Game of the Week
It’s Thanksgiving weekend, so that must mean college hockey tournaments. Tbe top of the list is the Primelink Tournament, consistently one of the best in Division III hockey. This year, it may, in fact, BE the best, as all four teams are currently ranked in the top 11 in the USCHO.com poll.
Norwich tops them all at No. 1, followed by Plattsburgh at No. 6, Elmira at No. 10, and host Middlebury at No. 11.
The two top teams amongst those four pair up in the first round, which means for SUNYAC interest, Plattsburgh has to face the Cadets.
Norwich opened the season impressively, and Plattsburgh has been playing consistently well. Its only blemish was a 4-3 loss to Buffalo State. The only issue with the Cardinals is letting up four goals twice and three goals once. Yet, in the other three games, they only let up one goal twice and shutout Geneseo.
Last year, Plattsburgh beat Norwich twice in the regular season, including in the Primelink championship game, having coming into the tournament with a much worse record than this year, before losing to the Cadets in the NCAA quarterfinals in overtime.
These two teams always play a great game, usually with great significance (two years ago, Norwich beat Plattsburgh in the national semifinals).
This early in the season, Norwich and Middlebury sometimes stumble in the Primelink, having only one weekend of games under their belt. I’ll go with Plattsburgh in the first game.
If you’re a betting person and believe in patterns, you may want to go with Middlebury as the champion. Starting in 2005, the champions have been Middlebury, Norwich, Plattsburgh, Middlebury, Norwich, Plattsburgh.
Other Picks
Geneseo simplemindedly tripped me up last week, but otherwise I went 6-2-1 for a total of 24-7-3 (.750).
Other tournaments for SUNYAC teams include Buffalo State’s participation in the Adrian Tournament, Morrisville in the Rutland Invitational, and Brockport in the Skidmore Invitational.
Buffalo State faces St. Thomas. The Tommies are undefeated in the MIAC, and 5-1-1 overall. I like the way the Bengals are playing, so I’ll go with them holding up SUNYAC pride out west.
Morrisville goes up against Tufts. This is a tough game to pick with Morrisville having some poor outings and only winning one game, while Tufts just started their season, winning both games last weekend. I’ll take Tufts.
I’ll also take Hamilton to beat Brockport in that first round tournament match-up.
In the only nontournament games, Cortland hosts Neumann twice. On paper, Neumann should take both games, and that’s the way I’ll call it. However, the way Cortland has been playing and the way the SUNYAC has handled the ECAC West this year, don’t be surprised if this turns out to be a split.
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