Weekend Preview: Ones to Watch ...

ALBANY, N.Y. -- Vital games are now a given on all ECAC Hockey teams’ schedules for the remainder of the season.  Four of the teams in ECAC Hockey which sport some of the nation’s top team winning percentages - Yale (.882), Union (.688), Rensselaer (.659), and Dartmouth (.647) will be tested this weekend.  A total of 11 ECAC Hockey teams will take to the ice this weekend playing in 10 league games and one non-conference match-up.

Clarkson/St. Lawrence at No. 1/1 Yale/Brown:  The top-ranked Bulldogs, holding a slim lead atop the conference standings, hosts North Country rivals Clarkson and St. Lawrence this Friday and Saturday nights.  Yale's 2010-11 start is unique.  This is the first time the Bulldogs have won their first nine conference games, while this is the best (15-2) first half of a season since Yale ran off 16 straight wins in 1929-30 and finished 17-1-1.  Yale’s best ECAC Hockey start was 8-1 in 1997-98.  Yale and Clarkson have met 102 times since 1929-30 and the Knights own a 68-30-4 lead.  Yale has won four of the last five against Clarkson, including a sweep last season.  The Saints have a 53-25-8 overall advantage over Yale.  Brown will also play host to the North Country foes this weekend at Meehan Auditorium.  The Knights are 7-3 away from Cheel Arena and have won five of their last six games outside of Potsdam.  The Knights have scored six shorthanded goals this season, tied for third most in the NCAA this season.  A pair of newcomers has been leading the way for SLU.  Greg Carey (14g, 10a -24pts) leads the team in scoring and Matt Weninger (2.37, .916, 4-9-3) is its top netminder.  Brown, who battled back from one-goal deficits against the nation's top team to defeat a No. 1 program for the first time in the school’s history, is led in scoring by junior forward Jack Maclellan (12g, 15a - 27pts).

At No. 10/12 Union/No. 13/14 Rensselaer, No. 18 Dartmouth/Harvard:  Nationally-ranked Union and Rensselaer will play host to No. 18 Dartmouth and Harvard this weekend.  The Dutchmen, winners of four straight, lead the nation in scoring defense having only surrendered 48 goals in 24 contests.  Union is unbeaten at Messa Rink, boasting a record of 9-0-1 overall.  Union is also showcasing one of the best offenses in the program’s history, featuring 11 players with double-digits in points on the season led by forwards sophomore Jeremy Welsh (12g, 16a) and freshman Daniel Carr (14g, 12a).  The Big Green, coming off an important win over in-state rival New Hampshire, will play their next 12 games versus conference opponents.  Union came into Thompson Arena on Nov. 6 and each team's respective goalies, James Mello and Keith Kinkaid proved very tough as the two backstopped their teams to a 0-0 draw.  The Engineers are 34-46-3 all-time against the Crimson, including a 1-0 loss in Cambridge earlier this season.  In the last 11 meetings between RPI and Harvard, the Crimson have a 6-4-1 edge.  The Engineers are 32-25-4 in 61 league games against the Big Green.  The Engineers finished their regular season non-league schedule with an 8-1-3 record.  Crimson forward Alex Killorn has registered a point 10 of the last 11 games for Harvard and 14 of the team's 16 overall games.  He has four goals and seven assists during his 10-game scoring run.

Cornell/Colgate at Colgate/Cornell:  Rivalry weekend takes place this Friday and Saturday with Cornell and Colgate facing-off in a home-and-home conference series.  Colgate and Cornell will be meeting for the 138th time in the series with the Big Red holding a 72-54-11 advantage.  The Raiders have lost seven one-goal games in the last nine contests.  Four losses have come in overtime.  Colgate has played 45 games against Cornell under head coach Don Vaughan since 1992. In those games, the Raiders are 15-22-8.  Colgate has 21 different skaters with at least one point with 12 earning five or more points.  The Big Red has won eight of the last 11 match-ups versus the Raiders, including a 4-3 come-from-behind win earlier this season at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J.  The Big Red is 8-1-2 over that span, and Cornell head coach Mike Schafer holds a 23-10-6 lead over the Raiders during his tenure behind the bench.  Cornell has played six overtime games so far this season, including four of the last seven.  Cornell is one of the least-penalized teams in the nation, ranking 46th out of the 58 teams in college hockey in averaging 11.6 minutes per game in penalties.  Cornell is 6-3 this season when scoring the game's first goal, but has lost six of the eight games that it has given up the opening tally of the contest. 

At Quinnipiac, Team USA Under-18 (Ex.):  The Bobcats will host the Team USA Under-18 team at TD Bank Sports Center Saturday evening.  It will be the last non-conference match-up for Quinnipiac before its final stretch of nine straight conference regular-season games.  Quinnipiac is 11-1-1 this season in the 13 games in which it has scored first this season.  Eric Hartzell currently ranks among the NCAA Division I goalie leaders in goals-against average, save percentage and winning percentage.  He ranks 21st nationally in GAA (2.27), eighth in save percentage (.927) while his 9-3-2 record give him a .714 winning percentage, good for 9th nationally.  Quinnipiac is 45-29-7 (.604) in 81 games all-time at the TD Bank Sports Center.  Quinnipiac is 7-1-1 in nine games in which it has scored three goals and 10-2-1 in games in which it has scored three or more.  The Team USA Under-18 squad is led in scoring by Rocco Grimaldi with 39 points on 23 goals and 16 assists.  The team currently has a record of 14-20 as it prepares for the IIHF World Under-18 Championship in Germany on April 5-25.

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