red Raiders.

Travelling to the North Country is often difficult for ECAC teams, as evidenced by the experience of RPI, previously undefeated in the league, who were unable to register a single goal this weekend. After dropping a 1-0 contest at St. Lawrence, the Engineers were destroyed 11-0 by their archrival Clarkson. Rensselaer's travel partner Union failed little better, managing one point off a 3-3 tie with Clarkson before being shellacked 7-0 by SLU. Saints goalie Clint Heffler's shutout weekend duplicates a feat that was last registered by Union's own Trevor Koenig this spring. Finally, in a battle of travel partners, Dartmouth and Vermont skated to a 2-2 tie in Hanover.

The ECAC lost two more non-league contests to Hockey East, with Boston College edging Harvard 4-3 in overtime Tuesday, and Brown being dismantled by Boston University to the tune of 8-1 Friday.

Standings

Yale take over first place as Cornell, Princeton and RPI suffere thir first league losses. The Tigers and Engineers drop to .500 where they're joined by Clarkson and St. Lawrence. And at the bottom, UVM are now the only winless team in the league.

                          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
    RPI            2-2-0   4-4   .500
 8  Harvard        1-2-1   3-5   .375     0-2-1   1-5   .167
    Union          1-2-1   3-5   .375
10  Dartmouth      1-3-1   3-7   .300     0-1-0   0-2   .000
11  Brown          1-3-0   2-6   .250     1-2-0   2-4   .333
12  Vermont        0-3-2   2-8   .200

The National Scene

The weekend spilt drops Cornell from sixth to ninth in the US College Hockey Online Poll, with Yale, Colgate and Clarkson also receiving votes. RPI and Princeton, thats to being swept, have dropped right off the map.

Upcoming Games

With the Thanksgiving weekend upon us, we have only one conference game on tap, Saturday Night's contest between Brown and Harvard, which will be televised from Providence by the New England Sports Network, kicking off the ECAC Game of the Week package.

There is plenty of non-conference fare this week, starting Tuesday night as Harvard host cross-town rivals BU, Brown entertain BC, the Vermont Catamounts head down I-89 to play UMass-Amherst, and Princeton play host to former travel partners Army.

Over the weekend, UVM join first-round opponent Maine, along with Mass-Lowell and host school New Hampshire for the Governors' Cup tournament. Clarkson and St. Lawrence visit BU and BC, Union head west for a pair with Nebraska-Omaha, Yale visit Providence and host Merrimack, and Princeton are at Merrimack Friday night. On Sunday, Cornell and Colgate head to Buffalo for the Imlach Memorial Showcase, wherein the Big Red will take on up-and-coming Niagra in the late game, and the Red Raiders will face Canada's York University.

Last Modified: 2011 October 9

Joe Schlobotnik / joe@amurgsval.org