ECAC Hockey Power Rankings (and playoff schedule)

by Ryan Fay

Before we get to the power rankings, here is a look at the ECAC playoff schedule:

FIRST-ROUND (Friday, Mar. 8 - Sunday, Mar. 10 - Best-of-three games - campus sites)
No. 12 Harvard at No. 5 Dartmouth
No. 11 Colgate at No. 6 St. Lawrence
No. 10 Clarkson at No. 7 Brown
No. 9 Cornell at No. 8 Princeton

Quinnipiac, Rensselaer, Yale, and Union have first round byes.

QUARTERFINALS (Friday, Mar. 15 - Sunday, Mar. 17 - Best-of-three games - campus sites)
Lowest remaining seed at No. 1 Quinnipiac
Second lowest remaining seed at No. 2 Rensselaer
Third lowest remaining seed at No. 3 Yale
Fourth lowest remaining seed at No. 4 Union

SEMIFINALS (Friday, Mar. 22 - Boardwalk Hall, Atlantic City, New Jersey)
Semifinal No. 1 - 4 p.m

Semifinal No. 2 - 7:30 p.m.

CHAMPIONSHIP/THIRD PLACE (Saturday, Mar. 23 - Boardwalk Hall, Atlantic City, New Jersey)
Third-Place Game - 4 p.m.
Championship Game - 7 p.m.

Onto the power rankings -

1. QUINNIPIAC (24-5-5 overall, 17-2-3 ECAC) LAST WEEK (LW): 1
The Bobcats had a tremendous regular season, winning the Cleary Cup, finishing 10 points ahead of second place RPI, and racking up the most points in the regular season (37) since Cornell had 38 in 2004-2005. But don't assume Quinnipiac will go uncontested in the league playoffs. The Bobcats are only 3-2-1 over the last six games and have proven to be human after all.

2. RENSSELAER (17-12-5, 12-7-3) LW: 2
If anyone is going to knock off Quinnipiac, RPI isn't a bad choice. The Engineers went 9-1 over their final 10 league contests while outscoring opponents 35-14. Senior defenseman Nick Bailen closed his final collegiate regular season on a high note with two goals and five assists in the last three contests.

3. YALE (16-10-3, 12-9-1) LW: 5
After a five game skid, Yale ended the season strong, winning its final three games. Saturday's 2-1 win over Cornell was the most impressive of the three as Cornell came into the game riding a five game unbeaten streak. Senior forward Andrew Miller has been especially good lately with two goals and three assists over the final three regular season contests.

4. UNION (17-12-5, 10-8-4) LW: 9
Protecting its home ice is one reason why the Dutchmen ended up getting a first round bye. Union went 6-0-1 over its past seven home games, including beating the St. Lawrence and Clarkson by a combined 9-1 score at crunch time over the weekend. The arrow is pointing back up again.

5. BROWN (11-12-6, 7-9-6) LW: 4
The Bears split over the weekend, losing 4-1 to Cornell on Friday ahead of a 5-1 win over Colgate the next night. The split was good enough to give Brown home ice in the first round, something that hasn't happened since 2005. The Bears are 3-1-1 over their past five games at Meehan Auditorium.

6. ST. LAWRENCE (16-14-4, 9-9-4) LW: 3
St. Lawrence entered the weekend in the mix for a first round bye, but those prospects went out the door with a 5-1 loss at Union and a 4-1 setback at RPI. It marked the first time all season that St. Lawrence lost back-to-back road games. Getting Kyle Flanagan (appendectomy) back for this weekend's series with Colgate would only help, but they should advance anyway.

7. CORNELL (12-14-3, 8-11-3) LW: 6
The Big Red closed out the regular season with a 4-1 triumph over Brown and a 2-1 loss at Yale, the latter being their first defeat in three weeks. Sophomore Joel Lowry, who was drafted by Los Angeles in the fifth round of the 2011 NHL draft, is playing some of his best hockey of the year with three goals and three assists in the final six regular season games. Goalie Andy Illes has come on strong as well, not allowing more than two goals in any of his last seven starts.

8. HARVARD (9-17-3, 6-14-2) LW: 10
Harvard became the second ECAC team to beat Quinnipiac this year after the Crimson held on for a 2-1 victory on Friday. Despite playing much better hockey of late (two losses in past six league games), Harvard couldn't escape the league basement and enter the tournament as the 12th seed. The Crimson will take on fifth-seeded Dartmouth and I'll go out on a limb and say Harvard wins in three.

9. DARTMOUTH (13-11-5, 9-9-4) LW: 8
In order to win in the playoffs, you need to string wins together. But the last time Dartmouth won back to back games was way back in mid January. A lot is made of Dartmouth's home dominance (10-4-1 on the year) but the Big Green are just 2-3-1 in their past six games at Thompson Arena.

10. PRINCETON (10-14-5, 8-10-4) LW: 12
Getting home ice in the first round may not be the best thing for the Tigers. Princeton is 0-4 in its past four home contests, but hold a 3-0-1 mark its last four road games. Speaking of road games, Princeton went into overtime in both weekend road games, tying Dartmouth, 2-2, and prevailing, 2-1, over Harvard. In the latter game, Princeton pulled goaltender Mike Condon late in overtime, but Andrew Calouf netted an extra skater goal with 37 seconds left on the clock to win it.

11. CLARKSON (9-18-7, 8-11-3) LW: 7
If Clarkson has any chance to beat Brown, they're going to need to score some goals. It sounds simple enough, right? However, scoring goals has been far from simple for the Golden Knights lately. Clarkson enters the league playoffs with scoreless drought of 141:29, the second longest in program history (167:45, set in 2002). You can thank the Clarkson Hockey Blog for that stat.

