Quinnipiac Moves into ECACHL Lead with Sweep; Yale Also Wins Two
ALBANY, N.Y. -- Quinnipiac is the new No. 1 team in the ECAC Hockey League, while Yale is fifth, after both squads swept their opponents over the weekend. Four other squads -- Brown, Colgate, Cornell, and Dartmouth -- each took two points with one win each in league play. The Bear's victory also marked the 100th career win for head coach Roger Grillo.
Quinnipiac is on a hot streak right now, with four wins, a tie and a single loss in ECACHL play. This past weekend saw the Bobcats take a 3-1 win over Colgate and a 5-2 win over No. 12 Cornell. Freshman Brandon Wong had a hand in five of QU's eight goals in the two games, with two goals and three assists. His five-point weekend also lead the league in scoring, garnering him Player and Rookie of the Week honors. David Marshall, who also had multiple points on the weekend, netted both game winners. Goaltender Bud Fisher was stellar between the pipes for the Bobcats, as he stopped a total of 53 shots in the two wins. The win over Cornell gives Quinnipiac at least one victory over each league team just six games into its second season as a ECACHL member.
While Quinnipiac claimed victory over Colgate and Cornell, the two foes claimed their points over Princeton. The Big Red held off a late surge by the Tigers to win 3-2 on Friday, while the Raiders claimed a 2-goal (4-2) victory over the Orange and Black on Saturday. Tony Romano had the deciding goal for Cornell, while Marc Fulton had the winner for Colgate.
Yale's two wins came on the road, as the Bulldogs snapped Dartmouth's five-game hold on Friday and earned its second win ever at Harvard's Bright Hockey Center. Solid play by netminder Alec Richards helped earn the victories and earned him Goaltender of the Week honors. The sophomore goalie made 46 saves over the weekend, including 32 against Harvard. Senior blue liner Matt Cohen and freshman forward Sean Backman paced the Elis with two goals apiece (one each game). Robert Page and Chris Cahill netted the game winners, both of which came on the power play.
Dartmouth's single win of the weekend came against Brown on Saturday. The Big Green's Mike Devine earned his third career shutout and first of the season, as he made 30 saves in the 1-0 blanking. David Jones scored the game's only goal early in the second period for the win.
Brown claimed its first league win of the season with a 2-1 decision over Harvard on Friday. All of the game's scoring came in the first period, with Jeff Prough's tally at 14: 52 standing up as the winner. Freshman goalie Dan Rosen made 26 saves in net, with the lone goal allowed coming on the power play. Overall, the rookie had a 63-save weekend, having also stopped 37 against Dartmouth.
In non-league action, Rensselaer dropped a 5-4 decision to Sacred Heart, while Clarkson lost twice (4-0 and 7-2) at St. Cloud State. Kirk MacDonald led the Engineers on Friday with two goals (one a power-play marker) and an assist. For Clarkson, Friday marked the Golden Knights' first shutout loss in 28 games.
ECACHL Player of the Week
ECACHL Rookie of the Week
BRANDON WONG -- Quinnipiac
Fr., Forward * Victoria, B.C.
Wong figured in five of QU's eight weekend goals. He had a hand in
all three scores vs. Colgate (1g, 2a) and then had a goal and an
assist vs. Cornell. His five points led the league in scoring over
the weekend.
ECACHL Goalie of the Week
ALEC RICHARDS -- Yale
So. 8 Robbinsdale, Minn.
Richards won two on the road, stopping 46-of-50 shots. He had 14
saves vs. No. 13/14 Dartmouth and 32 in the team's second-ever win
at Bright Hockey Center.
UPCOMING TEAM CHARITY EVENTS
** The Rensselaer men's and women's hockey teams are spearheading a food drive to benefit Unity House of Troy, Inc. The Engineers will collect non-perishable food items at the men's 56th Annual Rensselaer/Bank of America Holiday Tournament this weekend.
** Colgate freshman Ethan Cox is organizing a toy drive that will take place during the Raider's upcoming home games against Rensselaer and Union, Dec. 1-2. Fans are asked to bring new or gently-used toys to the game to donate to the Community Action Program, a local organization that helps underprivileged families in the Hamilton area.
** The Harvard men's hockey team will be collecting new, unwrapped toys at its game vs. Dartmouth on Saturday, Dec. 16. The toys will be given to the Toys for Tots program. The first 100 donors to bring a new toy to the game will receive a free Harvard fleece scarf.
