Weekend Preview: League Champion to be Crowned
ALBANY, N.Y. -- Once again balanced play was showcased during
the ECAC Hockey historic 50th season leading to the crowning of the
regular-season champion taking place during the final weekend of
the season. Union sits in the top spot with a slim one point over
two-time defending champion Yale with two games remaining each on
the schedule.
Quinnipiac/Princeton at No. 5/5 Union/No. 13/14
Rensselaer: The Dutchmen will look to make school
history this weekend with their eyes on the ECAC Hockey
regular-season crown hosting Quinnipiac and Princeton. Union enters
the weekend with the nation's longest winning streak at nine games,
and is 13-1-0 in its last 14 games, all ECAC Hockey contests.
During its recent 14 game stretch in conference play, Union has
outscored opponents by a combined score of 52-25. Dating back to
last season, the Dutchmen have an impressive record (18-1-1) in
their last 20 regular-season home games at Messa Rink. With 13
student-athletes with double-digit points, the Dutchmen are putting
together one of the best offensive seasons in program history.
Junior forward Kelly Zajac leads the team with 37 points (12g-25a).
Sophomore Jeremy Welsh (15g-20a) is second with 34 points.
Rensselaer will also close out the regular-season with a pair of
critical ECAC Hockey home games battling Princeton Friday and
Quinnipiac in Senior Appreciation Night Saturday. Engineers’
forward Chase Polacek is first in ECAC Hockey in points per game
(1.34) and game-winning goals (8), second in goals per game (.56)
and power-play goals (9) and third in assists per game (.78).
Princeton currently sits two points out of third place in the
league standings entering its final league series of the season at
Rensselaer and Union. Princeton is 28-63-9 all-time against
Rensselaer and sports a 15-35-5 record in the series on the road.
Quinnipiac (17pts) is currently tied for seventh place with
Clarkson (17pts) heading into the final weekend of the ECAC Hockey
regular-season. Quinnipiac and Union have faced each other 19 time
since their first match-up on Dec. 3, 2000, with the Dutchmen
winning 10 games in the all-time series.
Colgate/Cornell at No. 3/3 Yale/Brown:
Coming off three straight road wins Yale will host Colgate and
Cornell this weekend. The Raiders hold a 45-38-4 advantage in a
series with Yale that began in 1916-17. The Bulldogs are 5-1-1 in
the last seven games. The Big Red and Bulldogs have played since
the turn of the 20th century and Cornell has a 75-56-5 lead. Yale,
however, has taken the last six straight. The Bears could finish
anywhere from seventh through 11th in the league standings. Brown
enters the week having gone 1-6-1 over its last eight games.
Cornell heads into the final weekend of the regular-season
this weekend, knowing that it controls its own fate. A three-point
weekend on a trip to Brown and Yale Friday and Saturday night will
guarantee the Big Red one of the four coveted first-round byes in
the upcoming ECAC Hockey playoffs. Cornell and Brown have met 112
times since the first-ever meeting in 1958-59, and Cornell holds a
67-40-5 lead in the all-time series. The Big Red is just 7-7-1 this
season at Lynah Rink, while carrying a 5-2-2 record in true road
games. Colgate has won four of its last five games and hopes to
continue its late-season push to the playoffs in the last
regular-season weekend at third-ranked Yale and Brown. The final 20
minutes for the Raiders has been very interesting this season.
Colgate is outshooting its opponent by 36 shots in the period,
which is the largest amount than any other frame. However, the net
has been hard to find as the Raiders have just 27 goals on 329
shots.
St. Lawrence/Clarkson at No. 18
Dartmouth/Harvard: No. 18 Dartmouth will face St.
Lawrence and Clarkson in the last regular-season weekend of
2010-11. Currently, Dartmouth is in a tie with Cornell for third
with 24 points while Rensselaer is right behind with 23 and
Princeton has 21. Dartmouth is currently 7-1 when scoring five or
more goals and is 8-0 when allowing just one goal by the opponents.
Harvard will also face the North Country foes during Senior
Weekend. The Crimson has played in six of the last nine ECAC Hockey
title games, winning league championships in 2002, '04 and '06 to
bring its tournament-title count to eight. Last season, Harvard
finished ninth in the regular-season and pulled off a
two‑game road sweep of eighth-seeded Princeton in
the first round of the playoffs before falling at Cornell in the
quarterfinals. Harvard has lost just once in the last five games
(3-1-1). St. Lawrence's lone win in the last four games came Feb.
18 against nationally-ranked Rensselaer, 5-3. The Saints (10-17-5,
6-13-1) also knocked off No. 2 Yale, 3-2, Feb. 11, but they fell to
No. 7 Union, 5-2, in their last game. St. Lawrence needs two wins,
two Quinnipiac losses and a Brown loss to clinch home ice in the
first round of the league tournament. Rookie Greg Carey has keyed
the SLU offense, having registered team highs of 17 goals and 33
points. The Green and Gold, who were picked to finish 12th in the
league’s preseason coaches’ poll, can finish anywhere
from seventh to ninth place. Junior Paul Karpowich has seen the
majority of time in the Clarkson crease, starting 31 games,
including the last 19. He posts a .911 save percentage and a 3.08
goals-against average along with a 14-15-2 record, including one
shutout.
