Dartmouth and Brown Capture Holiday Tourney Crowns
Union Victory Clinches at Least Tie in Commish Cup
ALBANY, N.Y. -- Two teams captured holiday tournament titles over the past week, as ECAC Hockey League teams competed in six tournaments across the country. Dartmouth won its own Ledyard National Bank Classic, while Brown claimed the Toyota UConn Hockey Classic. In non-tourney play, Union earned a 4-0 shutout in a Commissioners' Cup Series game putting the league in first place in the standings and clinching at least a tie of the top spot.
Led by tourney MVP and this week's Goaltender of the Week, Sean Samuel (who made 73 saves over the two games), Dartmouth earned a tie and victory en route to claiming the Ledyard trophy. The Big Green opened up play with a 1-1 tie against Bowling Green and advanced to the championship game when Tanner Glass scored a sudden-victory shootout goal. Dartmouth went on to beat rival Vermont 6-3 in the final. The Catamounts earned their spot in the top game after downing Providence 3-1 in the semis.
Brown's Adam D'Alba also earned MVP honors while also being named the league's Rookie of the Week after backstopping the Bears to a 4-1 win over Merrimack and a 5-2 win over Holy Cross. D'Alba finished the tourney with 39 saves, while Mike Meech, this week's Player of the Week, also played a key roll in the victories with a goal and four assists. It was the first time since 1984 that Brown had won a holiday tournament crown.
In other tournament action, Clarkson and Yale were in Wisconsin competing in the Badger Showdown. The Bulldogs tied the host team 1-1 and went to sudden-victory in the shootout, with the Badgers advancing. The Golden Knights fell to Ferris State 3-1 the first night before downing Yale 8-1.
Harvard and Colgate also competed out west, with the Crimson falling twice at Minnesota's Dodge Classic and the Raiders coming in third at the Denver Cup. Cornell was in the sunny south taking on some of the nation's top teams. The Big Red fell to Boston College 4-2 in the opening round of the Florida College Classic before defeating Maine 4-3 to earn third place.
Union had just one contest on its slate over the weekend and it was a key one, as it was part of the Commissioners' Cup Series. The Dutchmen came through and blanked Connecticut 4-0, earning two points in the Cup standings. The ECACHL now has 10 points, and with one game left, has already claimed at least a share of the Cup title.
Rensselaer and Princeton also ventured out for non-tourney games. The Engineers split with Notre Dame (3-1, 1-2), while the Tigers fell to UMass. League play heats back up this coming weekend with all 12 teams playing each other in ECACHL contests.
Follow all the action with live stats from all the games along with postgame stories and box scores from all the contests online at http://www.ecachockeyleague.com/.
