The first full weekend of ECAC Hockey men's play starts this weekend. As usual, Harvard and Dartmouth kicked off league play on Friday. There were other league teams facing one another, but in non-league competition.
All the teams have questions that hopefully, for them, will be answered positively over the next four months.
As we get ready for ECACH play, here is my take on the league's teams. I'll start with the Capital Region teams, who just met Friday in a great game that was won by RPI, 4-3, over Union in overtime.
Union
Coach Nate Leaman doesn't have to worry about his offense. This team will score goals.
I have two concerns with the Dutchmen. First, it's their problems with taking poor penalties. They have lost their last two games because of ill-timed penalties. They need to cut that out, or they will find themselves fighting for home ice in the first round of the playoffs.
The other problem has been their penalty kill. It hasn't been good. That could be due, in some part, to having half of a defensive unit that is young. But the penalty kill needs to step up soon.
RPI
I am impressed with freshmen recruits Jerry D'Amigo and Brandon Pirri. Junior forward Chase Polacek is going to have another great season.
What concerns me about the Engineers is their inability to hold leads that they take into the third period. Four times already this season have the Engineers taken a lead into the final 20 minutes and have seen the opposition rally to tie the score in the period. RPI is 2-1-1 in those games, but has to do a better job. The Engineers can't sit back and protect the lead.
I know they were aggressive against Army. Unfortunately, the Engineers ran into a hot goalie, and the Black Knights scored twice in the third to win, 2-1.
Here is a look at the other teams.
Brown
Brown has a new coach in Brendan Whittet, but he inherits a team that was offensively challenged last season. The Bears didn't have a player score 10 goals. Goalie Mike Clemente, who took over as the starter late last season and guided the Bears to a stunning upset of Harvard in the first round of the ECACH tournament, will have to steal some games this season if the Bears want to get out of the league basement.
Clarkson
The Golden Knights are going to need to shore up their defense. They have given up an average of 38 shots per game in their first seven contests.
Colgate
Senior forward David McIntyre, a Hobey Baker Award candidate, has yet to score a goal in the Red Raiders' first seven games. He will have to pick it up. Also, the Raiders played in an NCAA-record 19 overtime games last season. Four of their first seven games this season have already gone into OT.
Cornell
The Big Red have the talent to contend for an NCAA title. It's going to be up to senior goalie Ben Scrivens to have an outstanding season. He has put up good stats, but has problems controlling rebounds and has been known to giving up the occasional bad goal.
Dartmouth
Can sophomore goalie Jody O'Neill repeat his outstanding freshman year, when he went 14-13-3 with a 2.61 goals-against average and had three shutouts?
Harvard
Freshman forward and Montreal Canadiens first-round pick Louis Leblanc should help improve a Crimson offense that didn't have a 10-goal scorer last season, and was shutout twice by Brown in the ECACH tournament. But it's the return of goalie Kyle Richter, who sat out last season, that could help return the Crimson back to prominence in the ECACH.
Princeton
The Tigers suffered devastating overtime losses in the ECACH semifinals against Cornell and the NCAA tournament against Minnesota Duluth when they blew leads late in the third period. How that will affect the team in tight games this season could be the difference from a return trip to the ECACH semifinals, or an early exit.
Quinnipiac
We know the Bobcats can score. But with three underclassmen in goal (sophomore Dan Clarke and freshmen Mathieu Cadieux and Eric Hartzell), their ability to consistently stop the puck will decide their season.
St. Lawrence
Freshman forward Kyle Flanagan is off to a hot start with four goals and six assists in seven games. The Saints' defense is a bit inexperienced, but sophomore Robby Moss (3-0, 2.18 GAA) has been sharp in goal to help out the defense.
Yale
Great scoring, but with the graduation of Alec Richards, junior Ryan Rondeau will need to step up to help keep the Bulldogs on track for a repeat ECACH championship.
Weekly winners
Harvard forward Alex Killorn was named ECACH player of the week Monday. Killorn had two goals and an assist in Friday's 5-3 victory over Dartmouth.
Rondeau was named goalie of the week. He made 40 saves in a 5-2 non-league win over Princeton on Saturday.
St. Lawrence sophomore defenseman Pete Child was named rookie of the week. Child became the first Saints defenseman to record a hat trick in over 40 years when turned the trick in Friday's 6-3 win over Sacred Heart. He had an assist on Jeremiah Cunningham's game-tying goal late in the third period of Saturday's 3-3 tie.
The polls
Miami (Ohio) remains on top in the college hockey polls.
USCHO.com/CBS College Sports Division I Men's Poll
Team (First Place) Record Pts Last Week
1 Miami (41) 6-1-1 931 1
2 Denver ( 4) 5-2-1 856 2
3 North Dakota 4-1-1 833 3
4 Michigan 4-2-0 711 5
5 Cornell 1-0-0 657 6
6 Yale ( 1) 1-0-0 634 7
7 Boston University 2-3-0 613 4
8 Mass.-Lowell 4-2-0 572 9
9 Notre Dame 4-3-1 552 8
10 Nebraska-Omaha 4-0-2 430 12
11 Bemidji State 5-0-1 385 14
12 Colorado College 4-1-1 372 15
13 Alaska 5-0-1 363 16
14 Princeton 1-1-0 314 11
15 Vermont 2-3-0 271 10
16 Boston College 2-2-0 233 13
17 Michigan State 6-2-0 231 20
18 Wisconsin 3-2-1 225 19
19 Massachusetts 4-1-0 205 17
20 Minnesota-Duluth 5-2-1 92 NR
Others receiving votes: Quinnipiac 53, Minnesota 36, Harvard 22, St. Cloud State 21, Providence 18, Northeastern 10, New Hampshire 7, Merrimack 6, Minnesota State 6, Ohio State 1.
USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine
Men's College Hockey Poll
(First-place votes in parentheses)
Rank School Last Poll's Ranking 2009-10 Record Weeks in Top-15
1 Miami University, 504 (29) 1 6-1-1 5
2 University of North Dakota, 459 2 4-1-1 5
3 University of Denver, 457 (4) 3 5-2-1 5
4 University of Michigan, 389 5 4-2-0 5
5 Boston University, 323 4 2-3-0 5
6 Cornell University, 320 6 1-0-0 5
7 Yale University, 291 (1) 7 1-0-0 5
8 University of Massachusetts Lowell, 287 8 4-2-0 5
9 University of Notre Dame, 220 11 4-3-1 5
10 University of Nebraska Omaha, 173 13 4-0-2 4
11 Colorado College, 117 14 4-1-1 2
12 Bemidji State University, 110 15 5-0-1 2
13 Princeton University, 104 9 1-1-0 5
14 University of Alaska, 87 NR 5-0-1 1
15 University of Vermont, 64 10 2-3-0 5
Others receiving votes: Boston College, 46; University of Massachusetts, 42; University of Wisconsin, 42; Michigan State University, 24; University of Minnesota Duluth, 13; Quinnipiac University, 5; St. Cloud State University, 2; University of Minnesota, 1.
If you have any comments, post them below, or e-mail them to me at schott@dailygazette.com.
