Championship Weekend in Albany Set
ALBANY, N.Y. -- The final four teams have been set for the ECAC Hockey League Men's Championship, as No. 1 St. Lawrence, No. 2 Clarkson, No. 3 Dartmouth and No. 5 Quinnipiac swept their quarterfinal series over the weekend. The Bobcats pulled off the only upset, taking two games from No. 4 Cornell to advance to the championship round, here at the Times Union Center.
Semifinal action is set for Friday, March 16, with the No. 1 Saints taking on No. 5 Quinnipiac at 4:30 p.m. and the No. 2 Golden Knights playing the No. 3 Big Green at 8 p.m.
The semifinal winners will battle for the league title at 8 p.m. the next day, Saturday, March 17. A third-place game between the two losing semifinalists will begin at 4:30.
St. Lawrence advanced to the championship round by downing No. 8 Colgate in two games, 6-1 and 5-1. Clarkson earned its trip to Albany with a 3-0, 2-1 sweep of No. 7 Harvard, and Dartmouth downed No. 6 Princeton 6-2, 3-2. Quinnipiac defeated Cornell 1-0 in overtime and 3-2.
This will be the first championship in six years that neither Cornell nor Harvard will win the title (Cornell-2003, 2005; Harvard-2002, 2004, 2006). It is also the first time since 1999 that neither team has made it to the semifinals.
St. Lawrence last won the league's tournament title in 2001, while Clarkson last claimed the title in 1999. Dartmouth has never won the tourney crown. This is Quinnipiac's second season in the ECACHL, and first trip to the championship round.
Tickets are still available for the Championship Round at the Times Union Center in Albany N.Y., March 16-17. Tickets can be purchased at the Center Box Office, online at www.timesunion.com or over the phone (1-800-30-EVENT).
All four games can be watched online through B2 Networks. Links to the four games will be available through the league website (www.ecachockeyleague.com) and the participating schools' websites.
The championship final is also being broadcast nationally by College Sports Television (CSTV). Contact your local cable or satellite provider to see if CSTV is available in your area.
ECACHL Player of the Week
J.T. Wyman -- Dartmouth
Jr., Forward * Wayzata, Minn.
Wyman led the Big Green in scoring with five points (3g, 2a),
including the game-winning goals in both games.
ECACHL Co-Goalies of the Week
DAVID LEGGIO -- Clarkson
Jr. * Williamsville, N.Y.
BUD FISHER -- Quinnipiac
So. * Peterborough, Ont.
Leggio and Fisher both posted shutouts against their Friday night
opponents and then claimed the series sweep with wins on Saturday.
Leggio posted a weekend GAA of .050 gaa, while Fisher had a 0.98.
ECACHL Rookie of the Week
ALEX PETIZIAN -- St. Lawrence
Fr., Goalie * Kirkland, Que.
Petizian won his 17th and 18th games of the season in the Saint
sweep of Colgate as he stopped 43 of 45 shots in the wins.
TEAM NOTES
Brown: Season Complete.
Clarkson: After sweeping defending tournament champion Harvard, Clarkson advances to Albany for the first time since 2004 ... The Knights will be making their 31st showing in the semifinal round on Friday ... Clarkson's overall record in the ECACHL playoffs is 77-57-5 ... The Knights have won four tournament titles (1966, 1991, 1993, 1999) ... Clarkson's 23 wins is its most victories since the 1998-99 campaign when it posted 25 en route to its last ECACHL championship ... Clarkson has defeated Harvard four times in a season for the first time ever and now leads their all-time series 46-44-9 ... Clarkson is 18-0-2 when scoring first and 17-0-2 when leading after two periods.
Colgate: Season Complete.
Cornell: Season Complete.
Dartmouth: Dartmouth advanced to the ECACHL Championships in Albany for the fourth time in five years by dispatching Princeton in two games. The Big Green has advanced to Albany every year they've had a bye and hosted the quarterfinals ... J.T. Wyman led his team with five points last weekend while David Jones, T.J. Galiardi and Kevin Swallow each notched three points. Swallow's three assists in the first game against Princeton was a career-high for the sophomore. Wyman recorded both game winners on the weekend and he now leads the team with four ... Dartmouth's top line of David Jones, Nick Johnson, Tanner Glass combined for two goals this weekend. The three players have most of the Big Green's scoring this season with 98 points. Jones leads the team with 42 points, the first Dartmouth player since 2003-04 to have more than 40 points in a season. Jones helped the Big Green to a 3-2 win on Saturday with his second shorthanded goal of the season ... Mike Devine recorded his second point of the season and fourth career assist by getting a helper on Dartmouth's last goal of the night, Friday against the Tigers. The shorthanded empty net strike for Rob Pritchard was set up by Devine after the netminder saved a Princeton shot and pushed the puck forward to J.T. Wyman.
Harvard: This will be the first ECACHL championship weekend in Albany without Harvard and the first semifinal anywhere without Harvard since 2000 ... Justin Tobe started Harvard's final six games in goal, going 4-2-0 with a 1.51 goals-against average and .938 save percentage ... Kevin Du wrapped up his career tied for third on Harvard's career games played list with 135 ... Dylan Reese was +14 in 19 career playoff games.
Princeton: Princeton completed the season with a 15-16-3 record. The Tigers win total of 15 games was the fifth-highest in program history ... Princeton increased its goal total by 21 goals from last season to this season ... All 24 skaters in the Tiger lineup tallied a point during the season. Nineteen scored goals and 21 tallied assists.
Quinnipiac: Quinnipiac has gone on the road to win a playoff series against a team that has previously won a national championship in each of its first two years in the ECACHL. Last year, the Bobcats swept RPI in an ECACHL first round series. This year, the Bobcats went up to Lynah Rink and moved past the Big Red in two games ... The 1-0 win on Friday marked the first time in program history (814 games) that Quinnipiac won a game by a 1-0 score. The Bobcats had previously lost four games by that score ... Junior forward Ben Nelson picked a fine time to score his 50th career goal, as he netted the game-winner with 4:21 remaining against Cornell in game two on Saturday night.
Rensselaer: Season Complete.
St. Lawrence: St. Lawrence coach Joe Marsh earned his 400th career win in game one of the ECACHL quarterfinals with Colgate and became just the third Division I coach to reach or pass the 400 win mark with all 400 or more coming at one institution. Jack Parker of Boston University and Red Berensen of Michigan are the other coaches to have achieved that feat. Marsh is the eighth Division I coach to pass the 400 win mark and is the leader in ECACHL tournament wins among ECACHL coaches as the sweep of Colgate gave the Saint mentor his 39th and 40th career tournament wins ... Freshman Mike McKenzie returned to the Saint lineup after missing a month with an injury and scored two goals and assisted on a third in Friday's win over Colgate. McKenzie scored his sixth game-winner of the year in Friday's game, the most ever for a SLU rookie and is currently tied for second nationally in that category ... Sophomore Casey Parenteau, a Division I rookie who transferred from Division III St. John's scored his first career hat trick and added an assist in game one of the series, doubling his goal total for the season .. ECACHL Student-Athlete of the Year finalist Andrzej Sandrzyk opened the scoring for the Saints in game two of the series with a shorthanded breakaway for his second goal of the season. Sandrzyk started at wing in the game and shifted to defense in the third period ... The Saints improved to 6-0 in their "alternate" white jerseys which they have worn in the last six home games. SLU has outscored the opposition 28-9 since donning the new sweaters.
Union: Season Complete.
Yale: Season Complete.