12. COLGATE (14-16-4, 6-13-3) LW: 11
The Raiders are the definition of limping into the playoffs. Colgate has all of one victory in the past 10 games and they don't appear all that likely to be playing in two weeks. The Raiders drew St. Lawrence in the first round and will be going on the road, where they have two wins all season. The last time Colgate won a league game on the road was Dec. 1 at Clarkson.

ECAC hockey power rankings (2/25/13)

by Ryan Fay

It all comes down to this. The upcoming weekend marks the end of the regular season, but much is yet to be decided. Remarkably, the only lock is Quinnipiac finishing first. Just about everything else is up for grabs with many teams having a wide range of possible finishes.

Lets take a look at how the teams stack up as the regular season is set to close:

1. QUINNIPIAC (23-4-5 overall, 16-1-3 ECAC) LAST WEEK (LW): 1
Saturday's 3-3 tie against Brown will keep the #1/1 Bobcats from being the first ECAC team with 40 points since Harvard finished with 40 during the 1988-1989 campaign. Even with two wins to close out the regular season, Quinnipiac would max out at 39 points, which would rank as the highest single year point total in the league since Cornell racked up 39 in 2002-2003.

2. RPI (15-12-5, 10-7-3) LW: 2
RPI's eight game winning streak in league play came to an end with Friday's 4-1 loss at Cornell and the four goals allowed were the most given up by RPI in a single game since surrendering four at Princeton on Jan. 12. The weekend was salvaged when Matt Neal scored with ten seconds left in overtime to propel the Engineers to a 3-2 win at Colgate on Saturday. The second place Engineers remain in possession of a first round bye.

3. ST. LAWRENCE (16-12-4, 9-7-4) LW: 3
The Saints have a first round bye to lose and going on the road to conclude the regular season isn't the worst thing. With nine road wins, the Saints have the second most victories away from home in the league (Quinnipiac has 10). Additionally, St. Lawrence is the only team in the league with more road wins (9) than home wins (7).

4. BROWN (10-11-6, 6-8-6) LW: 6
Is there a peskier team in the league than the Bears? According to Dartmouth men's hockey SID Patrick Salvas, Brown has not lost a game to the eventual regular season champ last season (Union) or this season (Qunnipiac). The Bears went 2-0 against Union a year ago and are 0-0-2 versus Quinnipiac this season. On Saturday, the Bears used two late third period goals to tie the Bobcats, 3-3.

5. YALE (14-10-3, 10-9-1) LW: 5
The best news for #13/14 Yale over the weekend was the return of netminder Jeff Malcolm, who stopped 17-of-20 shots in Saturday's 4-3 triumph against Princeton. His return couldn't have come soon enough as the team lost all five games he missed. Another encouraging sign was scoring four goals on Saturday, which was as many as Yale had in the previous four games combined.

6. CORNELL (11-13-3, 7-10-3) LW: 11

That horrific stretch from late December through early February looks like a thing of the past. The Big Red are unbeaten in their past four games (3-0-1) and look like they could be peaking at the right time. Cornell handed RPI its first league loss in six weeks on Friday and used three early goals to take Union out of Saturday's game only 10 minutes into play. Greg Miller, who leads Cornell with 14 goals, has been particularly hot lately with six tallies in the past four contests.

7. CLARKSON (9-16-7, 8-9-3) LW: 7
Which team is tied with St. Lawrence for the second highest goals per game (GPG) average in league play? Quinnipiac? Nah, they comfortably top the list at 3.40 GPG. RPI? Nope, the Engineers are seventh at 2.60. It's Clarkson at 2.90 GPG. The Golden Knights wouldn't have been my first guess, either. According to USCHO.com ECAC columnist Brian Sullivan, Clarkson can finish as high as third and as low as 11th after next weekend. The Knights travel to RPI and Union to wrap up the regular season.

8. DARTMOUTH (13-10-4, 9-8-3) LW: 8
#19/RV Dartmouth is tied with Yale for the final first round bye and return home for a chance to solidify their positioning. The good news? The Big Green protect their home as well as anyone in the league, as evidenced by a 10-3 mark in games played at Thompson Arena this season. The bad news? The clubs coming in, Princeton and Quinnipiac, are 2-0 against Dartmouth this year.

9. UNION (15-12-5, 8-8-4) LW: 4
After two home wins last weekend, there was a feeling the team had righted the ship and looked poised for a strong finish. But this past weekend erased those thoughts. On Friday, the Dutchmen lost, 4-1, to a Colgate team which entered the game on a six game winless streak. The next night, Union essentially lost the game in the first ten minutes after falling behind 3-0 at Cornell. There were some strong spurts later in the contest, but it was an inconsistent effort that left a desire for a full sixty minute effort. I don't think there are many people who know what to expect from #20 Union going forward.

10. HARVARD (8-16-3, 5-13-2) LW: 10
You want your best players to step up late in the season and that's happening for Harvard. Top scorer Alex Fallstrom has a point in six straight contests, his longest streak of the season, and Marshall Everson has scored seven of his 11 goals in the same six game run. In that span, the Crimson are 5-1.

11. COLGATE (14-14-4, 6-11-3) LW: 12
If Colgate has a run in them, it will come from their underclassmen. Five of the team's top seven point getters are either freshmen or sophomores. The top three goal scorers, Kyle Baun, Tylor Spink, and Darcy Murphy are all freshmen. Even if the rest of the season fails to yield desirable results, a nice foundation is in place in Hamilton.

