High Expectations for League Trio
The following article appeared September 16 on the College Hockey News Web site.
by Joseph Edwards
CHN Writer
It's time for CHN's pre-season Top 10 prognostication,
one that, if history shows, will look a lot different at year's
end. But, you never know.
4. Cornell: The Big Red's string of big-time
goaltenders continued last season with Hobey Baker candidate Ben
Scrivens, who's back for more. Last season, he was fifth in the
country in wins, third in GAA, fourth in save percentage, and
second in shutouts with seven. Those are some pretty big numbers,
and with Brendon Nash leading the defense in front of him and Riley
Nash and Colin Greening returning to the frontlines, there's no
reason Cornell shouldn't be better across the boards this
season.
7. Princeton: Despite an agonizing, heartbreaking
loss in the NCAA, the Tigers have a lot to build on with two
straight seasons of school-record win totals and back-to-back NCAA
tournament appearances. Stalwart Zane Kalmeba returns to the crease
for the Tigers, and Dan Bartlett and Mark Magnowski will lead a
strong offense that will benefit from a full season from sparkplug
Cam MacIntyre -- if you can call a 6-foot-1, 215-pound body-banger
a "sparkplug." Jody Pederson will be an integral piece of the
defensive corps that adds freshman Michael Sdao, an Ottawa draft
pick in the 2009 draft.
10. Yale: Offense isn't a question for the
Bulldogs/Elis, a team that won the ECACs last season, as their
top-10 scorers from 2008-09 return, including four-double-digit
goal scorers. Defensively, Yale has all the answers as well, with
all six full-time blueliners back for another season. The biggest
punctuation mark -- whether it be exclamation point or question
mark -- is in the net, where Alec Richards graduated and gave the
crease back to Billy Blase, who hopes to hold off the relatively
untested Ryan Rondeau for the starting position.
