Clarkson and Colgate Win Holiday Tourney Titles
ALBANY, N.Y. -- ECAC Hockey League teams participated in seven holiday tournaments this past weekend, and league teams played in four title games. Clarkson and Colgate both came out on top claiming the Badger Showdown and UConn Hockey Classic, respectively. Cornell and St. Lawrence also played in championship games and finished in second place. Third-place teams included Brown, Harvard and Union. Princeton also had success on the weekend, as it played two non-tourney games and picked up two wins.
Clarkson became the first ECACHL team to capture the Badger Showdown in the 18 years of the tournament. The Golden Knights took down defending national champion Wisconsin, 6-2, in the first round and then beat Lake Superior State 3-2 in the title game. Nick Dodge, the Player of the Week, was named MVP of the tourney after netting a hat trick vs. the Badgers and a goal and an assist vs. the Lakers. Goaltender David Leggio also deserves credit, as he stopped 56 total shots in earning the two wins. The Showdown title was Clarkson's first in-season tournament title since 1995.
Colgate also ended a tournament drought by claiming the Toyota UConn Hockey Classic with a 5-2 win vs. Northeastern followed by a 3-1 victory over the host team. It was the Raiders' first in-season tourney title since 1999. Mark Dekanich picked up MVP honors and was named Goaltender of the Week after backstopping the Raiders to the two Ws. He posted a .954 save percentage and a 1.50 goals against average after making 62 stops on the weekend. Nick St. Pierrre provided offensive power with three goals on the weekend, including the winner vs. Northeastern.
Cornell, playing in what may have been the toughest tournament in the country, with three nationally ranked teams, finished second at the Florida College Classic. The Big Red came out and downed New Hampshire 5-2 in the opening round before falling to Maine 6-3 in the championship game. Raymond Sawada and Tony Romano provided offense, combining for six points on four goals and two assists.
In New England, St. Lawrence placed second at the Ledyard Bank Tournament hosted by Dartmouth. The Saints started things off by downing Boston Univ. 4-3 in overtime. The extra period was an exciting one, and a penalty shot by rookie Mike McKenzie lifted SLU to victory. Brock McBride provided the rest of the scoring for the Saints, as he netted his first collegiate hat trick. The next night the team faced off against North Dakota and fell 4-2.
Dartmouth wasn't as fortunate in its tourney, falling to the Fighting Sioux 4-1 in the opening round and then dropping a 3-0 contest to BU.
Staying in New England, but a little to the West, Union downed rival Rensselaer 5-1 in the third-place game of the Sheraton/TD Banknorth Catamount Cup. The Dutchmen's Matt Cook had a goal and an assist vs. the Engineers and had one of the team's goals in the opening 4-2 loss to St. Cloud State. Rensselaer opened the tournament against Vermont and fell 3-0.
Brown had an interesting ride at the Denver Cup. The Bears tied UMass-Lowell 1-1 in the first game but were on the short-end of the shootout to determine which team advanced to the title game. The team rebounded the next night and came out on top in its second OT game of the weekend, beating Mercyhurst 3-2. Dan Rosen continues to provide the Bears with outstanding goaltending and was named Rookie of the Week after stopping 67 shots on the weekend while posting a .955 save percentage.
Harvard played in the annual Great Lakes Invitational and placed third after beating host Michigan Tech 3-2 on the second day. The Crimson opened things up against Michigan State and fell 5-2. Mike Taylor posted points in both games for Harvard and had three goals on the weekend.
Princeton and Yale both stayed home and traded opponents over the weekend, as they each played Minnesota State and Nebraska-Omaha. The Tigers won both of their contests by one goal, including a 3-2 overtime victory vs. UNO. The second night saw a 4-3 Princeton win over MSU, with Brett Wilson scoring one and assisting on the three other goals. Yale dropped its game to Minnesota State 3-1 on Friday and finished in a 4-all tie vs. Nebraska-Omaha on Saturday. Chris Cahill was the Bulldogs' weekend leader with a two points (one goal, one assist.)
ECACHL Player of the Week
NICK DODGE -- Clarkson
Jr., Center * Oakville, Ont.
Dodge led Clarkson to its first in-season tournament title since
1995 and earned MVP honors at the Badger Showdown. He recorded his
first career hat trick against Wisco and then had two points in the
title game vs. LSSU.
ECACHL Goalie of the Week
MARK DEKANICH -- Colgate
Jr., Goaltender * N. Vancouver, B.C.
Dekanich stopped 62 shots and was named the MVP of the Toyota UConn
Classic, as he led Colgate to its first tourney title since 1999.
