ECAC Hockey in the polls (3/4/13)

by Ryan Fay

Union returned to the USCHO top 20 poll following a one week absence.

After a 5-1 win over St. Lawrence on Friday and a 4-0 blanking of Clarkson on Saturday, the Dutchmen were ranked 20th while receiving 105 poll points. Three other ECAC teams cracked the top 20 as Quinnipiac remained first, Yale was up two spots to 13th, and RPI joined the poll at 15th. Union has been ranked in the USCHO poll in 20 of 22 possible weeks this season.

The Dutchmen remain unranked in the USA Today / USA Hockey Magazine poll, though Union did receive 17 poll points after receiving none a week ago. Around the league, Quinnipiac held onto the top ranking while Yale edged up a spot to 13th. RPI entered the poll at 15th.

Union sits at 17th in the Pairwise.

ECAC Hockey in the polls - 2/18/13

by Ryan Fay

USCHO TOP 20

After a one week absence, Union returned to the top 20 USCHO poll. With 97 votes, the Dutchmen were ranked 20th. Over the weekend, Union beat Yale, 4-2, and Brown, 2-0.

Despite suffering its first league loss on Friday against St. Lawrence, Quinnipiac retained the top spot with 34 of 50 first place votes. The other first place votes went to WCHA's Minnesota (15) and Hockey East's Boston College (1).

After weekend losses at Union and RPI, Yale fell from 10th to 13th. Dartmouth slid two spots to 19th following a loss to Cornell on Friday and a win over Colgate on Saturday.

The two highest vote getters not to crack the top 20 were both ECAC teams. RPI received 34 points while St. Lawrence received 19.

Colgate received one point.

USA TODAY / USA HOCKEY MAGAZINE TOP 15

Union received 19 votes, but that wasn't enough to get the Dutchmen back in the USA Today / USA Hockey Magazine top 15.

With 26 of 34 first place votes, Quinnipiac was slotted first for the second straight week. The remaining first place votes were given to Minnesota.

Yale was the only other ECAC team ranked and the Bulldogs tumbled from 9th to 14th.

RPI (9 votes) and Dartmouth (6) were in consideration but lacked enough support.

PAIRWISE

Rk	Team	PCWs	W-L-T	Win %	Rk	RPI	Rk
1	Quinnipiac	30	22-4-4	.800	1	.5824	1
2	Minnesota	29	20-6-4	.733	2	.5658	2
3	Miami	28	19-8-5	.672	4t	.5528	3
4	New Hampshire	26	16-8-4	.643	8	.5473	5
5	Boston College	26	17-8-3	.661	6	.5455	7
6	North Dakota	25	16-8-6	.633	9	.5466	6
7	Minnesota State	23	20-9-3	.672	4t	.5474	4
8	Western Michigan	23	18-8-6	.656	7	.5391	9
9	St. Cloud State	22	18-11-1	.617	11	.5440	8
10	Niagara	20	19-6-5	.717	3	.5374	10
11	Denver	19	15-9-5	.603	13	.5351	11
12	Yale	16	13-9-3	.580	16	.5295	14
13	Boston University	16	14-12-2	.536	25	.5202	20
14	Mass.-Lowell	15	16-9-2	.630	10	.5347	12
15	Notre Dame	15	19-12-1	.609	12	.5323	13
16	Union	15	15-10-5	.583	15	.5245	15
17	Rensselaer	13	14-11-5	.550	23t	.5222	18
18	Merrimack	13	14-10-6	.567	18t	.5208	19
19	Dartmouth	12	12-9-4	.560	22	.5238	17
20	Nebraska-Omaha	11	18-12-2	.594	14	.5243	16
21	Alaska-Fairbanks	11	13-13-4	.500	31t	.5095	26
22	Robert Morris	10	16-12-2	.567	18t	.5039	28
23	St. Lawrence	9	15-11-4	.567	18t	.5152	22
24	Ohio State	8	13-12-7	.516	30	.5138	24
25	Northern Michigan	8	13-15-4	.469	36	.5032	29
26	Ferris State	7	15-13-4	.531	26	.5113	25
27	Wisconsin	6	13-10-7	.550	23t	.5194	21
28	Holy Cross	4	15-11-2	.571	17	.5062	27
29	Colgate	3	13-13-4	.500	31t	.5013	30
30	Providence	2	11-10-7	.518	27	.5147	23
31	Colorado College	0	11-14-5	.450	39	.5002	31

ECAC Hockey in the polls (2/11/13)

by Ryan Fay

USCHO

Following a winless weekend, Union's 81 week streak in the USCHO top 20 has ended. The Dutchmen, ranked 18th a week ago, did receive 40 votes, the most of any team not ranked.

