ECAC Hockey Report, Week of 1997 December 22

© 1997, Joe Schlobotnik (archives)

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Recent Action

(scores are linked to box scores and recaps on US College Hockey Online, which is not affiliated with The Big Red What? or Joe Schlobotnik)

The lightest week of the season saw only two games involving ECAC teams, both facing representatives of Hockey East. On Thursday night Harvard travelled across town to face the Northeastern Huskies. The Crimson got out to a 3-1 lead in the first period, but the home team rallied, scoring a goal a minute before the first intermission and three more in the opening minutes of the second period to go up by two. Craig Adams pulled Harvard to within one midway through the third, but the Huskies held on, with Scott Campbell's empty-netter with thirty-one seconds remaining sealing the 6-4 Northeastern victory. The Crimson have now fallen to all three of their Bostonian neighbors, but will get another crack at two of them in the Beanpot in February. Saturday afternoon saw the Big Green of Dartmouth College once again fit to be tied. The boys from Hanover engaged in their third straight deadlock, this time 3-3 against Merrimack. A scoreless first period was the sixth straight for the Big Green, not counting two overtimes, and David Whitworth waited until after the halfway point of the game to give Dartmouth their first goal since mid-November. On the plus side, the Green held Merrimack scoreless for the first two periods, extending that string to six (plus two overtimes) as well. Then in the third period the dam burst and the teams traded goals until Kris Porter's tying score with under two minutes to play. The last ECAC team to tie three straight was St. Lawrence back in February.

Standings

               Hockey             Major Minor non- Total
          ECAC  East  CCHA  WHCA  Indy  Indy  DivI  N/C
Brown           0-2                                 0-2
Clarkson        1-2  2-1-1  0-1                    3-4-1(*)
Colgate         1-0   1-1         1-0               3-1
Cornell         1-0                     1-0         2-0
Dartmouth      0-0-2              1-0              1-0-2
Harvard         0-3                                 0-3
Princeton      2-0-1              3-0              5-0-1
RPI       1-0   1-2               1-0   1-0         4-2
SLU             0-2   0-2   0-1               1-0   1-5
Union     0-1   0-4               1-1               1-6
Vermont         2-3   1-1                           3-4
Yale            1-1               1-0               2-1
          ECAC  HE    CCHA  WHCA  Major Minor Non-I Total
Totals   [1-1] 9-19-3 4-5-1 0-2   8-1   2-0   1-0  25-28-4

(*)Clarkson's losses to Wisconsin and BU in the Ice Breaker tournament
may be considered exhibitions

"Major Indy" refers to Division I Independents who play 20 games or
more against other division I teams, namely Air Force, Army, Mankato
State and Nebraska-Omaha.  "Minor Indy" teams are the remaining D1
independents, games against whom do not count towards NCAA tournament
selection criteria.

The National Scene

Upcoming Games

Sh*r*t*n Tournament (Burlington, VT)

The University of Vermont welcomes three teams to the Gutterson Field House, including their travel partner Dartmouth. The Big Green face Bowling Green of the CCHA in one semifinal, while the host Catamounts look to even up their record against Hockey East competition, hosting Providence in the nitecap.

Syracuse Invitational Tournament (Syracuse, NY)

This year's SIT is almost an all-New-York-State affair, with Colgate facing Division I independent Niagra in the early semi, and Clarkson taking on Minnesota-Duluth of the WCHA in the late game.

Great Lakes Invitational (Detroit, MI)

The GLI will give the ECAC some more television exposure, as all four games from the Joe will be broadcast on Fox Sports Detroit, with St. Lawrence taking on defending CCHA champion Michigan at 3pm Eastern Saturday and the CCHA's Michigan State battling Michigan Tech of the WCHA at 6:30. On Sunday the consolation will be shown at 1:30 and the championship game at five.

Mariucci Classic (Minneapolis, MN)

The other TV game for the ECAC will come out West, as Midwest Sportschannel is showing both of Minnesota's games, including Saturday's 7pm (Central; 8pm Eastern) semifinal against Brown. (Presumably Gopher hockey will not be pre-empted by a basketball pep rally.) Hockey East's Northeastern plays Notre Dame from the CCHA in the other semi.

P*ps* Tournament (Grand Rapids, MI)

The last ECAC team to appear on MSC were the Big Red of Cornell, who fell 6-2 to WCHA and eventual national champion North Dakota in the NCAA West Regional, ending the ECAC season for the year. Those two teams will once again meet in Van Andel arena, with the late semi-final pitting CCHA rivals Ferris State and Western Michigan. Ferris (who split a two-game series at Lynah Rink last season) and WMU (where Big Red head coach Mike Schafer was an assistant) are also both on Cornell's non-conference slate in January.

Badger Showdown (Milwaukee, WI)

The Harvard Crimson journey to the Bradley Center, site of last year's NCAA Frozen Four, to take on host Wisconsin in the late semifinal; Hockey East representative Boston College plays the early game against Northern Michigan, recent emigrés from the WCHA to the CCHA. A BC-Harvard championship or consolation matchup would be the second of three meetings for the Eagles and Crimson, who face off in the first round of the Beanpot.

In addition to the tournament action, Union head out to Minnesota for a pair with WCHA associate member Mankato State, while Princeton host the Russian national team in an exhibition.