Harvard Continues to Roll; Clarkson Earns Four Points
ALBANY, N.Y. -- The Harvard Crimson continues to rack up the wins, claiming its fourth and fifth straight ECAC Hockey League victories last week. Clarkson also earned two wins, sweeping its opponents at home in Cheel Arena. The weekend also saw the top two teams in the league battle it out, with Cornell winning Friday's contest and Colgate tying the Big Red on Saturday.
The Crimson moved into a tie for second place with its two wins last week. First, the team had an eight-goal outing in a mid-week win over Union, and then worked hard for a 2-1 victory vs. Dartmouth. Five players had multiple-points in the win over the Dutchmen, with Ryan Maki and Rob Flynn each scoring twice. Friday's game with the Big Green was a come-from-behind effort, with Maki scoring a power-play goal late in the second period to tie it up. And, with 58 seconds left in regulation, Dylan Reese nailed the winner.
Clarkson's two wins were key in the team's fight for position in the standings. The Ws were the Golden Knights' first league sweep since January 2003. Playing big roles in those wins were two of this week's league honorees in Player of the Week Jay Latulippe and Goaltender of the Week Dustin Traylen. Latulippe recorded three goals and an assist over the weekend, including both goals in the 2-1 win over Yale. He also assisted on the game winner vs. Princeton. Traylen stopped 51 of the 53 shots he faced, with 25 saves vs. Yale and 26 against Princeton on Saturday.
Cornell and Colgate battled each other in two hard-fought games over the weekend. Friday's game looked like it might end in a 0-0 draw, however, Mike Iggulden netted the winner with a beaut of a pass from Chris Abbott at 18:27 in the third to win it. The next night saw the two teams continue to match each other step for step and it ended in a 2-all tie. Rookie of the Week Tyler Burton netted the tying goal for his Raiders just 30 seconds into the third period. Neither team was able to solve netminders Steve Silverthorn or Dave McKee the rest of the way.
Yale, Brown and Dartmouth all split their league games over the weekend. The Bulldogs started off with a one-goal loss to Clarkson before rebounding with a solid 5-2 victory over St. Lawrence. Freshman Blair Yaworski scored two goals and had an assist as Yale rallied twice to capture the victory.
Brown earned its win over Vermont on Friday with rookie goaltender Adam D'Alba earning his 10th victory of the year. The Big Green captured its win over the Bears with goals from Lee Stempniak, Mike Ouellette and Garret Overlock.
Princeton and St. Lawrence also picked up points over the weekend -- one each -- as the two tied each other 4-4 on Friday evening.
Union and Rensselaer both played Holy Cross in non-league contests with the two ECACHL teams combining for 12 goals to earn one win each.
Games this week start off this evening, when Harvard plays Northeastern in the 53rd Annual Beanpot Tournament in Boston. The Crimson will be looking for its 11th Beanpot title.
The rest of the week features league games only, with Clarkson and St. Lawrence at Vermont and Dartmouth; Colgate and Cornell are at Yale and Princeton; Brown takes on Union and Rensselaer and Harvard plays one at RPI. The Brown at Rensselaer game is part of the Engineers' annual Big Red Freakout! and will be televised nationally on CSTV.
Follow 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/.