12. PRINCETON (9-14-4, 7-10-3) LW: 9
The Tigers haven't had much roar lately. Princeton has lost its past four contests, and worse yet, all four losses have been at home. Before the slide, Princeton was beaten at home just two times in the first four-plus months of the season. Their regular season ends with trips to Dartmouth and Harvard.

ECAC Hockey Power Rankings (2/18/13)

by Ryan Fay

There are only two more weekends of regular season action. But there's a lot more yet to be decided. Lets see how the teams stack up right now:

1. QUINNIPIAC (22-4-4 overall, 15-1-2 ECAC) LAST WEEK (LW): 1

It finally happened. #1/1 Quinnipiac suffered its first league loss of the season after St. Lawrence held on for a 2-1 victory on Friday. There were some close calls earlier this season (i.e 1-1 ties against RPI and Brown) but it was Saints who finished the job. While the loss ruined a chance at an undefeated league season, it wasn't all that damaging. After Union knocked off Yale, the Bobcats clinched the Cleary Cup on Friday anyway. Concerns about a letdown performance on Saturday versus Clarkson were quelled with a 2-1 win.

2. RPI (14-11-5, 9-6-3) LW: 3

With all due respect to Quinnipiac, RPI may well be the ECAC team one would least want to face right now. The boys from Troy have fired off eight league wins in a row and have looked dominant in the process. RPI has allowed three goals or less in every game during the run with two shutouts mixed in. During the streak, the Engineers have outscored their opponents 30-10. You'd hate to be Colgate and Cornell this weekend.

3. ST. LAWRENCE (15-11-4, 8-6-4) LW: 4

If the Saints had any chance to beat Quinnipiac, they were going to need their best players to come up big. And that's what happened. Greg Carey, who leads the nation with 23 goals, scored both St. Lawrence goals on Friday. The junior has at least one goal in nine straight contests dating back to Jan. 19 at Clarkson. Currently tied with Union for third place, the Saints have a chance to solidify a first round bye with Dartmouth, Harvard, and Union coming up on the calendar. St. Lawrence is 3-0 against them this year.

4. UNION (15-10-5, 8-6-4) LW: 6

After starting the month on a three game winless streak, and losing grip on a first round bye, there was some concern the season may be starting to slip away from the two-time defending league champions. But the Dutchmen earned four huge points after beating #9/10 Yale 4-2 on Friday and blanking Brown 2-0 the next night. A week after getting yanked in consecutive starts, Troy Grosenick rebounded and accumulated 61 saves over the weekend. Currently tied with St. Lawerence for third place, Union once again has a first round bye to lose.

5. YALE (13-9-3, 9-8-1) LW: 2

This isn't the kind of stretch run the Bulldogs wanted to have. Yale is 1-5 over their past six games, including four straight losses. The team misses starting goaltender Jeff Malcolm, who is out for an undetermined amount of time. Backup Nick Maricic was pulled after letting up a couple soft goals against Union on Friday and third-stringer Conor Wilson allowed three goals on 21 shots in Saturday's loss at RPI. The offense isn't helping, either. Yale has scored five goals in the current four game skid. 

6. BROWN (9-11-5, 5-8-5) LW: 5

Brown's three game week began on a high note with a 1-0 blanking of Yale on Tuesday, but the weekend was a different story. A 5-1 rout at RPI preceded a 2-0 defeat at Union on Saturday. In the latter, the Bears were outhot 48-23. One concern with Brown is a lack of scoring depth. With 26 points, Matt Lorito has twice as many as any other player on the roster (Garnet Hathaway - 13). Lorito's 14 goals are more than double the next highest figure on the squad (Nick Lappin's six).

7. CLARKSON (8-15-7, 7-8-3) LW: 10

Clarkson handed Princeton just its third home loss of the season with Friday's 3-2 triumph. The next night, they hung tough with league-leading Quinnipiac, but dropped a 2-1 decision. He's no Greg Carey, but Allen McPherson has been on quite the streak himself. Of his nine goals this season, five of them have come in the past six games.

8. DARTMOUTH (12-9-4, 8-7-3) LW: 9

If you want to talk about a bad loss, #17 Dartmouth's 4-2 setback to Cornell on Friday would qualify. Not only did Cornell enter the game 1-10 over its last 11 games, the game was played at Dartmouth, where the Big Green were 9-2 on the season going into the weekend. Dartmouth rebounded on Saturday with a 5-4 win over Colgate and stand tied with Yale for fourth place.

9. PRINCETON (9-12-4, 7-8-3) LW: 7

The Tigers are a tough nut to crack. Last weekend, they picked up two wins on the road after entering that weekend with one road win all year. This past weekend, Princeton brought a 6-2 home record into home games with Clarkson and St. Lawrence. They lost both.

10. HARVARD (7-15-3, 4-12-2) LW: 11

Don't look now, but Harvard is unbeaten in its last four contests (2-0-2). It's certainly a welcome sight after the Crimson had a stretch with one win in 16 games. Harvard put up seven goals on Tuesday in a 7-4 win over #/11/13 Boston University in the Beanpot consolation game. The strong effort was followed by a 4-1 win over Colgate on Friday and a 2-2 draw with Cornell on Saturday.

11. CORNELL (9-13-3, 5-10-3) LW: 12
With a win and a tie, Cornell had its first league weekend with more than two points since picking up four points against Clarkson and St. Lawrence on Nov. 30-Dec 1. Cornell closes out the regular season portion of its home schedule this weekend against RPI and Union.

12. COLGATE (13-13-4, 5-10-3) LW: 8

With four straight defeats, the Raiders are sputtering to the finish line. The recent struggles can at least partly be blamed on a power play unit that has gone belly up after spending most of the season as one of the best in the conference. Over the past four games, the Colgate power play is 1-for-19.