ECACHL Rookie of the Week
DAN ROSEN -- Brown
Fr., Goaltender * Syosset, N.Y.
Rosen continued his strong play in net, going 1-0-1 over the
weekend with 67 saves on 70 shots at the Denver Cup.
TEAM NOTES
Brown: The Bears played their second and third straight overtime games at the Denver Cup ... After going 0-6-7 in overtime last year, Brown has not lost in extra time this season, with a 2-0-3 record and a 2-0-1 record in three straight overtime games ... The Bears' game against Mercyhurst was the first time this season that Brown has not allowed a power-play goal to the opposition as the penalty-kill went 5-5 against the Lakers.
Clarkson: Clarkson won its first in-season tournament since 1995 and became the first ECACHL team to win the Badger Showdown in the 18 years of the tourney ... The Knights have won seven straight games, the second longest current win streak in the nation ... Clarkson's power play, which was 4-of-8 over the weekend, is ranked second in the country, clicking at 25.4% (31-122) ... The Knights are 12-0-0 when scoring the first goal and 13-0-1 when leading or tied after two periods.
Colgate: The fourth time was the charm for Colgate as the Raiders snapped a seven-year tournament title drought by claiming the trophy in their fourth tournament of the year, the Toyota UConn Classic ... Junior Tyler Burton posted three points against Northeastern to move him three points from his 100th. Burton has 49 goals and 48 assists, and is averaging exactly one point per game during his career.
Cornell: The Florida College Classic, one of the toughest holiday tournaments, featured three teams ranked in the top 15 in the nation ... Tony Romano scored a point in each game at the Classic, stretching his string of consecutive games with at least one point to four ... Topher Scott's streak of nine straight games with a point came to an end on Dec. 29 against New Hampshire as he was held scoreless for the first time since the Nov. 3 win at Brown.
Dartmouth: Dartmouth is looking to end a five-game winless streak. The Big Green last won on Nov. 18 ... Dartmouth was shut out for the first time all season when Boston Univ. took a 3-0 victory over the Big Green on Dec. 30 ... Dartmouth is hoping to start the second half of the season right. Last year the Big Green went 14-4-2 after the new year including a five-game winning streak en route to earning a trip to Albany for the ECACHL Championships.
Harvard: Mike Taylor has scored five goals in the last three games after netting that same total in 27 games last season ... Ryan Maki recorded a goal and an assist against Michigan State in his first collegiate game in his home state and added an assist against Michigan Tech ... Linemates Mike Taylor, Ryan Maki and Doug Rogers have scored seven of Harvard's last eight goals ... Kevin Du went 32-14 in the faceoff circle at the GLI, including 20-6 against Michigan Tech.
Princeton: Princeton's weekend sweep ran its win streak to four games. That four-game winning streak is Princeton's longest since the Tigers won four straight in January of 1999 ... Friday night's overtime win over Nebraska-Omaha was Princeton's second-straight overtime win. The Tigers had been 0-14-13 in their previous 27 trips to overtime ... Princeton is one of four teams in the nation to have scored at least two goals in each game it has played.
Quinnipiac: Quinnipiac was idle over the holidays and returns to action Thursday, January 4 for a home game against RIT.
Rensselaer: Rensselaer's final 16 games are ECAC Hockey League contests. Nine of those games will be played at the Houston Field House, including each of the next three .. RPI finished up the non-league portion of its schedule over the weekend and posted a 4-5-3 record vs. out-of-conference foes.
St. Lawrence: St. Lawrence and Boston University went into overtime for the second straight meeting between the two teams, but this one was somewhat shorter, if almost as dramatic. The two teams set an NCAA record, going 3:53 into the fourth overtime in the 2000 NCAA Regional Final in Albany with the Saints winning 3-2. This time the overtime lasted only 2:34 with the Saints taking their second straight overtime win from the Terriers 4-3 on rookie Mike McKenzie's penalty shot. The OT penalty shot was awarded when a BU defender took the net off its moorings.
Union: The Dutchmen extended their unbeaten streak against RPI to six games on Saturday ... Five players registered multiple-point games in the win which marked Union's first neutral site victory in exactly one year ... Jason Walters has had a goal in five of the last six games ... Assistant coach Rick Bennett assumed head coaching duties while head coach Nate Leaman was at the World Junior Championships as an assistant with the U.S. National Junior Team.
Yale: Freshman goalie Billy Blase made his first collegiate start in the 4-4 OT game with UNO. Robert Page has an assist in four straight games and five of the last six ... Will Engasser (2 goals) now has a goal in the season opener and the last game ... Jean-Francois Boucher has points in three of the last four games.