TEAM NOTES
Brown: Brown's win over Harvard on Friday was the Bears' first since 2003-04 and the first in Cambridge since 11/1/03 ... Matt Vokes earned a point for the sixth straight game with an assist on Prough's game-winning goal at Harvard ... Through seven games, Brown has scored 23 goals this year; last season, the Bears didn't score their 23rd goal until after the first semester exam break.
Clarkson: The Golden Knights have lost four straight and closes out a four-game non-league portion of the schedule when it plays host to CCHA foes Bowling Green and Miami this weekend ... After boasting the most productive offense in the nation two weeks ago, averaging 4.88 GPG, the Knights have totaled just eight goals over the past four games and have been out shot in each of those losses by a combined total of 133-97.
Colgate: Colgate snapped a seven-game winless skid with a 4-2 win at Princeton on Saturday. Junior goaltender Mark Dekanich was the hero of the weekend, making 87 saves on 91 shots over two games ... Three of Colgate's four goals at Princeton came on 5-on-3 power-play situations ... Tyler Burton tied his career high with three assists in Saturday's win at Princeton. Jason Fredricks also posted the first multiple-point game of his career with a pair of assists against the Tigers.
Cornell: Cornell's power play came alive on the road as the Big Red scored three goals with a man advantage during the weekend. Topher Scott, Byron Bitz and Tony Romano each had a power-play goal on the weekend, with Romano's serving as the game-winner against Princeton ... Scott scored a pair of points on the weekend, one in each game, to move his consecutive game streak to five with a point. He leads the Big Red with 10 points on the year.
Dartmouth: The Big Green, which swept Yale last March at Hanover in the second round of the ECACHL playoffs, had won five straight in the series and 12 of the last 13 before losing on Friday ... Mike Devine recorded his third career shutout in a 1-0 win over Brown on Saturday. It was Dartmouth's first shutout of the season ... David Jones has established himself as the Big Green's leading scorer. The junior assistant captain has 12 points and is the team leader with eight assists ... Seniors Tanner Glass and Dan Shribman both played in their 100th career games over the weekend. Shribman eclipsed the century mark against Yale while Glass did it against Brown.
Harvard: Harvard has held three of its last four opponents to fewer than 20 shots on goal ... Dylan Reese ranks third nationally among defensemen in goals per game (0.50) and is tied for fifth among all Division players (second among defensemen) in power-play goals per game (0.50) ... Kevin Du has six points in the last six games, while Ryan Maki has five points in his last five Dylan Reese has a power-play goal in three of the last four games.
Princeton: Saturday's game with Colgate was Princeton's first this season decided by more than a goal ... Princeton out shot both of its weekend opponents and has out shot seven of eight opponents this season ... Princeton's 51 shots on Saturday was its first 50-plus shot total since putting 50 on net last season against Alabama-Huntsville.
Quinnipiac: The weekend win over Cornell means that Quinnipiac has now defeated every team since joining the ECACHL ... Quinnipiac's attack has also benefited from the play of Dan Travis and David Marshall. Travis is second on the club with 13 points (4g, 9a), while Marshall is third with 12 points (9g, 3a). Travis is fourth in the league in points and tops in PP points. Marshall is second in goals.
Rensselaer: Rensselaer saw its five-game unbeaten streak (3-0-2) come to an end on Friday ... RPI's last seven goals have come on the PP ... The Engineers have scored the game's second goal in each of their first nine games. Eight of those goals have tied the game at 1-1 ... Jake Luthi is riding a four-game point streak (1g, 6a) ... Oren Eizenman has at least on point (3g, 5a) in four of his last five games.
St. Lawrence: SLU will put a five-game win streak on the line when it hosts Miami and Bowling Green in a non-league set at Appleton Arena this coming weekend ... The Saints are coming off a bye week and are 3-1-0 at Appleton Arena thus far this season with all four games decided by a single goal ... Junior Charlie Giffin (5g, 4a) shares the Saint scoring lead with senior captain Kyle Rank (2g, 7a).
Union: Union resumes play this weekend against Army and Massachusetts after a two-week break ... Sophomores T.J. Fox and Matt Cook are riding four-game point streaks coming into this weekend's contests ... Union is undefeated in overtime games this season (1-0-2)... The Dutchmen went 1-3-6 in overtime games last season.
Yale: Yale's current 6-1-0 record marks the team's best start since 1997-98 ... The Bulldogs, which had lost five straight and 12 of 13 to Dartmouth, outshot the Big Green 37-16 on Friday to win 4-2 ... The victory over Harvard was just the second win for Yale over Harvard at Bright Hockey Center ... Yale leads the conference with a 2.29 scoring defense mark, while the Bulldogs also lead in penalty minutes per game.