Q&A with Brown associate head coach Mark White

by Ryan Fay

Fresh off a 1-0 shutout of #9/10 Yale, surging Brown (9-9-5, 5-6-5) comes in for a pivotal stretch run game Saturday night at Messa Rink. The Bears enter the weekend just one point behind Union (13-10-5, 6-6-4) in the league standings and both teams are fighting for a first-round bye.

In advance of the game, I chatted with Brown associate head coach Mark White. He discussed what he saw from Yale last night, breakout players like Matt Lorito and Anthony Borelli, his impressions of Union, and more.

UNION HOCKEY NEWS (UHN): Yale comes here on Friday. What were your impressions of them last night?

MARK WHITE (MW): They transition really well. They're going to be poised for a playoff run. It's a typical Yale team. They have a couple elite level players and they're a fast team. Yale has a defense that can move the puck. There were some questions about their goaltending with Jeff Malcolm out but I thought Nick Maricic (31 saves) looked pretty solid.

UHN: What can you say about the way Anthony Borelli has been playing in goal for you? His numbers (1.42 goals against average, .951 save percentage) rank him as one of the best in the country since he took over for Marco DeFilippo in early December.

Borelli (Brown)

MW: Anthony has taken the opportunity he was given and ran with it. He's been fantastic and very competitive in net for us. You look for a senior or two every year to step up and he's been that guy for us. You're usually only as good as your senior class. We've had a couple guys step up and he's been one of them. We had Mike Clemente getting the bulk of the starts the past couple years, but Anthony has proven he can play at a very high level.

UHN: Matt Lorito is breaking out in his sophomore season. His 14 goals leads the team and rank second among ECAC players. What's spurring his improvement?

MW: Matt missed the first seven or eight games with a wrist injury last year. To miss those games as a freshman made it tough to get off to a good start. He's a dynamic skater, has a knack for scoring, and he uses his speed to get into scoring situations. He played with senior Jack McClellan (15 goals) last year and that may have taken the load off him a bit. This year he's taken it more on himself to do some of that scoring. We're not a team that scores a lot, but he's doing the bulk of our scoring.

UHN: Your club is 3-0-1 over the past four games. What's clicking?

MW: Our goaltending is very strong. We play a strong defensive game and we don't give up a lot of "grade A" chances and second chances off rebounds. Beyond that, there's a belief in the locker room that we can win hockey games any way, any how. We're blocking a lot of shots and doing the little things that lead to wins. Guys are playing with a lot of grit right now. It's a small little stretch of wins, but we need to keep that going. It's crazy how tight the standings are.

UHN: Brown is riding a three game unbeaten streak against Union (2-0-1). Most other league teams haven't been as successful against them lately. Why do your guys match up so well against them?

MW: We've gotten good goaltending against them be it this year or last year. Union is usually ranked pretty high when we play them and the guys get up to play a nationally ranked opponent. Union has proven that they're an elite level program the past couple years. It's no different than any other ranked team that we play. We want to play everyone hard.

UHN: What were your impressions of Union when your guys skated to a 3-3 tie with them in December?

MW: They're a good team. Union has what you need in the special teams department. That's something that hurt us earlier in the year, but we have corrected that a bit. 33% of the game is played on special teams and Union excels in that area. They're not a team that beats themselves a whole lot. They have an identity, they stick with that identity, and they're disciplined in how they play.

UHN: Other than special teams, what are a couple other keys to the game from your end?

MW: We need to find a way to get traffic and pucks to the net. We pride ourselves on eliminating as many odd man rushes as possible and that tends to eliminate a lot of "grade A" chances for our opponent. If we work through the middle of the ice, we'll have a good chance to compete.

Jason Klump Reports From The Leaman Press Conference in Providence

The following is a report from Jason Klump, who attended the Nate Leaman press conference at Providence on Tuesday. He talks about the differences and similarities between Union and Providence, along with other topics.

This post contains the opinions of Jason Klump only. I just edited it. You can follow Klump on Twitter at @Jason_Klump.

Thank you Jason for taking the time to attend the press conference and writing a very insightful column for UHB.

There was never much confusion as to why Providence College wanted Nate Leaman and why he in turn saw the job opening there as a good fit for himself.

Although the financial terms of his deals both at Union College and PC were undisclosed, it is safe to say Leaman is receiving a pay increase as he relocates to Rhode Island.  In addition, he is going to a school that is a full Division I institution and will be able to offer scholarships to recruits for the first time in his career as a head coach.  Yet the local press was quick to be pessimistic about the recruiting potential given that he would be competing against the titans of eastern college hockey.

"At Union, we didn't have an overly impressive sell and we ended up having seven players with over 30 points last year," Leaman shot back.

Leaman is also going somewhere that is committed, it seems, to putting the money into rink renovations needed to help the program grow.  Many have been calling for Union to upgrade from tiny, outdated Messa Rink since Leaman started to lead them to success, but there has never been any interest shown by the school in doing so.  This is something that was clearly important to the coach.

"In two years, (PC's Schneider Arena) will be a completely different rink," Leaman noted.  "The school is committed to doing a very large renovation to the rink.  That money has already been approved.  It's something I spoke with (President) Father Brian Shanly about before taking the job and it's something I'm very excited about because I believe Schneider is going to be one of the finest arenas in the East within two years."

And why did PC want him?  Quite simply, he did at Union exactly what must be done at PC.  He has a proven his ability to take a program at the bottom of D1 hockey all the way to the top echelon.  And Union and PC, but for location, religious affiliation, and the presence of other D1 sports, are very similar institutions.  They are both small liberal arts colleges which put academics first.

