Weekend Preview: Tickets to Albany Ready to be Punched

ALBANY, NY -- ECAC Hockey's top men's teams will shake off the dust from their bye week to host quarterfinal best-of-three series action beginning Friday evening.  Defending tournament champion Princeton will look to earn its second straight trip to Albany for the championship by hosting Union this weekend.  Other teams in action include; Cornell, participants in the last three-out-of-four semifinal rounds, squaring-off against Rensselaer, regular-season champion Yale hosting Brown and St. Lawrence welcoming Quinnipiac. 

At No. 1 Yale, No. 12 Brown:  Looking to advance to the semifinal round of the conference tournament for the first time since the 1997-98 season and to earn their first-ever ECAC Hockey Tournament title, the Bulldogs face-off against the Bears, who are the first 12-seed to advance in the tournament's history.  Yale won all three of its games this season versus Brown, outscoring the Bears by a 13-6 count.  The Bulldogs, who have played 60 ECAC Hockey Tournament games since 1967, have gone 14-41-5 overall.  The Bulldogs, who have won six of their last 12 playoff games, last won a series when they swept Rensselaer in the first round at home last March.  Back-to-back shutouts in round one were part of a historic weekend for Brown, as it blanked Harvard on consecutive nights for the first time in its 111-year history.  Bears' freshman netminder Mike Clemente, fresh of an 86-save weekend, will look to stop the Bulldogs' offense that led the conference in scoring amassing 74 goals in 22 games.

At No. 2 Cornell, No. 11 Rensselaer:  The Big Red will host first-round upset winner Rensselaer at Lynah Rink this weekend.  Winners of three of its last four games, Cornell is riding a six-game unbeaten streak against the Engineers (5-0-1) and holds a 7-2-1 mark in its last ten versus its visitors in Ithaca.  Junior netminder Ben Scrivens stopped 46 total shots in the two Cornell regular-season wins, including posting one shutout (3-0).  Scrivens (18-7-4) is ranked second nationally in save percentage (.937) and third in goals against average (1.72).  As a team, the Big Red are fifth in the U.S. in scoring defense, allowing just 1.93 goals per game.   Sophomore Chase Polacek leads the Engineers' offense with 31 points on 11 goals and 20 assists, while freshman Patrick Cullen and sophomore Tyler Helfrich both have 22 points as the only other players above the 20-point mark.

At No. 3 Princeton, No. 8 Union:  Earning their second-straight tournament bye, the Tigers return to action this weekend to host upset-minded Union.  The defending tournament champion Tigers posted an identical 14-8 league mark for the second consecutive season.  The Dutchmen will be ready for a past-paced game, as Princeton currently ranks first in the nation in shots on goal per game with an average of 38.00 shots per game this season.  The disciplined Tigers are just as stong on the other end of the ice as they are one of five teams in the nation surrendering an average of less than two goals per game this season.  Union advanced with two wins against Clarkson, securing the program's first-ever postseason series win.  In the last 10 outings between the two teams, Union has posted a 6-3-1 record with its last victory coming on Jan. 9, 2009 (3-2) at Princeton.  Four of the last seven contests have gone into overtime with the Dutchmen posting a 2-1-1 record in those games.

At No. 4 St. Lawrence, No. 7 Quinnipiac:  The Saints enter postseason play having only lost twice in their last 19 outings, as they welcome first-round winner Quinnipiac.  Since joining ECAC Hockey for the 2006-07 season, the Bobcats hold an 13-6 career record in postseason play.  The Saints are 5-3-2 all-time versus Quinnipiac and hold a 3-1-1 advantage at Appleton Arena.  Quinnipiac is 1-0 all-time in the ECAC Hockey Tournament versus St. Lawrence after topping the Saints, 4-0, in the 2007 semifinals to advance to the championship game.  The Bobcats had the best penalty kill unit on the season in League action, stopping 111-of-122 opportunities for a 91.0% success rate.  The Saints will combat this with the second-ranked League power play unit converting on 21-of-113 chances for a 18.6% success rate.

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