ECAC Hockey Report, 1996 January 29

Things continued to go the way of the St. Lawrence hockey team this weekend as they defeated North Country rivals Clarkson for the first time in ten games. The 3-2 victory allowed the Saints to move into sole possession of first place in the ECAC as Vermont could only manage a tie at Dartmouth. In the weekend's other league contest, Union were unable to vanquish their crosstown foes Rensselaer, falling by a 3-1 score. Many oranges were thrown on the ice that day. The ECAC performed well in non-league action, with Cornell dominating Mass-Amherst 8-1, Union shooting down lowly Air Force 10-0, Brown edging Northeastern 4-3 and Colgate pulling off a split against Western Michigan, who currently hold a share of second place in the CCHA. The Red Raiders, who had lost to WMU by a goal in the Syracuse Invitational championship game back in December, fell 4-3 Friday before finally breaking the Mustangs with a 4-2 decision Saturday night.

Now on to the standings, as the ECAC prepares to head into the home stretch. Each of the twelve teams has played a pair with their travel partner, and has one game remaining with each of the other ten over the next five weeks. The only exceptions are Princeton and Harvard, who have nine contests a piece remaining, having already completed their season series. St. Lawrence leads the pack with 21 points, followed by Vermont at 20. Colgate slip further away in third with 16 points, followed by Cornell, Clarkson and Harvard with 15 points a piece. Two games back in seventh, we find defending ECAC champs RPI with 11 points, followed by defending Ivy kings Brown at 10. Dartmouth have clawed their way into ninth place with 7 points, followed by Yale and Union with 6 points each, and finally Princeton remain in the cellar with a mere 4 points.

Yale host Mass-Lowell tomorrow night, after which the only non-league contests involving ECAC squads will be Harvard's two games in the Beanpot tournament. The first of the last five weekends of league play sees Cornell and Colgate take to the road to face Princeton and Yale, Harvard and Brown entertain RPI and Union, and in what should be the key matchups standings-wise, Vermont and Dartmouth play host to Clarkson and St. Lawrence. Friday night's game between the Catamounts and the Golden Knights will mark the beginning of the ECAC's live TV exposure for the year, as Empire Sports Network of Buffalo kick off their ECAC Game of the Week.

With the ECAC hockey report, this is Joe P------k, Mr. Squishy sports.


Last Modified: 1996 January 28
Joe Schlobotnik / squishy@physics.ucsb.edu