"I very much wanted to go to a school where the kids care about education and can earn a very good degree," Leaman said.  "And that the education makes young men better.  Coming from the Division III background myself and then coaching at Harvard and Union, I deeply believe in guys getting a good education."

To be fair, Union (#41 on USNews' list of national liberal arts colleges) is about half the size and a little more competitive on the admissions end than is PC (#2 among regional universities in the North, though it is technically also a college), but the point is that Leaman is experienced in recruiting top players from all over North America to the type of school that PC is.  And now, with the aforementioned scholarships and the chance to play in Hockey East against the nation's top competition, he has even more to work with.  Leaman was quick to play down the Hockey East superiority angle however.

"That [PC is in Hockey East, where he began his coaching career as a graduate assistant under Shawn Walsh at Maine] didn't factor in giantly to be honest with you," he said.  "What factored in was the type of education that PC offers."

"Absolutely," Leaman said, smiling, when that question was followed up by one asking if he planned to re-establish PC's former non-conference rivalries with ECAC schools.  Outside of the annual Mayor's Cup game with Brown, the Friars have only played two other games against their former conference in the last two seasons.

"Seth [Appert] has reached out to play and obviously Rick [Bennett] and I want to play one another.  But I've also talked to Joe Marsh about playing a little bit.  And hey, look, there's good hockey teams in that league and they're going to make us a better team, so obviously I'd love to play them."

Leaman addressed the similarities when asked to compare the amount of work needed to be done at PC, who he stated had given him an initial six-year deal, to what had to be done at Union, where he spent eight seasons.

"I think there's some work to be done there with getting the right players," he said regarding the length of the deal.  "I think it's similar [to the amount of work there was to be done at Union].  The program hasn't made the playoffs in three years.  They've only won three games total after January 15 the past three years.  That's not great.  But I really feel that with the resources and the commitment of the school, that we can build things quicker than we did at Union."

It it true that the resources and commitment of PC are seemingly a step up from Union, but you have to consider the same of the new competition he is facing in Hockey East.  So, that kind of balances out.  I think Leaman was being modest.  The real reason it should happen faster for the Friars than it did for the Dutchmen is that Leaman is now a proven commodity whereas he was an unknown who, as PC Athletic Director Bob Driscoll noted, "took a job no one else wanted" when he took his post at Union.  Recruits were certainly wary at first of what they might be getting into with a new head coach at a school with a losing hockey tradition.

Also worth noting is that the youth advantage Leaman had already in the ECAC, where only RPI's Appert was younger, is magnified in Hockey East where he becomes the youngest coach, replacing Lowell's Norm Bazin, who held that distinction less than two days.  Coaches Jack Parker of BU, Jerry York of BC, Dick Umile of UNH, and Don Cahoon of UMass are all older than SLU's Marsh, the elder statesman of the ECAC head coaching ranks.

Not that those old guys can't coach anymore or anything, but worth noting nonetheless.  Nor do I think Leaman will really be competing for recruits against the HEA power schools at first.  He'll get a few blue chips, but most of those guys might not want in right at the beginning of a rebuilding era.  The first couple years I think he will be recruiting more against his former non-Ivy ECAC colleagues and the likes of Merrimack than he will against BU, BC, and UNH.  That will probably come later.  But if Leaman plays the same style at PC that he did at UC, PC may be compared to an ECAC team playing in Hockey East.  And I bet they do better than most would expect.

With all the evident similarities between his former and current jobs, there remain, however, two related aspects where Leaman will see a glaring difference between working at Union and PC.  The first is the strength of the fan base.  Messa Rink, whatever one may say of its shortcomings, has become one of the toughest buildings in the ECAC to play in on the road.  Schneider Arena approaches its capacity of just over 3,000, well, never.  Of course, that comes with success, so if you expect Leaman to succeed in The Divine City as he did in Schenectady, that will come.

The argument is out there that it will be tougher at PC, where the attention on the Big East basketball program dwarfs that shown to any other sport and there is an AHL franchise to compete with.  But the NY Capital District is at its core a basketball first fanbase as well with its own AHL team.  And in my mind, the battle is not between different sports at the same institution or in the same town.  No one can say that the empty seats at Brown hockey games are due to the popularity of the other sports they play.  It is about reigning in the hockey fans that are out there for the getting.  And there are no fewer hockey people in Rhode Island than there are around Albany.

But let's go back to those two related aspects.  That second aspect can go a long way in helping bring the fans along though.  So I asked Leaman about it, starting with some comic relief.

Alice Leaman, the wife of the new coach, burst into laughter of the knee-slapping, teary-eyed variety.

"You got the tape recorder and everything.  You got my wife laughing," said Nate Leaman, himself grinning ear to ear and having little success holding back his chuckles.

"Uh, no comment there," he said at first, more because I think it caught him off-guard than that he had nothing to say.

No, the question was not how much he would miss ECAC officiating.  It was how much he would miss Ken Schott, who began covering the Union beat for the hometown (Schenectady) Daily Gazette when the program turned D1 in 1991.

More than your average beat reporter, Schott is the undisputed dean of the ECAC Hockey media.  The Capital District of course boasts the largest college hockey press corp in the East outside Boston, but Schott takes the cake.  In addition to his print stories on the team, Schott maintains a tirelessly comprehensive blog/vlog ("Parting Schotts") and twitter feed (@slapschotts) on college hockey in Upstate New York's Capital District.  He also hosts a weekly half-hour radio spot.  No one journalist in the East over the last 20+ years has done more for any one program in college hockey than Ken Schott has done for Union College hockey (with apologies to this blog's editor, who is no slouch either).

