Last Modified: 2011 October 9
Joe Schlobotnik / joe@amurgsval.org
URL for this frameset: http://slack.net/~whelan/tbrw/tbrw.cgi?1999/pr980912poll.shtml
1998 September 12 press release from ECAC HockeyNet
Note: each team's name in the poll is linked to a season outlook on ECAC HockeyNet
Clarkson Tabbed as ECAC Preseason Favorite
Defending tournament champion, Princeton, earns highest preseason ranking ever
The ECAC Men's Division I coaches tabbed Clarkson as the preseason favorite in the 1998-99 coaches preseason poll. The Golden Knights received eight of the 12 first place votes and amassed a total of 138 points. It marks the fourth time since 1986 that Clarkson has earned top billing in the poll.
Last year's regular season champion, Yale, is ranked fourth with 95 points and defending ECAC tournament champion, Princeton is ranked second with two first-place votes and 124 points."We are excited about the season ahead, but as everyone knows polls are polls," Clarkson Head Coach Mark Morris said. "It feels good to be picked number one, but there is a big job ahead of us. This league is full of great teams and great head coaches. Every night is like a playoff game in the ECAC. I think that last season proved just what polls mean when Yale (picked 10th) won the league. They are not always accurate, but we will certainly try to live up to the selection."
Clarkson finished second (16-4-2/23-9-3) in the regular season last year and advanced to the championship game of the ECAC tournament before falling to Princeton, 5-4 in two overtimes. The Golden Knights, which return 15 letterwinners, advanced to the NCAA Championship, where they fell to Colorado College, 3-1, in the opening round.
Clarkson has been ranked second in each of the prior three preseason polls and has never been ranked lower than that since 1989. They last won the ECAC tournament in 1993, the last time that the preseason favorite won the tournament crown. The last time that the top-ranked team won the regular season title, came in 1996 when Vermont captured the crown.
Princeton made history for the second straight season as the Tigers number two ranking is the highest preseason ranking in the school's history. Their previous best was fourth, set last season. The Tigers, last season's cinderella story, won the ECAC tournament crown, by winning three games in three nights and earned their first-ever trip to the NCAA Championships. Princeton fell to eventual NCAA champion, Michigan, 2-1, in the first round.
Rensselaer proved to be the team with the most diverse results as the Engineers were ranked as high as third and as low as tenth.