January 28, 2012

Weekend Update: Race Tightens

ALBANY, N.Y. - With four of the five ECAC Hockey men’s home teams recording league wins last evening the race for the Cleary Cup begins to tighten. The first seven positions in the league standings are now only separated by a mere six points.

Colgate 2 at No. 6/9 Cornell 1
*Colgate handed Cornell its first loss at home since its home opener in October with goals from Chris Wagner and Joe Wilson providing the offense. The Raiders also snapped their six-game winless streak in the process.
*Colgate has now outscored opponents 25-16 in the first period, which is the best scoring margin among the three periods (+9) this season.
*The loss was the Big Red's first on a Friday this season, after it started the campaign with an 8-0 record on the week's sixth day.
*This was the Raiders' first against the Big Red in the last 12 tries, dating back to Jan. 25, 2007.

At Harvard 4, Yale 3
*Bulldogs netminder Jeff Malcolm finished with 31 saves, as Yale held a 39-35 shots edge. Steve Michalek made a career-high 36 saves, including 16 in the third period to get the win for the Crimson.
*Senior forward Alex Killorn scored his second goal of the game with 1:19 left on the clock to lift Harvard to fourth place in the ECAC Hockey standings.
*The Bulldogs had taken the last three against their rival before the setback last evening.

At No. 13/14 Union 5, Clarkson 2
*Freshman forward Mark Bennett scored his first career goal, and junior forward Kyle Bodie added a goal and two assists to help lead Union to the home win placing them in a tie for first-place in the league standings.
*The win was Union's ninth straight against Clarkson and marked the third straight year that the Dutchmen have swept the season series against the Golden Knights.
*The Golden Knights, who have struggled at Messa Rink over the years, having lost six straight on Union’s home ice, were outshot 21-3 in the first period and fell behind 4-0 after the opening 20 minutes.
*Union held a 42-32 overall shot advantage on the evening. Clarkson was 0-of-3 on the power-play while Union was 2-of-4 with the man-advantage.

At Rensselaer 4, St. Lawrence 0
*Senior forward Patrick Cullen had a goal and two assists as Rensselaer scored a season-high four goals in the second period to earn its third straight win and improve to 4-1-1 in its last six games.
*Bryce Merriam earned his third shutout of the year and second in the past three games. He has allowed just one goal on 101 shots in the last three contests.
*The Saints outshot RPI 7-4 in the third period, but could not find the scoring answer.

At Dartmouth 6, Brown 2
*The two goals 5:44 into the game marked the fastest pair of tallies to start a game this year for the Big Green.
*Dartmouth is now 7-0-1 vs. Brown is its last eight meetings, including 2-0 this season.
*Bears senior forward Jack Maclellan netted his team-leading 10th of the year.
*The loss proved to be a  frustrating one for the Bears, who could have moved to 4th place in the standings with a win, but instead fall to 8th place.

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