I would take the position that Union hockey could not have achieved what it did as quick as it did (and I am referring to the eight years of the Leaman era, not the 20 years of the D1 era), given the magnitude and volume of now well-documented obstacles placed in front of the program, without the combined efforts of both Leaman and Schott.

Obviously a head coach has a much greater direct effect on a team's success than does the writer covering them, but when the program is building itself up from the ground level the role of a committed and competent journalist in assisting that process cannot be overstated.  You could make the comparison to the differing roles of a CEO and an advertising agency in building a business, except in this case the advertising is free.  Teams that play in empty buildings simply don't win championships.  And teams with no media coverage don't fill the seats.  Simple as that.

Leaman quickly acknowledged all this when he realized the real question was about the role Schott and his colleagues had indeed played rather than any personal feelings he may have about not getting to see him every week. 

"I think media coverage is important.  It's important that people see what you're building and see the development of the program.  That's where media coverage I think is very good is to see the ins and the outs of the program and the growth over the years."

Now, Mark Divver, who is the assistant sports editor of the Providence Journal, has been covering the search for PC's new head coach quite well and I do not want to take anything away from him or his paper.  But they will not be covering the games or doing anything close to the volume of writing that was done on the program at Union.

Divver was very polite in introducing himself to me and was candid in his response when I asked him if the hire of Leaman combined with Brown's turnaround since the hire of Brendan Whittet would mean more coverage in the ProJo.  "I hope so," he said.

Times are tough in the print media industry, and I would imagine it is particularly difficult in a city located basically in between New York and Boston and having to compete with those city's papers.  At this point, he said the demand simply is not there for them to spend the money to hire a college hockey reporter.  But then again, the demand really wasn't there for Union hockey reporting in 1991, or for that matter when Leaman took the job in 2003.  At Union, he just had to worry about the team itself.  Now, he has to bring in the press and the fans as well.

Building the popularity of college hockey back up in Providence and the state of Rhode Island is something I know was important to both Whittet and Tim Army, the coach Leaman replaces, from conversations with each after last season's Mayor's Cup, which drew only 1,400 fans to Brown's Meehan Auditorium after the same number had come out for the event at Schneider the year before.  Leaman appears ready to step in as an active promoter of the sport in the community.

"Well, we didn't speak about that, but we did speak about scheduling the Mayor's Cup game," he said of an initial conversation with Whittet.  "I have spoken with Roger Grillo, USA Hockey's rep in this area, about getting youth hockey involved.  We want to have a couple days.  One will be a "Learn Hockey" Day, where there's basically kids that have never played before and we'll have equipment and set up a free clinic.  And then also to get the local youth hockey organizations on board.  I think it's important and our guys have to go out and be ignitors and ignite the kids into wanting to be hockey players, wanting to be Providence College fans, and just setting a good example."

The coaching voids at both D1 schools in Providence have been filled and filled well.  Now, someone just has to step up and fill the media void.  I am getting that itch.  I need a job after all.

Game 3's Today

Saturday saw two ECAC playoff series end and two force a game three.

Quinnipiac beat Brown for the second night in a row, and Harvard did the same at Clarkson. Colgate beat RPI in Game Two to force a game on Sunday, and St. Lawrence shocked most prognosticators as they won at Princeton to force a decisive Game Three.

So what does this mean for Union? Well, Union will play the lowest seeded team left after the first round. So, if Colgate wins then Union will play them. If Colgate loses, but SLU wins, Union will play the Saints. If both Colgate and SLU lose, Union will play Harvard. So, Union will play either Harvard, SLU, or Colgate.

As a Union fan who would you want to play out of those three teams? Any opponent in the playoffs is tough, but if I had to pick I'd go with the Saints. I just feel Harvard goaltender Ryan Carroll is hot right now and has been very good at Union, and Colgate is a very dangerous team (at least more dangerous than the Saints).

Anyways, Brown senior captain Harry Zolnierczyk's career ended tonight. He was one of the most hated players in the league, but also one of the best. He had his troubles during his freshman here (click here), but has gone on to become one of the most dangerous forwards in the ECAC. He was just recently named the Ivy League Player of the Year (click here).

So, in honor of Harry Z here's a video of an awesome goal he scored last weekend at Cornell. It's one of the best college hockey goals I've seen all year (go to the 34 second mark):

Union Tops Brown 4-2

Adam Presizniuk

What a great weekend for the Dutchmen! They start off by beating #1 Yale and then back it up with a nice win over Brown. Because RPI beat Yale last night behind some great goaltending from Allen York, the Dutchmen are just one point behind the league-leading Bulldogs. While the Dutchmen came out a little sloppy against the Bears, this weekend could be a weekend that Union builds off for the rest of the season.

Adam Presizniuk had a great game with two goals, and an overall great weekend. He scored a combined three goals and all of them were important goals scored in the second period. I wouldn't be surprised if Prezie was named the ECAC Player of the Week. It was also nice to see John Simpson and Justin Pallos score for the Dutchmen. Both guys work extremely hard and do very valuable things on the ice that aren't always seen on the scoresheet, so it's nice to see them get recognized. And once again, Keith Kinkaid played a good game.

Also, not to toot my horn or anything but I definitely called that Coach Leaman was going to put Stephane Boileau in the lineup on Saturday. It was great to see "the Professor" back on the ice. And I think I was also pretty spot on about Harry Zolnierczyk who picked up 12 penalty minutes in the game, including at 10 minute misconduct with under two minutes left in regulation. I'm also pretty sure that he dove at least once during the game. He has now accumulated 101 penalty minutes on the season, while Union's leader in penalty minutes, Matt Hatch, has picked up 29 penalty minutes on nine penalties. Captain Harry Z is just a goon.

