Cornell and Colgate each defeated Vermont's travel partner Dartmouth, by 4-2 and 8-2 margins, respectively. Cornell's victory over the Big Green, combined with Yale's 6-5 upset of Harvard that same Friday night, allowed the Big Red to clinch this year's Ivy League title. Meanwhile, last year's Ivy League champs, Brown, tied Princeton 1-all Friday night, giving them the new ECAC record for most ties in a season with 6. Their 8 deadlocks in NCAA play appropriately enough ties the Division I record.
Speaking of ties, RPI fought league-leading St. Lawrence to a 2-2 standstill; the Saints salvaged a three-point weekend by edging Union College 6-5 the following night, while their travel partner Clarkson pulled off the sweep, nipping Union 5-4 and downing Rensselaer 4-1.
Finally, Harvard closed out the ECAC's non-conference schedule with a 6-2 loss to Boston College in the Consolation game of the Beanpot Tournament. The championship game of the 44th Beanpot saw Boston University dominate Northeastern, scoring eleven goals in the first two periods en route to an 11-4 victory.
The ECAC standings stay tight with only six games remaining, although the top six teams have now clinched the playoffs. St. Lawrence, with 26 points, cling to their one-point lead over Vermont, who have 25. Clarkson used the weekend sweep to gain a point on the pack with 23, and now hold third place by a point over Cornell with 22. Colgate lose ground on the leaders with their split, but their 20 points are now enough to claim fifth place, as Harvard remain at 19 points after losing their only game of the weekend. Brown's three-point weekend allowed them to draw within three points of the Crimson at 16. Sliding further back despite their tie with St. Lawrence, RPI find themselves solidly in eighth place with 12 points. Finally, in what may turn into a scramble for the last two playoff spots, Yale are in ninth place with 8 points, followed by a three-way tie for tenth at 7, made up of Dartmouth, Union and Princeton.
Next weekend sees fourth and fifth place Cornell and Colgate hit the road to take on sixth and seventh place Harvard and Brown, while the other frontrunners are at home, Clarkson and St. Lawrence hosting cellar dwellers Princeton and Yale, while Vermont, along with Dartmouth, entertain Union and RPI. Once again this weekend, Empire Sports Network of Buffalo will be broadcasting an ECAC Game live; this week's is Saturday afternoon's Princeton-St. Lawrence matchup.
With the ECAC hockey report, this is Joe P------k, Mr. Squishy sports.