{"id":29691,"date":"2008-02-21T11:07:48","date_gmt":"2008-02-21T17:07:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2008\/02\/21\/this-week-in-the-ecac-east-and-nescac\/"},"modified":"2010-08-17T19:57:10","modified_gmt":"2010-08-18T00:57:10","slug":"this-week-in-the-ecac-east-and-nescac","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/2008\/02\/21\/this-week-in-the-ecac-east-and-nescac\/","title":{"rendered":"This Week in the ECAC East and NESCAC"},"content":{"rendered":"
I was going to start out with something like: It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the Final Countdown \u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 but then the flashback to 80\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hair bands and Euro pop just kind of took the luster off of the whole moment. No, I am looking for something a little bigger than that clich\u00c3\u00a9 phrase and song title because, as usual, the last weekend of the season leaves a lot at stake in both conferences heading into the playoffs.<\/p>\n
Only Norwich by virtue of their tiebreaker with Babson has guaranteed themselves the one seed. After that it gets real messy with second place Babson having some breathing room over third place Castleton by four points. Teams three through six are only separated by three points in the battle for home ice position and someone is going to get stuck with a very difficult 4-5 match-up in the opening round of the playoffs.<\/p>\n
Over in the NESCAC, we have the battle at the top and the battle at the bottom of the bracket with Tufts and Hamilton already eliminated from playoff consideration but in a position to play spoiler on the final weekend of the regular season. <\/p>\n
At the top, Bowdoin has a one point edge over Colby and just a two point advantage over Middlebury and Amherst who meet on Friday night. Home ice is pretty much locked up for these four teams but the potential host for the final four is wide open and this weekend will decide everything in terms of position and quarterfinal match-ups.<\/p>\n
Almost as if the top half was desperately seeking their dance partner (sorry for that 80\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s disco allegory there) teams five through eight in the conference are separated by just three points. And everyone could move around a little bit. Conn. College currently is sitting in fifth and holds tiebreaker advantages over Wesleyan, Williams and Trinity but isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t taking anything for granted.<\/p>\n
Everyone knows that you need to be playing at your best right now because after this weekend, you lose and the season is over. Think you have the playoff pairings figured out? Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be surprised if things change after Friday night and get even more confusion again on Saturday. Everyone keeps saying it can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t get more competitive than this — guess what? It already is!<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We split the season into three periods,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d stated Conn. College head coach Jim Ward. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153We haven\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t won a period until the third. We are playing pretty good hockey right now and the puck has been bouncing good for us and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s definitely at the right time of the year.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
The Camels got off to a slow start, but played better in the middle of the season. Now healthy and able to get players focused in their sweet spots, Conn. has climbed steadily in the standings and is building on the success that saw them make the league playoffs for the first time last season. <\/p>\n
Since the first of the month the Camels are 5-1-0 and have outscored their opponents by a 24-13 margin in that span. More importantly, their current four game win streak has included key wins over both Wesleyan and Trinity to garner the tiebreaker edge over teams they are in a dogfight with for position entering this final weekend on the schedule.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Everyone has picked up their game,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d noted Ward. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the little things like getting some lucky bounces our way but it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s also winning the battles on the wall, getting the puck out of the zone and keeping it in the offensive zone to get that extra opportunity. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s also having great goaltending and we have been getting that all season but it really has shown in the latter part of the season.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Sophomore Greg Parker (8-9-2 record, 3.05 goals against average, .912 save percentage) has been steady despite seeing a lot of rubber in his 19 games played and now with his team showing more offense of late, the goaltender has made those goals stand for wins down the stretch. <\/p>\n