Here’s a look back at the past weekend in the ECAC on Beanpot Monday:
1. Saints in last no more: A four-point weekend is hard enough by itself, but even harder when you haven’t won in almost a month and hit the road for a pair of games.
Greg Carey’s overtime goal Friday gave the Saints a 4-3 victory over Yale and their first league win since November. On Saturday, they rallied from a 3-0 deficit against Brown to win 5-3. Kyle Essery’s third period power play goal gave St. Lawrence the lead for good.
Brown pumped in all three of their goals when Sean Logue was sent off for a five minute major for contact to the head in the first period. But the Saints rallied at Meehan Arena, where they’ve struggled in the past, and moved into a tie for tenth place with Princeton. They’re just two points out of eighth.
“That was a tremendous character win for us,” Saints associate head coach Mike Hurlbut told Saints Athletics after the game. “With our past history in this building and the way the first period ended, we could have packed it in. There was no panic and we were able to outplay them the rest of the way. It would have been nice to do it the simple way, but it was a big weekend for us.”
2. No further separation at the top: Union had the best weekend of any of the top-three teams, taking three points thanks to a win over over Colgate Friday and a tie with Cornell Saturday. The Big Red tied RPI Friday, giving them two point on the weekend, while Colgate rode four Austin Smith goals to an 8-3 win over the Engineers on Saturday.
Quick timeout: Smith’s four goals gave him 30 on the year, a nine goal lead over the nearest contender (Minnesota’ Nick Bjugstad). He also moved from 11th to 6th on Colgate’s all-time scoring list in one night alone, and became the fourth Raiders player to reach the 30-goal mark. And oh yeah, he’s got a comfortable lead in the goals-per-game mark as well, as he’s the only player among the national leaders to average over a goal per game.
Alright, now back to the standings. With a game in hand over Cornell, a four-point weekend would have really put Union in command. Still three points are impressive given the fact that the Dutchmen were minus goalie Troy Grosenick, who was out with an injury, according to Ken Schott of the Schenectady Daily Gazette. Colin Stevens started both games in his place.
3. Happy Beanpot Monday: The words “happy” and “Beanpot” might be a bit of an oxymoron for Harvard or Northeastern fans. Still, the Crimson will look snap a drought that dates to 1993, when they beat the Terriers 4-2 to claim the championship. Harvard last made the finals in 2008, losing 6-5 to Boston College in overtime.
Regardless, this is one of the premier college hockey tournaments in the country. Since 2005, three championship games have gone to OT, and only one game has been decided by more than one goal (Boston University over Northeastern in 2009). Get ready for some good hockey.
