Brian SullivanThe ECAC Hockey first-round playoff series sat down at their respective computers the other day, and — following a rather protracted visit to addictinggames.com — proceeded to update their Facebook* pages, as intangible collegiate sporting events are known to do. After signing up for Scrabulous, leaving the “Back in my day, Pluto was still a … Read more
What We Know, Vol. III Two games left, four points up for grabs. What does it mean to your team? Let’s find out. Clarkson and Princeton are assured of finishing in the top two, but the order is yet to be determined, with the Knights only a solitary point ahead of the Tigers. Can’t wait … Read more
Despite a huge endowment and alumni of affluence and power, the Yale Bulldogs couldn’t buy a bounce on Friday night. The Harvard Crimson rode three-point nights from Jon Pelle and Doug Rogers and a huge game from goalie Kyle Richter to a 6-1 victory over their luckless rivals in front of two and a half … Read more
What We Know, Vol. II What a difference a week makes While there is still much to be determined, the league is beginning to shake itself out now with two weeks to go. Brown, Dartmouth or Rensselaer — with 11 points apiece — could potentially replace Colgate as the eighth seed, and more importantly, claim … Read more
It’s tough to interview people when they can’t hear you speak. This correspondent successfully ditched three solid months of rotating illnesses, but one of them finally caught up to him, just in time to look menacingly infectious in the Beanpot press box. The cold’s run off with my voice, so I’m sorry to say that … Read more
It wasn’t the late game. It wasn’t a full house. It wasn’t the championship. It wasn’t even the regulars who had started all winter long. But circumstances aside, Boston University made the most of timely scoring, just enough defense, and a few Beanpot rookies to defeat the 15th-ranked Northeastern Huskies 5-4 on Monday afternoon. Colby … Read more
It’s tough to call this last month “the stretch run,” even though it is undeniably crunch time for every team in the league. After all, there are still eight games remaining on everyone’s schedule (outside of Rensselaer and Harvard, which have seven remaining), and that’s more than a third of the ECAC season. And yet, … Read more
The weather outside the TD BankNorth Garden on Monday evening was brisk but fair … but as far as the Northeastern Huskies could tell, it was blizzard conditions inside. The Harvard Crimson scored in triplicate in the opening period, and dominated the 13th-ranked Huskies for frequent and significant portions of the game. Captain Mike Taylor … Read more
Lies, Damned Lies and Statistics: Goalie Edition As promised last week, some goalie love … in a roundabout sort of way. Many of you will recall my prodigious praise for Brown’s Dan Rosen last season, as he went all brick-wall on us for a few months in a row to start his collegiate career. He … Read more
Lies, Damned Lies and Statistics There are a lot of great scorers in this league, true snipers who could tear a gnat right off a goalie’s earhole. There are playmakers: athletes with the vision, skill, and sense of anticipation to put the puck right where it needs to be, right when it’s got to be … Read more
They say that the keys to winning in ECAC Hockey are to take care of your home games, and to take advantage of your power plays. So who’s doing both? Cornell — no surprise there — holds the longest current home unbeaten streak in the league. Granted, it’s only four games, so it doesn’t compare … Read more
A Tale of Two Home Games Quinnipiac saw two-goal first-period leads disappear by the final horn in each of its two games last weekend. Fortunately for the Bobcats, they didn’t lose either game. Playing host to Harvard on Friday night, the ‘Cats jumped all over the Crimson and goaltender Kyle Richter with three first-period goals … Read more
First and foremost, happy new year! Now let’s hope we never hear any of this crap ever again. Gag. Speaking of Gags… It has always been asserted, with all justification, that the best way to improve the league’s standing on the national stage is to win the big games. And by “big games,†we mean … Read more
Gettin’ Blased Billy Blase has played some pretty frustrating hockey for Yale so far. Frustrating, if you’re in Alec Richards’ position. Now I’m not insinuating that there’s anything but the finest camaraderie between the two netminders. But with the way Blase has been playing, it’s suddenly up to the former incumbent Richards to earn starting … Read more
So long, unbeaten streak. The St. Cloud State Huskies finally vanquished the Clarkson Golden Knights on their home ice, after 19 games and a year and two weeks without a defeat. The longest current home unbeaten streak in the ECAC now belongs to…you’ll never believe this…Union, who have played four straight at the Achilles Center … Read more
To catch up on the big stories around the league: Clarkson is now up to 376 days without a home loss, Harvard is pretty good, Colgate finally won, Quinnipiac is scoring, St. Lawrence isn’t, the league might actually be earning some respect, and it’s time for Non-Conference Weekend! Whew. On to the minutiae. It’s What … Read more
All year long, Cornell head coach Mike Schafer has been preaching physicality and controlled aggression. Harvard caught wind of it, and beat the visiting Big Red at their own game. Weathering a usually withering Cornell attack, the Crimson unleashed a 35 shot barrage and benefitted from another solid game in back by sophomore goaltender Kyle … Read more
Clarkson: No, of course I don’t want to break up! It’s just … Colgate: Then what is it? Why are you pulling away so much, so soon? I don’t understand! Clarkson: I’m sorry, I’m not trying to be mean here … Colgate: It’s too early for this! We are destined to be so much more … Read more
Let’s play word-association. Albany … tournament. Daylight savings … glorious. Season … winter. Harvard … Crimson. ECAC Hockey … parity. Talk to any coach in the league for more than two minutes, and I’d bet you top dollar (Canadian now, please) that he would say that word. To put it simply, out of 13 league … Read more
Welcome, welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to another season of chair-kicking, trash-talking, ego-deflating, weekend-ruining, zebra-hating ECAC Hockey action! Everyone’s mum before the games, so the controversy is pretty minimal so far. We’ll be sure to catch up with the most loquacious personalities afterwards, though. Big Greenhorns Dartmouth is a little wet behind the ears this season … Read more