With 41 of 50 first place votes, ECAC-leading Quinnipiac finally was ranked atop the rankings. It marks the first time in Quinnipiac's history that the Bobcats were ranked first. The team had been stubbornly ranked behind Minnesota the past few weeks.

Yale and Dartmouth held steady at 10th and 17th, respectively. The former comes to Messa Rink on Friday evening.

Also in consideration were Colgate (2 votes), St. Lawrence (2 votes), and RPI (1 vote).

USA TODAY / USA HOCKEY MAGAZINE

Union received zero votes in the latest USA Today / USA Hockey Magazine top 15.

Quinnipiac jumped over Minnesota and earned another #1 ranking with 28 of 34 first place votes. The Bobcats had never been ranked first in this poll, either.

Yale was the only other ECAC team ranked. The Bulldogs moved up a spot to 9th despite not playing.

With 13 votes, Dartmouth was in consideration.

PAIRWISE

In the past week, Union has slid two spots to 21st.

Rk	Team	PCWs	W-L-T	Win %	Rk	RPI	Rk
1	Quinnipiac	30	21-3-4	.821	1	.5877	1
2	Minnesota	29	19-5-4	.750	2	.5682	2
3	Miami	27	18-7-5	.683	4t	.5577	3
4	Boston College	27	16-7-2	.680	6	.5539	5
5	New Hampshire	26	16-7-3	.673	7	.5564	4
6	North Dakota	25	16-8-6	.633	10	.5474	7
7	Western Michigan	24	18-7-5	.683	4t	.5459	8
8	Yale	23	13-6-3	.659	8	.5490	6
9	St. Cloud State	23	18-11-1	.617	11t	.5453	9
10	Minnesota State	19	18-9-3	.650	9	.5412	10
11	Niagara	19	18-5-5	.732	3	.5380	11
12	Denver	18	15-9-5	.603	13	.5352	12
13	Boston University	18	13-11-1	.540	23	.5255	16
14	Notre Dame	17	18-11-1	.617	11t	.5341	13
15	Alaska-Fairbanks	16	13-11-4	.536	24t	.5237	17
16	Mass.-Lowell	15	14-9-2	.600	14	.5291	14
17	Dartmouth	13	11-8-4	.565	18	.5274	15
18	Northern Michigan	12	12-13-4	.483	33	.5117	24
19	Nebraska-Omaha	11	16-12-2	.567	17	.5189	18
20	Merrimack	11	13-10-5	.554	19t	.5180	19
21	Union	11	13-10-5	.554	19t	.5142	21
22	Wisconsin	9	12-9-7	.554	19t	.5165	20
23	Rensselaer	9	12-11-5	.518	29	.5134	22
24	Ferris State	8	14-12-4	.533	28	.5134	23
25	Colgate	7	13-11-4	.536	24t	.5109	26
26	Ohio State	6	12-12-6	.500	30t	.5111	25
27	Providence	4	10-10-6	.500	30t	.5102	27
28	St. Lawrence	4	13-11-4	.536	24t	.5055	28
29	Holy Cross	2	14-10-2	.577	15	.5043	29
30	Robert Morris	2	15-11-2	.571	16	.5012	30
31	Colorado College	0	11-14-5	.450	37t	.5003	31

ECAC hockey in the polls - 2/4/13

by Ryan Fay

Taking a look at how the Dutchmen and other ECAC hockey teams did in this week's college hockey polls.

USCHO

Union held steady at #18 in this week's USCHO top 20 poll. In their only action of the weekend, the Dutchmen tied Dartmouth, 2-2, on Friday. With 168 votes, Union received 17 more than last week.

ECAC-leading Quinnipiac (19-3-4) was ranked second with 20 first place votes, but that's two fewer first place votes than they had last week. WCHA powerhouse Minnesota (18-4-4) retained the top ranking.

Yale (10th, 13-6-3) and Dartmouth (17th, 11-8-3) were the other ECAC teams in the top 20. Yale fell from 8th to 10th and Dartmouth dropped a spot from 16th.

