Weekend Preview: Drama Set to Unfold

ALBANY, N.Y. - With three full weekends of regular-season hockey left there are still several questions to be answered in ECAC Hockey. Some teams are eyeing a tournament spot, while others are trying to lock down the coveted home ice for the postseason.

Union/Rensselaer at Colgate/No. 3/3 Cornell
*Colgate’s game against Union Friday night will be part of the team's Light Up Starr Rink Blue event that will kick off its 2012 Autism Awareness Project.
*Colgate owns a perfect 24-0 record against Union in the all-time series that started in the 1997-98 season. The Raiders were able to secure a 2-1 win in overtime in the first meeting this season on Jan. 7 in Schenectady, N.Y.
*A Cornell win against Union would extend the Big Red’ streak against Union to 16 wins and a win versus RPI would extend Cornell’s streak against the Engineers to nine wins.
*The Big Red is one of just four teams in the country that has not been shutout this season. Cornell has scored a goal in every game this year, something only the Big Red, Clarkson, North Dakota and Northeastern can say.
*Rensselaer is currently tied for eighth with Brown in the ECAC Hockey standings with 12 points from five league wins over Colgate as well as Yale and Union twice each.
The Engineers have won three of their last four contests including a sweep against Union last weekend. Jordan Smelker is the team's top scorer with 25 points on 10 goals and 15 assists for RPI.
*Union’s top goaltender Kate Gallagher has a .941 save percentage and a 1.96 goals-against average.
*Union has won just one game in its last 18 contests and is averaging just 1.71 goals per game.

Brown/Yale at Clarkson/St. Lawrence
*The Golden Knights Class of 2012 has compiled 69 wins entering the final regular-season weekend at Cheel Arena.
*Clarkson is 9-1-4 at home this season and 12-0-0 overall when leading through two periods this season.
*Aleca Hughes, a senior forward on Yale, has been named one of five finalists for the 2012 BNY Mellon Wealth Management Hockey Humanitarian Award.
*Yale made a stop at the U.S. Olympic Training Center for practice Thursday afternoon, breaking up the 370-mile trip.
*Brown remains in a tie for the final ECAC Hockey playoff spot thanks large in part to the Bears’ goaltending duo. Both junior Katie Jamieson and sophomore Aubree Moore have been outstanding between the pipes. Both netminders are in the top 20 in the nation in goals-against average. Moore stands 11th in the nation with a 1.92 goals-against average and Jamieson is 20th with a 2.31 goals-against average.
*The Saints' lineup features two players who have already cracked the 30-point mark (forwards Rylee Smith, 15-18-33, and Kelly Sabatine, 12-19-31) and a third who is not far behind (forward Karell Emard, 10-18-28). Goalie Carmen McDonald is fifth in ECAC Hockey with 516 saves.
*The Saints recently had a nine-game unbeaten streak, which was tops in the nation at the time. They posted a 7-1-1 record including wins against nationally-ranked No. 4 Boston College and No. 7 Northeastern.

Princeton/Quinnipiac at No. 10/10 Dartmouth/No. 7/8 Harvard
*Since returning from the December break, Princeton is 3-1-3, it's lone loss to No. 3 Cornell on the road.
*Senior Rachel Weber has played in every goal between the pipes for Princeton and has recorded a 1.99 goals-against average and a .933 save percentage.
*Quinnipiac has seen its fare share of ranked opponents this season, as it has compiled a 2-5-1 overall record.
*Bobcats forward Nicole Kosta ranks near the top of all NCAA Division I freshmen skaters, as her .79 overall points per game ranks her 14th overall.
*Through 22 games, Dartmouth has had 18 players record a point, six skaters with double-digit points, 15 players with multiple points and 11 skaters with at least one goal and one assist.
*Dartmouth has two players approaching the 100-point plateau in Camille Dumais with 90 points and Kelly Foley with 93 points.
*Harvard enters the game against Quinnipiac riding a three-game conference shutout streak, its longest since a similar stretch during the 2007-08 season.
*The Crimson has allowed just three power-play goals in ten games since the New Year, and has killed 29 of 32 opponent power-plays.

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