Weekend Preview: Non-League Tilts on Tap

ALBANY, N.Y. - Nine of the 12 ECAC Hockey teams are in action this weekend in non-conference play highlighted by the Ivy Shootout at Dartmouth; Rensselaer welcoming a nationally-ranked team to Houston Field House; Union raising its banner from the 2010-11 season at Messa Rink; and Cornell opening the season before a sold-out crowd at Lynah Rink.

Princeton vs. No. 6/10 Yale & Princeton vs. Brown
*This is the fifth straight season the Tigers have participated in the season-opening Ivy Shootout. Princeton is 5-3 at the Shootout with this the first year at Dartmouth. Princeton owns a 60-43-5 record on opening day in its 108-year history.
*The Bulldogs return their top two scorers from last season senior Brian O’Neill and junior Andrew Miller, who combined for 91 points.
*Yale is coming off a 28-7-1 season and an ECAC Hockey tournament championship. The Bulldogs were picked by both the coaches and the media to repeat at league champions.

No. 6/10 Yale at Dartmouth & Brown at Dartmouth
*The Bulldogs and Big Green are heading into the 198th meeting with Yale leading 101-84-12.
*Yale won both meetings in 2010-11 against Dartmouth by a combined score of 6-3. Ryan Rondeau '11 stopped 57 shots over the two games while Dartmouth netminder James Mello made 73 saves.
*Twenty players from last season's third-place team will be back in Hanover along with the nine new names to make up this year's Dartmouth men's hockey team.
*Brown finished the season with a 10-16-5 overall record and was 8-12-2 in league play to finish ninth in the ECAC Hockey standings. The Bears have been picked to finish 12th and 11th in the preseason polls. Senior Jack Maclellan returns after leading the team with 31 points last year. Also back is goalie Mike Clemente for his senior season.

No. 16 Colgate/Niagara at Niagara/No.16 Colgate
*Colgate is ranked for two-consecutive weeks for the first time since 2006 when the Raiders were ranked 17th when they made a run at the ECAC Hockey title. Colgate sits at 3-1-1 on the season with two wins over ranked opponents.
*Niagara enters the weekend winless at 0-2-2 and the Purple Eagles have played three overtime games in the four games this season.
*This will be the 15th meeting between Colgate and Niagara with the Purple Eagles holding a 7-5-2 advantage in the series. Niagara has won the last three meetings, including a 4-3 overtime win at Starr Rink last season.

No. 11/11 Union at New Hampshire & At No. 11/11 Union, American International
*The Dutchmen are 3-1-0 in their last four games against Hockey East opponents, but have not faced an opponent from Hockey East since a 4-3 loss to Massachusetts on Dec. 29, 2009.
*UNH holds 4-1-0 lead in the all-time series with Union dating back to Dec. 26, 1941.
*UNH's 0-4-1 start is its worst start since the 1987-88 start when the team was 0-5-1 over its first six games.
*Union will celebrate the accomplishments of the 2010-11 season one final time when the Dutchmen host American International College on Banner Night at Messa Rink Saturday night.
*Union is 4-0-0 in the all-time series against AIC, including an 8-1 win over the Yellow Jackets last season on Dec. 10, 2010 at Messa Rink. The Dutchmen are 41-5-7 against Atlantic Hockey opponents in the Division I era.

Clarkson at Bentley
*This will be the second straight season Clarkson and Bentley have played. In the first ever meetings against the Falcons, the Golden Knights skated to a win (5-1) and a tie (3-3) at Cheel Arena on October 22-23.
*The Golden Knights outscored their opponents 18-4 in the just completed four-game home stand at Cheel Arena and in the process posted their longest home winning streak (4 games) since the 2007-08 campaign.
*The Golden Knights have gotten off to quick starts, outscoring opponents 8-to-3 in the first period.
*The Falcons, 1-4, downed Sacred Heart last week, 7-3. The seven goals is the most they've scored in a game since an 8-3 win over Canisius on Jan. 9, 2009.

At No. 19 Cornell, Mercyhurst
*Cornell has an all-time record of 55-33-6 in season openers and 10-5-1 mark in season debuts under current head coach Mike Schafer.
*The Lakers and Big Red have clashed just once in their programs’ histories, skating to a 3-3 tie on Nov. 29, 2003 at Lynah Rink.
*The Lakers defense has been off to a particularly slow starts, yielding 18 goals in four games (4.5 per game), though the offense has only produced six goals (1.5 per game) in the same span.

At Rensselaer, No. 3/3 Colorado College
*The Tigers own a 3-0-2 advantage in five previous encounters against the Engineers after skating to a 2-1 victory and 2-2 tie at the World Arena on opening weekend of the 2010-11 season.
*Rensselaer, which begins ECAC Hockey play with single games at Clarkson and St. Lawrence next week, is 1-4 for the young campaign.
Rensselaer has scored just six times in its five outings to date. The only RPI player with more than one goal is senior forward and team co-captain Joel Malchuk, who has struck for a pair of tallies.
*RPI is the first of seven Colorado College regular-season opponents in 2011-12 that earned a bid to the national playoffs last spring.

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