Harvard Wins Last Week's Lone ECACHL Contest
Princeton Earns Commissioners' Cup Victory
ALBANY, N.Y. -- There was just one league game played last week in the ECAC Hockey League, and Harvard downed Quinnipiac 3-2 to earn two points in the standings. The rest of the week featured all non-league games, including two Commissioners' Cup contests. Princeton earned two points for the ECACHL with a 4-0 blanking of Alabama-Huntsville, while Dartmouth fell to UMass-Lowell, 3-2.
Harvard had three different players score in the victory over Quinnipiac. The Crimson now has 14 points in the league standings to claim first place heading into the holidays. Paul Dufault scored the game winner less than one minute into the third period. Overall, the Crimson outshot the Bobcats 29-14, with John Daigneau making 12 stops in the win. Junior forward Kevin Du had a hand in two of the team's three goals with a goal and an assist.
The Crimson followed up the league win with a shutout over No. 12 New Hampshire later in the week. The win marked the first win over the Wildcats by Harvard since 1994, and halted a six-game winless streak for the Crimson vs. UNH. In this win, Daigneau stopped 32 shots in earning his second shutout of the season, while Du assisted on the winner. The duo took home two of the league's weekly awards, with Daigneau being named Goaltender of the Week and Du was named Player of the Week.
In Commissioners' Cup action, the ECACHL remains in first place in the standings with 12 points, the latest two earned by Princeton. The Tigers played Alabama-Huntsville twice over the weekend, dropping the first game 4-2 but winning the Cup contest 4-0 on Saturday night. Four different players scored for the Tigers with Grant Goeckner-Zoeller leading the Orange and Black with a goal and two assists in the contest. Eric Leroux earned the shutout after stopping 27 shots.
Freshman blue liner Brett Wilson had a hand in three of Princeton's six goals over the weekend, including both in Friday's loss. His three-points over the two games, including an assist in the win, helped him become the first defenseman to win league honors this season, as he was named Rookie of the Week.
Dartmouth wasn't as fortunate in its Commissioners' Cup game, falling to UMass-Lowell 3-2 on Sunday night. The Big Green also lost to Boston University earlier in the weekend. The North Country teams traveled to Ohio and came home with a victory and a tie. Friday night started off with Clarkson downing head coach George Roll's alma mater, Bowling Green, 6-4. The Golden Knights rallied from being down 3-0 to reel off five straight to take the lead and eventual win. St. Lawrence also had a big game and tied No. 2 Miami 1-1 on Mike Madill's game-tying goal. The next night didn't go quite the same way, with Clarkson falling by one (2-1) to Miami and St. Lawrence losing to Bowling Green (6-4).
Union also traveled to the Buckeye State and lost twice to Ohio State. Brown also went out of state last week, playing Maine in Portland and dropping a 2-1 decision to the Black Bears.
If you were looking for high-scoring action over the weekend, it could be found at Rensselaer's Houston Fieldhouse, as the Engineers downed visiting RIT 10-7. Senior forward Kevin Croxton recorded his first career hat trick along with two assists to lead the Engineers. Thirteen skaters had at least one point in the win, including sophomore Dan Peace, who scored a goal to notch his first career point. RPI's ten goals against RIT were the most it has scored in a single game since the Engineers defeated Holy Cross, 10-4, on November 20, 1999.
There are just two games on this week's slate, including one league contest. Harvard will travel to Dartmouth on Friday for an 8 p.m. game. The game is an hour later than usual, as it is CSTV's Game of the Week. CSTV can be seen nationally via cable and satellite. If you have DirecTV or the Dish, the game can be found on channels 610 and 152, respectively. Check with your local cable/satellite provider.
The second game of the weekend has St. Lawrence traveling to No. 3 Vermont for a 7:05 p.m. contest on Saturday.
