ECACHL Playoff Action Kicks Off This Weekend
ALBANY, N.Y. -- The second season officially begins this weekend, as the playoffs start in the ECAC Hockey League with first-round games. While the top four teams in the league are enjoying a weekend off from competition, the other eight will fight to continue their seasons. The first round has St. Lawrence, Union, Rensselaer and Clarkson playing host to Brown, Yale, Quinnipiac and Princeton in best-of-three series.
St. Lawrence is the No. 5 seed and will play No. 12 Brown at Appleton Arena. Friday's game will start a little later than usual (7:30 p.m.), as the SLU women are also hosting an opening round playoff series.
The matchup between the Saints and Bears marks just the second meeting in playoff history between the two and the first time in 40 years, when Brown beat the Saints 4-2 in the 1966 ECAC quarterfinals. SLU and the Bears split this season, each winning on home ice. SLU won 4-1 in the most recent meeting in Canton while Brown won 3-1 at Meehan Auditorium. SLU was 12-2-1 at home this season including 9-1-1 against ECACHL opponents.
In the Capital District, Union and Rensselaer are both hosting games. The Dutchmen claimed the No. 6 seed and will play No. 11 Yale, while the Engineers are the No. 7 seed and play host to No. 10 Quinnipiac.
The Bulldogs are 16-10-2 all time vs. Union and have won three of the last five games they've played at Achilles Rink. The two teams split their regular season series earlier this year with each winning at home. Yale won 5-4 in New Haven and Union claimed a 5-1 victory in Schenectady.
It's Quinnipiac's first ECACHL playoff action and the Bobcats are facing one of their more familiar league foes when they take on the Engineers. Not overly familiar, though, as the two have played each other just five times with RPI going 4-0-1 in those games. Five games might not seem like a lot, but its more than a number of other matchups that Quinnipiac has had vs. ECACHL opponents. Earlier this year, Rensselaer claimed a 4-2 victory in Troy, before the two skated to a 2-all tie in Connecticut.
The final series of the weekend has No. 7 Clarkson taking on No. 8 Princeton. These two also split their regular season games, with each winning at home. The Knights won the first meeting of the season 4-3 in overtime, while Princeton turned the tables in January with a 4-2 victory. The win snapped the Tigers' 17-game winless streak (0-15-2) against the Golden Knights and was Princeton's first since defeating Clarkson 4-3 in Potsdam in November of 1998. The Golden Knights have the advantage in the all-time series, including a resounding 31-2-0 advantage in the games played in Potsdam.
In postseason action, the teams met six times in the playoffs over a six-year span from 1995 to 2000 with the Knights holding a 4-2 postseason edge in the series. In their last playoff match up, Clarkson won the 2000 quarterfinals by posting 3-2 and 2-1 wins at Cheel Arena on March 10-11. The last six regular season games have been close affairs with the Knights pulling out four one-goal victories and a 3-1 win, which included an empty-net score, and Princeton winning the last meeting by two goals. In their last meeting, the Tigers took advantage of some early opportunities and then held off.