By the way, I had a great time in the student section last night. I got to hang out with the mascot and interact with the improving pep band. Doing the cheers was fun, but I do have to say that the campus safety officers are a little too strict. I understand that you can't say f-bombs and other words of that variety, but there were words like "suck" that were said by that crowd that are said at every college hockey rink in the country. A fan should talk to somebody who controls this sometime soon. Having an energetic and fun student section is very important to the rink atmosphere and the team.

Next week the Dutchmen travel to Quinnipiac and Princeton for more important ECAC action.

For more on last night check out:
USCHO
Union Athletics.com
Ken Schott's Blog
Times Union - Sean Martin

Things To Watch For This Weekend

This weekend the Dutchmen host the Yale Bulldogs and Brown Bears, in what might be the toughest home weekend of the season. The Bulldogs come into the weekend as the #1 team in the country and sport the nation's top offense, which is clicking at a 4.79 goals per game (BC is second with 3.74), and the third best defense allowing just 2.05 goals per game (Union is tied for tops in the country with Wisconsin with 2.04). While the Bears aren't ranked, they are still an extremely tough team as they proved last season when they shocked RPI and Yale in the ECAC playoffs.

My biggest concern about this weekend is the possibility of falling into a "trap game" with Brown. While the Dutchmen are not overlooking the Bears right now, there is a lot of focus being placed on Yale. I'm just afraid that the Dutchmen will put all of their energy and emotion into the Yale game and won't match it the following night whether if they beat Yale or not. Let's just hope the guys play hard against Yale and no matter what happens they instantly put the game in the past.

I think a great way to make sure this doesn't happen is to make a few lineup changes on Saturday night. I think that it might be smart if Leaman plays faster guys like Justin Pallos and Kyle Bodie to match Yale's speed on Friday night, but then replace them with Luke Cain and Stephane Boileau on Saturday night to match Brown's hard-hitting game style.

Also, the Dutchmen offesne is relying too heavily on the underclassmen (Carr, Welsh, Jooris, Mat Bodie). In important games like these you need the seniors to step up their game and take control. The experienced players need to set the tone, and the younger guys will follow. But, this doesn't mean that the underclassmen have an excuse to be intimidated. They, along with the rest of the team, should follow the example of Matt Hatch who flies all over the ice with no regard for his body. That's the type of hard work and intensity that will win big games.

Here are some fun facts:
- The last time Union played the top-ranked team in the country was on January 2, 2009 when they lost 3-1 to Nortre Dame at the Shillelagh Tournament. Brendan Milnamow '09 scored Union's lone goal and Corey Milan picked up 24 saves.
- In Union's first game back from the Shillelagh Tournament they traveled to Princeton where they beat a fifth-ranked Tigers team 3-2. This was the last time Union has beaten a Top 5 team. In the game Mario Valery-Trabucco '10 and Stephane Boileau scored goals, while Matt Cook scored the game-winner back in his hometown (he's from around Princeton).
- The last time Union played a #1 team in league play was on November 9, 1996 when they hosted Vermont. The Catamounts had future NHL stars Tim Thomas (Boston) and Martin St. Louis (Tampa Bay) on the team that year. Union lost to Vermont that night 1-0 behind 43 saves from Thomas.

Yale
Ryan Rondeau: the senior goaltender has only lost one game this season and is third in the nation with a 1.80 GAA.
Broc Little: leads the team with 13 goals and 27 points. He is extremely fast.
Brian O'Neill: second on the team with 12 goals and is third with 25 points. Also leads the team with five power-play goals.
Andrew Miller: leads the team with 21 assists in 19 games, meaning he sets up a goal every game. He has only scored five goals this season, but four of them have been game-winners.
Chris Cahill: has been a beast in ECAC play, leading the Bulldogs with eight goals and 19 points.

Harry Zolnierczyk

Brown
Jack Maclellan: leads the team with 13 goals, 16 assists, and 29 points.
Harry Zolnierczyk: the Bears captain has the reputation of being one of the dirtiest players in the league and has accumulated 83 penalty minutes in just 18 games this year. But, Harry Z can also put the puck in the net as he is second on the team with 11 goals, 12 assists, and 23 points. In Brown's upset of Yale, he picked up a 10 minute misconduct penalty only to return to score the game-winning goal late in the game. Also, watch out for him and Maclellan on the PK as they have both netted two shorthanded goals this season.
Dennis Robertson: the freshman leads all Brown defenders with five goals and 12 points. Four of his five goals have come on the power-play, which is tied for best on the team with Captain Harry.

Union
Adam Presizniuk: this is the type of weekend when your best player needs to show up and contribute. His line is really clicking right now and he just got the pin taken out of his thumb, so this could be the weekend where he finally explodes.
Brock Matheson: Captain Brock has been stellar of late and needs to lead the defense this weekend as they take on fast Yale forwards and hard-hitting Brown forwards. He needs to be the one to prove that they are not going to give the opposing forwards too much respect.
Daniel Carr: the freshman phenom leads the team with nine power-play goals. Union's special teams has been struggling a bit of late, but if they want any chacne to knock off Yale they have to convert on these PP opportunities. Carr will be the go-to guy.

