No Big Changes in ECACHL Standings
ALBANY, N.Y. -- There were no sweeps in ECAC Hockey League action over the weekend, but three teams claimed three-of-four points with a win and a tie. Brown and St. Lawrence took three points on the road, while Colgate earned its at home. Clarkson and Union also earned two points with wins, while Rensselaer, Yale and Cornell all took one point each with ties. As the points were distributed across the board, there was little movement in the league standings over the weekend. Dartmouth and Quinnipiac both played non-conference games, while Harvard and Princeton were idle due to semester exams.
Brown earned its points with a tie at Colgate and a win over Cornell. Friday's tie marked the first point for the Bears in Hamilton since the 1995-96 season, while Saturday's win was the first victory for the team in Ithaca since the 1994-95 season. Defenseman Sean Hurley was named Player of the Week for his stellar play at both ends of the ice. He was dominant on defense and a key player on special teams, while also adding some offense with three assists. Freshman goaltender Dan Rosen continued his strong play as well, posting a 1.92 goals against average and a .929 save percentage in the two games.
Max Taylor led St. Lawrence in its three-point weekend, scoring the winning goal in the win over Union and also netting a goal in the tie vs. Rensselaer. He received help from freshman Sean Flanagan, who had three assists, including a helper on Saturday's tying goal.
The tie on Saturday between St. Lawrence and Rensselaer made it 17 straight Big Red Freakout! games without a loss for the Engineers. RPI is 12-0-5 in that span, and goalie Mathias Lange stopped 25 shots to preserve the streak and earn the tie.
Colgate's win came on Saturday after tying the Bears 2-2. The Raiders downed Yale 4-1 at home and junior forward Tyler Burton picked up his 100th career point with an assist in the game and later picked up a goal. Burton now has 51 goals and 49 assists through 102 career outings. Classmate Mark Dekanich earned co-Goaltender of the Week honors after posting a league-best 1.45 goals against average and a .950 save percentage through the two games. He stopped a total of 57 shots in helping his team earn three league points. Dekanich shared this week's honors with Dartmouth's Mike Devine. Devine helped lead the Big Green to victories in two of its non-conference games last week, helping to defeat Holy Cross and Sacred Heart. Devine had a 1.50 GAA and a .955 save percentage over the two games, in which he made 64 saves. Teammate Rob Pritchard led the offense for Dartmouth last week, with a goal in each game and three assists for a six-point week.
Clarkson's weekend win came against Rensselaer, while Union claimed its victory against the Golden Knights. Shawn Weller ha a career-high four points in the Knight's win, as he had a hand in all four of the team's goal, netting a goal and adding three helpers. T.J. Fox led the Dutchmen in their win over Clarkson with an assist and the game winning goal. Justin Mrazek also made 32 saves in goal for the upset win.
Yale and Cornell earned their lone point of the weekend against each other, as the two teams skated to a 2-2 tie on Friday night. The Bulldog's Tom Dignard was credited with the tying goal, which was awarded to him because he was the last player to touch the puck. The goal was actually the result of an errant pass that bounced off a Big Red blue liner.
Quinnipiac wasn't successful vs. Niagara, falling in both games, however Jean-Marc Beaudoin earned Rookie of the Week honors for his play. The freshman had a hand in all but one of the Bobcats goals with a two goals and an assist in the series.
There are two weeknight games this week, with St. Lawrence and Clarkson facing off tomorrow (Jan. 23) night in Canton and Cornell plays at Colgate on Thursday (Jan. 25).
Tuesday's North Country matchup will be televised throughout Central New York on Time Warner Cable. The Saints have won at least one game against the Golden Knights in each of the last eight seasons and are 7-1-0 in their last eight games against the Knights at Appleton Arena. Since 1998-99, 11 of the 17 league games between the two rivals have been one-goal games or one-goal games with an empty net goal tacked on.
Details on the Cornell-Colgate matchup will be included in the "Weekend Preview" release which will come out on Thursday.
ECACHL Player of the Week
SEAN HURLEY -- Brown
Jr., Defense * Rutland, Vt.
Hurley was dominant on defense while also chipping in on offense
this past weekend with three assists vs. Colgate and Cornell.
ECACHL Co-Goalie of the Week
MIKE DEVINE -- Dartmouth
Jr., Goalie * Orchard Park, N.Y.
Devine won twice and earned his second shutout of the season with
31 saves in a 4-0 blanking of Holy Cross.
ECACHL Co-Goalie of the Week
MARK DEKANICH -- Colgate Jr., Goalie * North Vancouver, B.C.
Dekanich finished the weekend with a league-best 1.45 GAA and a
.950 save pct. with a tie and win.
ECACHL Rookie of the Week
JEAN-MARC BEAUDOIN -- Quinnipiac>br> Fr., Forward * St. Paul,
Alb.
Beaudoin had a hand in all but one of his team's goals over the
weekend with two goals and an assist. He now has a goal in four
straight.
TEAM NOTES
Brown: Brown picked up three points over the weekend, earning its first point in Hamilton, N.Y., since Nov. 1995 and its first win in Ithaca since a victory in Feb. 1995 ... Sean Muncy had 2-1-3 numbers over the weekend, scoring one goal in each game; Brown is now 5-0-1 in games in which he scores ... Brian McNary scored his second goal of the year at Cornell, the game-winner, as he tallied his first goal since Nov. 11 ... Through 19 games, Brown has scored 54 goals this year; Last season Brown didn't reach 54 goals until Feb. 24 vs. Princeton in its 29th game of the year ... Chris Poli had an assist at Cornell, picking up his eighth point of the year; This is the most he has had during the regular season after four (3g, 1a) of his six points in 2005 came in the playoffs and four (1g, 3a) of his 10 in 2006 came in the playoffs.
