It’s not a news flash anymore: All four ECAC Hockey semifinal games are going to deciding Game 3’s today. Yale and Dartmouth won Saturday night to avoid embarrassing home-stand sweeps at the hands of St. Lawrence and Harvard, respectively; Colgate and Quinnipiac won squeakers on the road to extend their seasons at Union and Cornell.
Would I have seen this coming back on Friday afternoon (had I been able to get online)? Well, it’s a tight league, but I would’ve felt a bit ridiculous predicting all four sets coming down to the wire. Here’s what I probably would’ve said:
• Dartmouth in three
• Cornell in three
• Union in two
• Yale in two
And now? Do I feel differently about the home teams, now that they’ve been blistered by their guests?
Not really. The Dutchmen, Bulldogs, Big Green and Big Red proved themselves in the regular season, while their opponents were all bottom-five squads when the ECAC schedule came to a close two weeks ago.
Harvard is on an undeniable roll, and came back to force OT last night – so a Crimson upset seems most likely at this point. Next up would be Quinnipiac, whose youth has been inconsistent all year, but electrifying at times. As for Colgate and St. Lawrence, it’s the Saints who have been regulars at this depth in the playoff pool, but neither Union nor Yale are exactly primed for a fall.
As for today, Harvard plays Dartmouth at 4:00 today; the other three series drop the puck at 7:00. What a day!
EDIT: Streaming video is available for all games through the America One network. Each school has its own streaming internet audio broadcast – check your program’s web site for the link – and I will be tweeting game updates from all four contests as best I can this evening. (You don’t need to have a Twitter account to read the updates, only to post/respond.)