For more about this weekend check out:
Union Athletics.com
Daily Gazette
INCH
Yale Daily News
Brown Bears.com

Here are highlights from Union's 5-0 loss at Yale earlier this season:

Union advances to ECAC Final Four for first time in program history

Finally! Finally! Finally! Union is finally going to Albany for the ECAC Final Four for the first time in program history! The Dutchmen will face St. Lawrence next Friday at the Times Union Center.

The great thing about tonight's victory was that it was a complete team effort. The forwards fore-checked hard, the defense stepped up to the Quinnipiac forwards, beat them badly along the boards and in front of the net, and Corey Milan made all the stops he needed to. It was also great to see the freshman step up for the team as Wayne Simpson and Jeremy Welsh scored both of Union's goals tonight.

It was such an emotional battle between both teams. Bobcat goaltender Dan Clarke was throwing punches, Jason Walters and Eric Lampe were getting at each other for the fourth game in a row, and both teams worked extremely hard. I give the Bobcats a lot of credit for playing the way they did. They worked extremely hard, but just couldn't get past the tough Union defense. I also think the home-ice advantage was HUGE difference in the game. The student section was loud the entire game and the team really fed off of it, which was seen at the end of the game when Milan and the rest of the team jumped into the glass at Section Q.... I honestly thought the glass was going to shatter.

The emotions at the end of the game were incredible to see. Will Friedman and the rest of the student section were jumping up and down and hugging each other while popcorn was thrown into the air and the players could not wipe the smiles off their faces. Union Athletic Director Jim McLaughlin also looked extremely happy, and I even caught the Daily Gazette's Ken Schott with tears in his eyes.

For more on the game check out USCHO.com, Union Athletics.com, Ken Schott's Blog, and Times Union.com.

I was shocked to hear that Brown beat Yale 1-0, which makes all the difference in the world for the Dutchmen. I was even more shocked to see that the only goal was shorthanded and came midway through the first period. Cornell is an incredible team and Union won't have to see them until the ECAC finals. Brown deserves a ton of praise after beating a very good RPI team and then beating the top seed and defending champs on the road in back-to-back weekends. Bears goaltender Mike Clemente has now pulled off three upsets in the past two years. Their hard hitting defensive style has really worked for them. If I were Yale's Sean Backman I would be apologizing to my team for letting them down.

Let's just hope enough students stick around next weekend to see if their team can make more history. Also, good luck to the players and their fans on their upcoming finals.

Union ties Brown again

It's not a loss, but it feels like one. On a night where the Dutchmen desperately needed a win they blew a two-goal lead and were unable to score on the power-play in overtime. It sounds like Kelly Zajac missed a golden opportunity when Brown goaltender Mike Clemente made a stellar save to preserve the tie. This is the second weekend in a row where Union didn't pick up a win, and if this continues they will drop out of the top four and can kiss their NCAA tournament dreams goodbye as they currently are tied for #17 in the PWR. Next weekend is a huge weekend as they return home to take on St. Lawrence, who is tied with Union in the ECAC standings, and last-place Clarkson. It is an absolute must to pick up at least two points on the weekend. The Dutchmen need to prove to their fans that they're not going to roll over and die.

You can read some recaps on the game on Union Athletics.com, Daily Gazette.com, and Times Union.com.

Union travels south to take on Yale and Brown

Check out previews on this weekend's series on Concordy.com and Union Athletics.com. Also check out articles on Daily Gazette.com and Times Union.com. There are also game notes for the Yale game on the Extra Frame blog, and an article about the game from the Yale Daily News.

You can also read Ken Schott's predictions from this week on his blog, and see interviews here.

Also, read Ed Weaver's article about playing a Union-RPI game outdoors on Troy Record.com.

Be sure to notice that Union was briefly mentioned on ESPN.com.

Union 3, Brown 3

Schreiber scores twice including the game-tying goal with 6:39 left in regulation.
I'm pretty 50/50 on what to think about the game. On one hand the Dutchmen only earned one point at home against last season's worst ECAC team. Also, letting up two cheap shorthanded goals within a few minutes is pretty pathetic. But, it was nice to see the team come back to tie the game, and see the penalty kill shutdown the Bears power-play unit. This just makes tomorrow's game that much more important.

Other notes from the game:

• Presizniuk switched lines as he moved from playing with Walters and Valery-Trabucco to playing with the Simpson brothers. Leaman said that he is trying to find a right fit for Presizniuk and the Simpson line might be a good fit.
• Along with this Leaman is trying to find someone to play with Walters and Valery-Trabucco. Tonight it was Welsh, who brings size to the line. Leaman also said that Yanovitch, who was benched tonight, could fit in nicely into that line because he is a great shooter.
• Senior Jason Shaffer played tonight and played very well, and was praised by Leaman in the post-game press conference. Personally, I think Shaffer should play more. Everytime I see him he is always making nice plays and causing some havoc on the offensive side of the puck. Leaman said he was unsure if he could sit down Shaffer and Jon Lareau after their performance tonight.
• Leaman also said that each Yanovitch and Boileau will return to the lineup tomorrow against Yale
  
  Here's my recap from USCHO.com: http://www.uscho.com/recaps/20092010/m/11/06/bn-uc.php

Tonight's Lineups

Union:
Welsh - Walters - Valery-Trabucco
Presizniuk - J. Simpson - W. Simpson
Buote - Zajac - Cain
Bodie - Lareau - Shaffer

Wakita - Coburn
Matheson - Julseth-White
Schreiber - Stuart

Milan

Brown:
Zolnierczyk - Maclellan - Pietrus
Volpatti - McMonagle - Zaires
Senecal - Timberlake - Fratkin
Farnham - Smyth - Smith

Russell - Wolff
Crowley - Buvinow
Van der Linden - Connauton

Clemente