Colgate (46 votes) and St. Lawrence (2 votes) were in consideration. Colgate's vote total increased by 27 while the Saints didn't receive any support a week ago.

USA TODAY / USA HOCKEY MAGAZINE

Union remains unranked in the top 15 USA Today / USA Hockey Magazine poll. The 12 votes Union received were six more than a week ago.

Quinnipiac once again trails poll-leading Minnesota, but picked up two more first place votes (13) than they had last week (11). Yale, the only other ECAC representative, dropped two spots to 9th.

Dartmouth was on the outside looking in with 7 votes, far less than the 45 the Big Green had a week ago.

PAIRWISE

Since last Monday, Union has inched down one spot to 19th in the pairwise.

Rk	Team	PCWs	W-L-T	Win %	Rk	RPI	Rk
1	Quinnipiac	30	19-3-4	.808	1	.5847	1
2	Minnesota	29	18-4-4	.769	2	.5695	2
3	Miami	27	17-6-5	.696	4t	.5624	3
4	Boston College	27	15-7-2	.667	7	.5526	5
5	New Hampshire	26	16-7-2	.680	6	.5580	4
6	Western Michigan	25	17-6-5	.696	4t	.5493	7
7	Yale	23	13-6-3	.659	8	.5497	6
8	St. Cloud State	22	17-10-1	.625	10t	.5445	8
9	Niagara	21	17-4-5	.750	3	.5426	9
10	North Dakota	21	14-8-6	.607	12t	.5401	11
11	Boston University	19	13-10-1	.562	21	.5327	13
12	Denver	18	15-8-4	.630	9	.5424	10
13	Minnesota State	17	16-9-3	.625	10t	.5350	12
14	Alaska-Fairbanks	17	12-10-4	.538	23t	.5248	19
15	Dartmouth	16	11-8-3	.568	20	.5302	14
16	Notre Dame	16	16-11-1	.589	17	.5300	15
17	Colgate	15	13-9-4	.577	18t	.5215	20
18	Mass.-Lowell	13	14-9-2	.600	14t	.5287	17
19	Union	13	13-8-5	.596	16	.5265	18
20	Northern Michigan	13	11-12-4	.481	31	.5129	23
21	Nebraska-Omaha	10	16-10-2	.607	12t	.5288	16
22	Wisconsin	9	11-9-6	.538	23t	.5168	21
23	Merrimack	8	12-10-5	.537	26	.5136	22
24	Ferris State	8	13-11-4	.536	27	.5125	24
25	Ohio State	6	11-11-6	.500	29t	.5123	25
26	Providence	5	10-10-5	.500	29t	.5087	26
27	Robert Morris	5	14-9-2	.600	14t	.5080	27
28	St. Lawrence	3	12-10-4	.538	23t	.5052	28
29	Rensselaer	2	10-11-5	.481	32t	.5044	29
30	Holy Cross	1	14-10-2	.577	18t	.5022	30
31	Massachusetts	0	10-12-2	.458	37	.5019	31

Pairwise information via collegehockeynews.com

Where Union is in the polls - 1/28/13

by Ryan Fay

It's Monday, which means its poll day.

How did the Dutchmen fare this week? Lets find out.

USCHO

After picking up a couple wins over Harvard (4-1, Tuesday) and RPI (3-2, Saturday), the Dutchmen (13-8-4) rose one spot to 18th in the latest USCHO top 20 poll.

ECAC-leading Quinnipiac (18-3-3) picked up 22 first place votes, but fell eight points shy of the top spot. WCHA powerhouse Minnesota (18-4-4) retained its place atop the rankings.

Other ECAC teams in the poll were Yale (8th, 12-5-3) and Dartmouth (16th, 11-7-2). Dartmouth comes to Messa Rink on Friday night for a nationally televised game on the NBC Sports Network.

Colgate (19 votes, 13-9-2) and Cornell (5 votes, 8-9-2) were in consideration but didn't make the cut.

USA Today / USA Hockey Magazine

The Dutchmen remain unranked in the USA Today / USA Hockey Magazine top 15 poll. Union did receive six votes, which is actually one less than last week despite picking up two wins.

Quinnipiac was slotted second with 11 first place votes but Minnesota again proved too much to topple for the highest spot. Yale was the lone other ECAC representative in the top 15, as they were ranked 7th.

