Princeton Takes Two in ECACHL Men's Action
Quinnipiac earns three points and sits in first place
ALBANY, N.Y. -- Princeton and Quinnipiac were the home teams for ECAC Hockey League games over the weekend and the travel partners took seven out of eight points on the weekend. The Tigers swept Rensselaer and Union, while the Bobcats tied the Engineers and downed the Dutchmen. Brown also earned two points in league play by downing Yale 3-2 in overtime. Clarkson and St. Lawrence played a league game earlier in the week, with the Golden Knights earning the 3-1 victory. The Saints and Colgate also played non-league games over the weekend.
The Tigers earned their first win of the weekend in a 4-3 overtime game vs. Union. Brandan Kushniruk netted the game-winning goal which marked the Orange and Blacks' first overtime winner in more than five years. The next night, Princeton claimed a 6-2 win over Rensselaer, four different players had multiple points in the victory. Darroll Powe was the team's leader with two goals in the contest. Lee Jubinville was a steady hand for the Tigers over the weekend, picking up a goal and three assists over the two games. Freshman goalie Zane Kalemba made 45 saves on the weekend in picking up the two Ws.
Quinnipiac started off its weekend with an overtime tie vs. Rensselaer. The Bobcats had a 4-1 lead before the Engineers reeled off three straight, including a short-handed tally by Paul Kerins, to tie it up. Quinnipiac went on to down Union 4-2 the next night to earn a total of three points on the weekend, giving the team 13 over 10 games, good enough for first place in the league standings. Jamie Bates played a strong role in the team's weekend success, with two goals on Friday and two assists on Saturday. His four point weekend earned him Player of the Week honors. Freshman Brandon Wong was also stellar, picking up a goal each night and an assist vs. RPI, for a three-point weekend, and to earn Rookie of the Week honors.
Clarkson and Brown had just one league game each this past week and the two earned a win over St. Lawrence and Yale, respectively.
The Golden Knights' Shawn Weller scored twice, including an energizing tally late in the first period. His second goal was an empty-netter and helped seal the win for the Green and Gold. Between the pipes, David Leggio made 32 stops to earn the win.
Yale managed to tie up Brown at 2-all at the end of regulation, but the Bears pulled through in the end for the victory.
The Bears' Eric Slais scored at 2:14 of overtime to give Brown its sixth win of the year. It was Slais' first goal of the season. Rookie goalie Dan Rosen earned Goaltender of the Week honors after stopping 39 shots sin the game for a .951 save percentage.
In non-league games, St. Lawrence and Colgate saw themselves on the short end of the stick. The Saints dropped a 2-0 game to New Hampshire on Friday, but came back to earn a 3-3 road tie at UMass-Lowell on Saturday. The Raiders traveled out to St. Cloud State and dropped both games by identical 3-1 scores.
This coming weekend's schedule is short (six games total), as many teams are taking semester exams, and student-athletes are heading home for a few days to spend time with their families for the Holidays.
ECACHL Player of the Week
JAMIE BATES -- Quinnipiac
Jr., F * Toronto, Ont.
Bates posted four points over the weekend on two goals and two
assists. Both of his goals were power-play markers in Friday's 4-4
tie with Rensselaer. Both assists came in the win vs. Union.
ECACHL Goalie of the Week
DAN ROSEN -- Brown
Fr., Goaltender * Syosset, N.Y.
Rosen made 39 stops, including three in OT, in Brown's 3-2 win vs.
Yale on Saturday. It was Brown's first OT win since March 2005.
ECACHL Rookie of the Week
BRANDON WONG -- Quinnipiac
Fr., Forward * Victoria, B.C.
Wong played a key role for QU with two goals and an assist. His
goal came against RPI and was a short-handed marker.
TEAM NOTES
Brown: Brown won its sixth game of the year on Saturday, defeating Yale, 3-2 in OT, and surpassed its win total from all of last year ... In their first 12 games of the season, the Bears have never lost back-to-back games ... The overtime win over Yale was Brown's first OT victory since defeating RPI, 4-3 in overtime on 3/5/05 in the first round of the ECACHL playoffs ... The win snapped an 0-6-9 (0-0-2 this year) skid in overtime, dating back to last year.
