Men's Hockey: Yale to lead pack of talented ECAC hockey opponents

After a few weeks of play in the ECAC Hockey League, one thing is clear for the men’s team: There are few easy games on its schedule this season.

The Tigers (2-2-0 overall, 1-1-0 ECAC) were picked to finish third out of 12 teams by league coaches, but to this point the preseason projections have been largely meaningless. Princeton lost at home to St. Lawrence (5-3-1, 1-1-0) last week, a team projected to finish in the bottom half of the league, and highly regarded Harvard (1-2-0, 1-2-0) already has suffered two league losses. Even Yale (1-1-1, 0-1-1), the defending league champion and preseason favorite, managed to earn just one point in two games last week.

One team that has been playing up to expectations is Cornell (3-0-0, 2-0-0). The Big Red ranked second in the league in both preseason polls, but it may be the team to beat in the ECAC. Brendon and Riley Nash were both named to the writers’ preseason all-conference team, and Blake Gallagher netted three goals in easy victories over Harvard and Dartmouth, helping Cornell rise to third in the uscho.com/CBS College Sports national rankings. The Big Red hosts Yale this Friday in a highly anticipated showdown.

Colgate (4-2-3, 2-0-0) had much lower expectations entering the season, but has started league play on a great note, upsetting Harvard and Dartmouth last weekend. The Raiders boast arguably the top forward in the ECAC, David McIntyre, who was named a preseason All-American and was a finalist for the Hobey Baker award last year. McIntyre scored a goal and assisted two others in the third period to help Colgate overcome a three-goal deficit and defeat Harvard.

Another undefeated team is Quinnipiac (6-1-0, 2-0-0). The Bobcats ranked 11th in the preseason media poll, but their high-powered offense has given them a great start, averaging more than four goals per game. Quinnipiac has plenty of experience up front, led by Brandon Wong and Eric Lampe, with 11 and 10 points on the season, respectively. But their defense, seen as a weakness entering the season, has been more than solid. Despite being anchored by a goalkeeping rotation featuring sophomore Dan Clarke and two others, the Bobcats’ defense has held opponents to two goals or fewer in six of their seven games.

“[Quinnipiac] always seems to have great offensive weapons, and certainly this year is the same,” head coach Guy Gadowsky said. “It seems like the puck is definitely going in — they’re beating some good teams, their offense is firing on all cylinders. That is certainly not a good thing for the rest of our league, when they get it going offensively.”

The fourth remaining unbeaten is Rensselaer (6-3-1, 2-0-0). The Engineers struggled offensively last season, averaging just over two goals per game, and those woes were expected to continue this year. But Rensselaer has been scoring more frequently this season, including a season-high five goals in an upset of Yale last week. Forwards Brandon Pirri and Jerry D’Amigo have combined for 19 points to bolster the Rams’ offense and complement scoring leader Chase Polacek, who had a goal and two assists against the Bulldogs.

But the season is still very young, and the preseason favorites will have plenty to say over the coming months. Yale opened league play with a disappointing weekend, losing 5-2 to Rensselaer and drawing 3-3 against Union, but despite a mediocre record it is still ranked 12th in the nation. The defending champions’ firepower was on display when they scored four times in the final 16 minutes at Hobey Baker Rink to beat Princeton two weeks ago.

“We had their backs against the ropes and we just couldn’t hold on,” sophomore defenseman Derrick Pallis said. “They are the favorites right now, but I don’t see why any other team can’t be.”

The Bulldogs boast two preseason all-stars, forwards Mark Acrobello and Sean Backman. Forward Broc Little has scored four goals in three games. Replacing star goalie Alec Richards has been a daunting task for junior Ryan Rondeau, who has played every minute in net but allowed more than three goals per game.

Harvard comes to town on Saturday after losses at Colgate and Cornell last weekend. The Crimson, one of the league’s lowest-scoring teams last year, has had no trouble putting the puck in the net so far this season, with 12 goals through three games. Instead, defense has been the issue, as the Crimson allowed 11 goals last weekend. And Harvard is very young—four Crimson freshmen have scored already—so, scarily for the rest of the league, their offense may yet have room to improve even more.

“Harvard’s going to be a good team,” senior forward Kevin Kaiser said. “They have a highly touted recruiting class, one of the best freshman classes in the nation, so they’re a highly skilled team and a hardworking team.”

Get the best of the ‘Prince’ delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe now »

After losing four of their top five point scorers, St. Lawrence was expected to take a step back this year. But the Saints opened their league season with a shocking 5-2 upset over the Orange and Black and will provide a tough matchup for any team with their scrappy play. Kyle Flanagan has bolstered the offense, leading the team with 11 points.

“Every game with [St. Lawrence] is a great game because they play hockey the way it should be played,” Gadowsky said. “The games are always entertaining, but they’re extremely tough to play against. They deserved the victory [last week] because they played better and they played a little harder than we did.”

Dartmouth (0-3-0, 0-3-0) was projected to finish in the top half of the league but has gotten off to a disappointing start thus far. The Big Green returns most of the top players from a young team that finished fifth last season, including all-conference defenseman Evan Stephens, and will look to snap its losing streak against Princeton on Friday.

“We’ve had a bit of a rivalry with Dartmouth the past couple years because we’ve played them in a couple playoff games,” Kaiser said. “Last year, they were one of the only teams that swept us, and we actually didn’t even score a goal against them. They have a good defense, and they return most of their players, and we’ll definitely be itching to play this game because we were really unhappy with our performance against them last year.”

Union (3-3-3, 0-0-2) came in sixth in both preseason polls, and so far is playing to form, tying both Yale and Brown with identical 3-3 scores. The Dutchmen return last year’s top five scorers and junior goalkeeper Corey Milan, who guided Union to their first-ever top-four finish last season.

Clarkson (3-6-0, 0-2-0) got off to a 3-2 start but has since struggled on both ends of the ice, being outscored 16-6 over its last four games, including a loss at Princeton last week. The Golden Knights suffered through an injury-plagued 2008-09 after consecutive NCAA appearances and will need to turn things around soon if they hope to return to their past success.

It is a season of transition for Brown (0-2-1, 0-1-1), which overhauled its coaching staff after winning just 11 games over the past two seasons. But the team appears to be moving in the right direction under new head coach Brendan Whittet, taking Princeton to overtime and playing Union to a draw already this season.

“Brown is a great example of a team with a new coaching staff that definitely turned their game around,” Pallis said. “It just shows the depth of the ECAC and how, every game, you can’t take a night off.”