On the outside looking in were Dartmouth (45 votes) and the aforementioned Dutchmen (6 votes).

PAIRWISE

Union has moved up slightly in the pairwise as they currently sit 18th.

Rk	Team	PCWs	W-L-T	Win %	Rk	RPI	Rk
1	Quinnipiac	28	18-3-3	.812	1	.5870	1
2	Minnesota	27	18-4-4	.769	2	.5724	2
3	New Hampshire	25	15-6-2	.696	4	.5672	3
4	Miami	25	15-6-5	.673	7	.5546	4
5	Yale	24	12-5-3	.675	6	.5538	5
6	Boston College	24	14-7-2	.652	8t	.5521	6
7	Western Michigan	22	16-6-4	.692	5	.5457	7
8	Mass.-Lowell	21	14-7-2	.652	8t	.5456	8
9	St. Cloud State	19	15-10-1	.596	16t	.5433	9
10	North Dakota	18	13-8-5	.596	16t	.5415	10
11	Boston University	17	13-9-1	.587	18	.5404	11
12	Alaska-Fairbanks	17	12-8-4	.583	19t	.5331	18
13	Denver	16	13-8-4	.600	13t	.5396	12
14	Notre Dame	15	16-10-0	.615	11t	.5384	13
15	Dartmouth	15	11-7-2	.600	13t	.5365	14
16	Minnesota State	13	16-9-3	.625	10	.5350	15
17	Niagara	12	15-4-5	.729	3	.5346	16
18	Union	10	13-8-4	.600	13t	.5259	19
19	Colgate	10	13-9-2	.583	19t	.5221	20
20	Northern Michigan	10	11-12-4	.481	32	.5123	23
21	Nebraska-Omaha	8	15-9-2	.615	11t	.5334	17
22	Ferris State	8	13-10-3	.558	24	.5183	22
23	Wisconsin	7	11-8-5	.562	23	.5210	21
24	Ohio State	4	10-11-5	.481	33	.5087	24
25	Providence	4	10-10-4	.500	28t	.5072	25
26	Robert Morris	4	12-9-2	.565	22	.5046	26
27	Cornell	2	8-9-2	.474	36t	.5044	27
28	Merrimack	1	10-10-5	.500	28t	.5022	28
29	Holy Cross	0	13-9-2	.583	19t	.5021	29

Pairwise information via collegehockeynews.com.

Union Hockey Notebook - 1/21/13

by Ryan Fay

The 19th-ranked Dutchmen return to action tomorrow night when Harvard comes to Messa Rink for a 7 pm faceoff. It will be the third home game in five days -- Union lost to Cornell, 3-2, on Friday and beat Colgate, 2-1, on Saturday.

All this following 48 day stretch with no home games.

DUTCHMEN VS HARVARD: THE BIG GAME THAT ISN'T

Before the season, tomorrow's game looked like a much bigger game. Union was fresh off an appearance in the Frozen Four while Harvard looked like a team on the precipice of bigger things following a 3-1 loss to Union in the ECAC Championship game. Both were picked to finish in the top three in preseason league polls - Union first, Harvard third.

This year hasn't gone quite as well for either school. What looked like a potential key late midseason league game between two schools figuring to be chasing a Cleary Cup has instead turned into a tilt between two teams looking to regain momentum.

After a strong start to the season, which included a 6-2 win at Harvard on November 9th, Union has struggled in the past two months. The Dutchmen are 3-6-3 since November 30th and had a stretch in that period with one win in eight games. In six games since the calendar flipped to 2013, Union has scored more than two goals in a game just once (3 vs Princeton). Despite the slump, the Dutchmen remain well in contention for a first-round bye in the ECAC playoffs, but thoughts of a third straight Cleary Cup are a thing of the past.

Harvard, which was ranked as high as #13 in the USCHO poll earlier this season, has suffered a similar fate. After picking up wins in four of their first six games, the Crimson have only one win since mid-November, a 6-5 overtime win in non-conference play against Boston University on January 9th. The Crimson have dropped six straight league games and currently sit in the ECAC basement with six points.

Playing shorthanded hasn't helped Harvard. Three defenseman (Max Everson, Patrick McNally, and Mark Luzar) were removed from the roster in early December. Harvard never provided a reason for their removal, but it's widely believed it was in connection with an academic cheating scandal that rocked the campus.