Clarkson: The Knights enter the exam/holiday break riding their longest winning streak in head coach George Roll's four-year tenure at five games ... Clarkson has outscored its opponents 18-5 during the current streak ... Specialty teams play has contributed greatly to the recent success. The short-handed unit has killed off 31 straight power plays and is 120-139 on the season (86%). Clarkson's power play is 6-of-20 over the last three games (30%).
Colgate: Junior goaltender Justin Kowalkoski made his first start of the season in a rink just 90 minutes of his hometown of Young America, Minn. Kowalkoski made 26 saves in a 3-1 loss to No. 8/8 St. Cloud State on Saturday ... Senior captain Liam Huculak scored his first goal of the season in Friday's 3-1 loss to No. 8/8 St. Cloud State. He scored on a breakaway set up by classmate Alex Greig, who earned his first point of the season with an assist.
Cornell: Cornell's next games will be played in Florida at the Everblades College Classic Dec. 29-30. The tournament features Cornell, New Hampshire, Maine and Western Michigan ... Head coach Mike Schafer is now one win away from tying Dick Bertrand for the most in Cornell history with 230.
Dartmouth: Dartmouth and Harvard will match up on Saturday in the 183rd meeting between the two schools. The Big Green opened the 2005-06 season up with a 5-2 victory over the Crimson on Oct. 27 ... The game will be the first for Dartmouth since a 3-3 tie with Quinnipiac on Nov. 25 ... Tanner Glass and David Jones led Dartmouth in scoring with three points apiece. Glass notched three assists while Jones had a goal and two helpers.
Harvard: Jimmy Fraser has been named to the U.S. National Junior Team and will compete at the IIHF World Junior Championships Dec. 26-Jan. 5 in Sweden ... Freshmen Alex Biega (4-5-9) and Doug Rogers (2-7-9) share the team scoring lead. Three freshmen have led Harvard in scoring before: Peter Ciavaglia in 1987-88, Mark Fusco in 1979-80 and George Hughes in 1975-76.
Princeton: Princeton swept Union and Rensselaer to earn its first weekend sweep of the 2005-06 season and its first since sweeping St. Lawrence and Clarkson in February 2006 ... Friday night's OT win over Union snapped a 27-game overtime winless streak or the Tigers. Princeton had gone 0-14-13 in its previous 27 trips to OT prior to Friday night, a streak that dates back to 1 2-1 overtime win against Yale on Nov. 20, 2001.
Quinnipiac: Quinnipiac heads into its holiday break with a grip on sole possession of first place in the ECAC Hockey League. The Bobcats were picked sixth and seventh, respectively, in the league's preseason polls ... The line of Bryan Leitch, Ben Nelson and Jamie Bates tallied 11 points (four goals, seven assists) in the weekend series with RPI and Union ... As a point of reference, the Bobcats are 8-4-4, 5-2-3 in league play heading into the holiday break this year. Last season, they were 9-10, 3-8.
Rensselaer: Defenseman Jake Luthi saw his eight-game point streak snapped at Quinnipiac. He had at least one assist in each of those games (1g, 12a) and multiple points in five ... The six goals allowed at Princeton is a season-high. The 53 shots given up at Quinnipiac the night before is also a season-high ... Freshman Jordan Cyr picked up his first collegiate point (a goal) on Saturday night ... Seniors Kirk MacDonald and Oren Eizenman both missed their first games of the season last weekend.
St. Lawrence: Freshman Mike McKenzie leads the Saints in scoring through 16 games with six goals and 10 assists for 16 points. That is the best start to a Saint career since Paul DiFrancesco put up 17 points in his first 16 games in 1994-95 ... St. Lawrence will play its fourth ranked team in the last five games when the Saints play host to Vermont this coming weekend.
Union: Jason Shaffer picked up his first career point with a goal at Princeton ... Sam Bowles recorded his first point of the season with an assist at Princeton ... Mike Schreiber has picked up seven points in the last six games ... Union returns to Messa Rink Friday for its only home game in December ... Union is 3-1-1 at home this season.
Yale: Eric Slais lit the lamp at 2:14 of overtime to lift Brown to a 3-2 win over Yale on Saturday ... The Bulldogs outshot the Bears 41-32 and sophomore goalie Alec Richards had 29 saves in the game ... Yale freshman Mark Arcobello had both goals ... The Bulldogs are now off for the next 20 days for exams and the holiday break.
