With the holiday weekend, there were only two league contests in the ECAC; Yale defeated Princeton 5-4 in overtime for their first points of the season, while Colgate punished Rensselaer 9-4 in Troy. There was no shortage of hockey action for the ECAC squads, however, with two tournaments, the Providence Mayor's Cup, and ten other non-conference games on the Thanksgiving menu. Princeton were at the National Capitol tourney in Ottawa, defeating the host school 5-1 and going the distance with Merrimack in the final. After the conclusion of regulation, the teams were tied at 1; a ten minute overtime period contributed no scoring; each team scored once in the five-shot shootout; finally, Jeff Halpern scored on Princeton's first sudden death penalty shot, while freshman goalie Erasmo Saltarelli stymied Merrimack to give the Tigers the 2-1 advantage and the National Capital trophy. Vermont took second place in the Governor's cup in Maine, downing Lowell 4-1 in the first round, before falling to the Black Bears of Maine 2-1 in overtime in the final. Meanwhile, Brown defeated Providence College 8-5 to claim supremacy in Rhode Island. Cornell suffered a 7-1 defeat at the hands of #1 Boston University, in Terrier coach Jack Parker's 500th victory. In other Boston action, St. Lawrence fell 7-2 to BU and 10-4 to BC, while Clarkson prevailed 4-2 over the Eagles and managed a 4-4 tie with the Terriers. Harvard were edged 3-2 in overtime by New Hampshire before returning to Boston themselves to upend Northeastern 4-1. Union were 4-2 losers to Providence, RPI tied Merrimack at 2 and Yale lost 4-1 to Northeastern.
The standings change only slightly with the two league games. UVM and Cornell are still tops with seven points in four games, along with Harvard, who have seven in five. Clarkson boast a perfect six points in three games, while Colgate move up to join them with six in five. St. Lawrence claim sixth place with four points in three contests, followed by Brown, with three in four. There's a logjam for the 7-11 spots, with two pairs of travel partners posting two points; Union have done it in just two games, and RPI in three, while Princeton and Yale have taken five. Finally Dartmouth, have yet to win or tie in four contests.
The ECAC returns to a nearly full slate of ten games this weekend, as Rensselaer and Union travel to the North Country to take on Clarkson and St. Lawrence, Princeton and Yale are at Colgate and Cornell, and travel partners square off with Vermont hosting Dartmouth and Brown visiting Harvard. Three of those four are augmenting this week's schedule with non-conference action: on Tuesday, Harvard host Boston College, while Brown play Maine in Portland, and on Saturday night, Vermont entertain Ottawa.
With the ECAC hockey report, this is Joe P------k, Mr. Squishy sports.