The loss of the three defenseman (two of whom are NHL draft picks) has left Harvard with just six defenseman on the roster. McNally, a fourth round selection by Vancouver in 2010, had 28 points in 34 games last year and three in seven contests this season. Everson, who played in Harvard's first seven games this year, was selected in the seventh round by Toronto in 2011. Luzar had yet to play this year.

(ecachockey.com)

Playing shorthanded on defense has showed. Harvard has allowed at least five goals in five of its last eight games going back to early December. In that eight game stretch, the fewest goals allowed in a game was three.

A fourth player, backup goaltender Steve Michalek, left the program in November but later admitted his departure was due to the cheating scandal. A sixth round draft choice of Minnesota in 2011, Michalek had yet to see ice time this season prior to his exit.

Even short-term losses have hurt the Crimson. Star freshman Jimmy Vesey missed three games (all losses) while he was playing for Team USA in the World Junior Championships earlier this month. The forward, who leads Harvard with six goals, went 66th overall to Nashville in last year's draft. Union can sympathize, as they lost a standout of their own to the WJC. Shayne Gostisbehere missed four games and the Dutchmen lost three of them.

Union enters tomorrow's tilt as the favorite. With Harvard's recent penchant for allowing goals, it's a game you'd like to see Union get the offense going and get four or five goals on the board. That's possible, and I'm going to say Union comes away with a 4-1 win. What's your prediction?

DUTCHWOMEN ALMOST DID IT

The Dutchwomen nearly made headlines on Saturday, but came up just short.

Playing at #2/3 Harvard, the Dutchwomen lost, but it was only a 1-0 game. Had they won, it would have easily been the biggest win program history as well as Harvard's first loss in league play this year.

Despite the loss, there was plenty to be optimistic about. It was a significantly better showing than the 9-0 thrashing Harvard delivered at Messa Rink earlier this month. The one goal Harvard had on Saturday tied their lowest single game goal output this season. The Crimson rank fifth in Division I women's hockey at 4.06 goals a game, so a lot of credit is due to the Dutchwomen defense and goaltender Shenae Lundberg (34 saves).

The Dutchwomen remain in search of their first league win this season, but they have seven wins in non-league play, their best single season win total at the Division I level. And with near upsets like the one this weekend, it's a program slowly moving in the right direction.

The biggest improvement going forward has to come on offense. The team generated just seven shots in the loss to Harvard and rank last in Division I women's hockey at 1.33 goals a game.

The team resumes play Friday night at Messa Rink against RPI, a team they beat in a non-league game (3-2) back in October. Gametime is 7 pm.

POLLS RELEASED

After splitting the weekend, Union fell two spots to #19 in this week's USCHO poll. Other ECAC teams in the poll were Quinnipiac (2nd with two first place votes), Yale (8th), Dartmouth (12th) and Cornell (18th). Colgate fell out of top 20 but received six votes.

Union remains unranked in the latest USA Today / USA Hockey magazine poll. The team received 7 votes, but that wasn't nearly enough to crack the top 15. Quinnipiac (second with three first place votes), Yale (7th) and Dartmouth (13th) were the ECAC teams ranked. Cornell was in consideration with 14 votes.

Men's hockey polls - 1/14/13

by Ryan Fay

USCHO

Union (10-7-4, 4-3-3 ECAC) has fallen one spot to #17 in this week's top 20 USCHO college hockey poll.

The drop comes on the heels of a split weekend, a 3-2 win at Princeton on Friday and a 3-2 loss at now #4 Quinnipiac on Saturday. Quinnipiac, unbeaten in league play, also received two first place votes.

This weekend's opponents, Cornell and Colgate, were both ranked. Cornell, coming to Messa on Friday night, was ranked 16th. Colgate (Saturday night) was 20th.

Dartmouth (11th) and Yale (12th) were the other ECAC teams ranked in the USCHO poll. Princeton was on the outside looking in with four votes.

USA TODAY / USA HOCKEY MAGAZINE

In the top 15 USA Today / USA Hockey Magazine poll, the Dutchmen remain unranked. However, they did receive three more votes (27) than they did last week (24).

Other ECAC teams ranked in USA Today / USA Hockey Magazine poll were: Quinnipiac (5th with three first place votes), Dartmouth (11th) and Yale (12th).

Cornell (25 votes) and Colgate (12 votes) didn't make the cut.