Clarkson: Clarkson lost for the first time since mid-November and saw its 10-game (8-0-2) unbeaten streak come to an end with the 2-1 overtime defeat at Union on Saturday ... On Friday, the Knights won their first game over Rensselaer in seven tries with a 4-1 victory ... David Leggio has allowed just 14 goals over the past 11 games and has given up just eight goals in the past seven ECACHL contests ... The Knights close out their longest road trip of the season, at three games, when they play local rival St. Lawrence in Canton on Tuesday.
Colgate: Colgate recovered from its post-holiday hangover by earning three league points over the weekend. Mark Dekanich helped the Raiders preserve a tie with Brown on Friday, before backstopping Colgate to a 4-1 win vs. Yale on Saturday ... Tyler Burton scored his 100th career point on Saturday. He is the 46th Raider to net 100 points in his career, and the first to reach that milestone before his senior season since Mike Harder posted 104 points by the end of his sophomore campaign. Burton had a goal and an assist against the Bulldogs to give him 51 goals and 49 assists in 102 career games.
Cornell: Cornell's much-maligned PK unit is showing signs of life over the last three games. The Big Red has killed off 26 of its last 27 penalties dating back to the Jan. 12 loss at St. Lawrence. The lone goal scored by an opponent over that span was essentially an own goal on Friday against Yale. Cornell has also only allowed 24 shots during those 27 penalties ... Mitch Carefoot has a point in three of the last four games for Cornell ... Defenseman Kevin McLeod has already appeared in four games this season for Cornell, surpassing his previous season high, set during his sophomore season.
Dartmouth: Dartmouth earned three Ws over Atlantic Hockey foes last week ... Rob Pritchard led all scorers with six points while Nick Johnson had five, including his first goal in eight games. Freshman Joe Gaudet also notched his first collegiate goal against Canisius ... Dartmouth scored 14 goals to its opponents six last week. Dartmouth was also key on special teams, converting four times on 18 attempts while allowing just one PPG ... The Big Green used a new line of Pritchard, Connor Shields and Jon Grecu against Canisius and Sacred Heart. The three players combined for 13 points last week ... David Jones extended his current scoring streak to six games ... Ben Lovejoy is on a five-game streak scoring nine points.
Harvard: Harvard returns to action this weekend at St. Lawrence and Clarkson after a 19-day break from competition for final exams ... The Crimson has won three straight games and four of its last five ... Third-year head coach Ted Donato seeks his 50th career win. He enters the weekend with a 49-32-5 career record.
Princeton: Semester exams are taking place at Princeton and the team is idle. The Tigers resume action January 29 in a non-league home game vs. Robert Morris.
Quinnipiac: The Bobcats took the ice for practice for the first time on Thursday morning at the TD Banknorth Sports Center. Quinnipiac will play its first game at the new facility on Sunday against Holy Cross. The game will be televised nationally on ESPNU and locally on MyTV9 ... Forward Brandon Wong registered three points (1g, 2a) in the series at Niagara. He remains the highest-scoring freshmen in the nation with his 17 goals so far this year.
Rensselaer: Rensselaer extended its Big Red Freakout! unbeaten streak to 17 games with its 3-3 tie against #19 St. Lawrence. RPI is 12-0-5 in that span ... The Engineers' 3-3 tie against #19 St. Lawrence is their seventh of the season, setting a new school record ... Andrew Lord had his second multiple-point game of the season on Saturday night, tallying a goal and an assist ... Eleven different players had at least one point in the two games over the weekend.
St. Lawrence: The Saints' three-point weekend at Union and RPI gives the Saints 17 points in the first 11 ECACHL games, matching the start of the 2000-01 league regular season and tournament championship team. SLU is 4-1-1 overall in its last six and 3-0-1 in its last four league games ... Goalie Alex Petizian has started all six of those games and has a 1.95 goals against average and a .929 save percentage in that stretch ... The Saint special teams have also been outstanding in the six-game stretch, scoring at a 32.4 percent rate on the power play (11-of-34) and killing 91.7 percent (33-of-36) opposing power plays. The Saints have killed 27 consecutive opponent power plays in the last four games ... SLU will play arch-rival Clarkson at Appleton Arena on Tuesday night (Time Warner Cable Syracuse).
Union: Union's win over No. 10 Clarkson marks the second victory over a ranked opponent this season ... Both wins have come at Messa Rink ... The Dutchmen last defeated a ranked opponent on Nov. 24 in a 4-3 win over No. 14 Massachusetts ... Union ran its regular-season home win streak over the Golden Knights to four with Saturday's win ... Junior Josh Coyle picked up his 50th career point against St. Lawrence Friday ... League leading scorer T.J. Fox is one point shy of 50 in his career.
Yale: Three defensemen were responsible for all three Yale goals scored last weekend; Tom Dignard, Matt Cohen and Bill LeClerc had the tallies ... Dignard's goal was awarded to him because he was the last player to touch the puck, but the goal resulted from an errant pass that bounced off a Big Red blue liner ... Yale and Colgate combined for a total of 43 shots on goal.
