Key ECACHL Games in New York This Weekend
ALBANY, N.Y. - The No. 1 and No. 2 teams in the ECAC Hockey League standings will face off this weekend when St. Lawrence visits Colgate on Saturday night. The Saints will start the weekend off at Cornell, and travel partner Clarkson will also look to move up in the standings. Other league action has Union and Rensselaer at Yale and Brown.
In non-league play, Dartmouth will play Sacred Heart and Holy Cross, while Quinnipiac travels to RIT. Harvard and Princeton are both off this weekend, as both schools are taking exams.
As St. Lawrence heads to south to Central New York this weekend, history tells us that the Saints have a tough task ahead of them. The past two seasons has seen Cornell and Colgate sweep SLU and the Saints have earned four points on this trip just three times since the 1984-85 season. St. Lawrence holds a four-game advantage in the all-time series with Colgate, however, the Raiders are ahead in games played at Starr Rink, claiming every regular-season game there since Jan. 2001 (SLU won 4-0). Cornell has held the upper hand recently in games vs. SLU at Lynah Rink, holding a 4-1-1 record in the last six contests played there between the two schools. St. Lawrence's last win vs. Cornell came during the 2000-01 season, when the Saints swept the season series, 3-2 (Canton) and 6-3 (Ithaca).
With just three points separating first through fourth place, Clarkson's games vs. Colgate and Cornell are also important matchups. The Golden Knights are unbeaten in their last four games against the Raiders and have gone undefeated in 12 of the last 13 between the schools. Just like Friday's game in Hamilton, this contest will be televised regionally on Time Warner Cable, and the Raiders will look for its first home win over Clarkson since the 1999-00 campaign.
The Golden Knights' series with Cornell is one of the most even for both schools, with the Big Red holding a slight 47-46-9 advantage. Cornell took the lead in the series after sweeping the Knights in last year's regular season games. In fact, the Big Red has a 15-3-1 mark vs. Clarkson since the start of the 1999-2000 season, which includes regular season and playoff games. Along with the regular season games last year, Cornell also won the best-of-three playoff series, taking it in two games. The Knights had won the 2004 playoff matchup two games to one. Clarkson's last regular-season win over Cornell was a 2-0 shutout at Cheel Arena on February 24, 2001.
Brown will look to continue its recent winning ways against Rensselaer on Friday night, as the Bears eliminated the Engineers from last year's playoffs, taking the series 2-0-0. Prior to that, RPI had a 3-1-2 record against Brown in the last six head-to-head matchups. Against Yale, Rensselaer has won the last three games, including the last two at Ingalls Rink, a 5-2 win last year and a 6-0 victory in 2003-04.
On Saturday night in Providence, Brown will look to continue its winning ways vs. Union, as the Bears have a 4-1-1 mark in the last six games between the two schools. The last time the Dutchmen beat Brown was at Meehan Auditorium in 2002. Last year, Brown won the regular season matchup with two shutouts, 2-0 and 3-0.
In New Haven on Friday night, Yale will look to break the recent hold that Union has had, as the Dutchmen have claimed the last three games by a combined 11-5 score. Prior to that, the Bulldogs had won three straight. Last year, Union won 3-2 at home and 5-2 at Ingalls Rink.
Dartmouth will be playing its last non-league games of the year this weekend when it faces Sacred Heart and Holy Cross. The Big Green has a clean slate against both teams, as it will be Dartmouth's first-ever meetings with the two squads.
Quinnipiac is also meeting a new opponent when it faces RIT this weekend. It's not a completely unfamiliar foe, however, as the two teams played for the first-time ever at the beginning of the season with the Bobcats wining 6-2.
