You don't want to say that games on the first Saturday of December are make-or-break ones in ECAC Hockey, especially when you have two months of games remaining.
But Saturday's road wins by Union and RPI were season savers. The Dutchmen beat Yale, 5-2, while the Engineers were pounding Brown, 7-2.
Both teams were coming off tough losses the previous night. The Dutchmen saw a 3-2 lead turn into a 5-4 Brown victory, the Bears' first win of the year. Meanwhile, the Engineers blew a 3-1 first-period lead and dropped a 7-3 decision to Yale. How Union and RPI responded would go a long way in determining their fate this season.
It was easy for the Engineers. They came out in the first period against Brown and took a 4-1 lead. RPI made it 6-1 after two and cruised to the win.
It wasn't that simple for the Dutchmen. Showing the effects of losing to Brown, they were outshot by Yale, 20-8, and trailed, 2-0.
But the Dutchmen turned it around in the final 40 minutes. They got a power-play goal by Adam Presizniuk late in the second period, and then scored four times in the third to win their third straight game at Ingalls Rink.
With Princeton and Cornell threatening to run away from the rest of the league, and a surprising Dartmouth squad ready to join them, Union and RPI needed those wins to at least stay in the hunt for home ice for the first round of the ECAC Hockey tournament. With each team playing the majority of their January league games on the road — Union has six of eight, and RPI five of seven — it would have made it even more difficult to play catchup in the standings had Dutchmen and Engineers lost Saturday.
Now, when they get back to league play next month, the Dutchmen and the Engineers will be feeling good knowing they save their seasons this past weekend.
STRANGE FEELING
For the first time since the final weekend of the 1998-99 season, I didn't go on the road to cover Union's ECAC Hockey games.
I won't get into specifics, but it's all about the economy. Still, it did seem strange not packing my suitcase Friday morning, loading it into the car and then heading over to Union to pick up radio announcers Matt DuBrey and Brian Unger for the trip. And thanks to Unger for saying hello to me on the radio Saturday and that I was missed. I hope the readers feel the same way.
Hopefully, things will get better in 2009, and that I'll be back on the road providing the best coverage of the Dutchmen and ECAC Hockey in the Capital Region.
WALTERS OUT, SIMPSON QUESTIONABLE
Union coach Nate Leaman said Monday that forward Jason Walters won't play Tuesday against American International and the two-game series at Maine this weekend because of an upper-body injury. He also said forward John Simpson is questionable with a lower-body injury.
Both players were hurt in Brown game.
CULLEN, VAN DER BLIEK HONORED
RPI freshman forward Patrick Cullen and sophomore goalie Sonja van der Bliek were honored by ECAC Hockey on Monday.
Cullen was named men's rookie of the week. He had a pair of two-goal games over the weekend against Yale and Brown as the Engineers went 1-1 on their road trip. Two of his goals came on the power play.
Van der Bliek earned the women's goalie of the week. She had 24 saves in a 4-1 win over Quinnipiac on Friday, and stopped 34 shots in a 3-2 victory over Princeton on Saturday that helped move RPI into a three-way tie for first place.
The other men's league honors went to Yale forward Broc Little, who was named player of the week after getting three goals and two assists against RPI and Union over the weekend; and Cornell's Ben Scrivens won goalie of the week after stopping 38 of 39 shots in wins over Clarkson and St. Lawrence.
Cornell forward Rebecca Johnston (player of the week) and Colgate goalie Kimberly Sass (rookie of the week) won the other women's honors.
BERGIN INJURED AGAIN
RPI freshman defenseman Mike Bergin can't catch a break.
Bergin suffered his second separated shoulder injury of the season in the game against Yale. This time, it was the left shoulder that was injured. Bergin separated his right shoulder against Massachusetts Oct. 21 and missed eight games. He returned against Northeastern Nov. 29.
"We're not sure how that will play out," RPI coach Seth Appert said. "We're going to rehab him, and see how the rehab goes and see how he's feeling after the [Christmas] break and make some decisions after the break."
ECACH TEAM OF THE WEEK: CORNELL
For the second time in three weeks, the Big Red earn the nod. A 4-1 win over Clarkson, followed by a 1-0 triumph over St. Lawrence moved Cornell into a tie for first place with Princeton.
NOTRE DAME STILL NO. 1
Notre Dame is on top of the national polls for the second straight week. Princeton received two first-place votes in the USCHO.com/CBS College Sports poll.
USCHO.com/CBS College Sports Division I Men's Poll
Team (First Place) Record Pts Last Week
1 Notre Dame (41) 12-3-2 976 1
2 Minnesota ( 3) 7-2-5 918 3
3 Miami ( 3) 10-3-3 873 4
4 Boston University 10-4-1 805 7
5 Northeastern 11-3-2 759 6
6 Denver ( 1) 11-5-1 731 8
7 Boston College 9-5-2 723 2
8 Princeton ( 2) 10-2-0 678 9
9 Colorado College 9-5-4 570 5
10 Cornell 7-1-2 544 13
11 Vermont 9-3-2 507 12
12 Air Force 14-2-0 445 10
13 Michigan 11-7-0 438 14
14 Minnesota State 8-5-3 272 11
15 New Hampshire 7-6-3 214 19
16 Wisconsin 9-7-2 183 NR
17 St. Cloud State 10-6-0 169 NR
18 Dartmouth 6-4-0 163 16
19 Nebraska-Omaha 9-4-3 156 18
20 Alaska 8-4-4 86 20
Others Receiving Votes: Minnesota-Duluth 47, Alaska-Anchorage 45,
North Dakota 44, Mass.-Lowell 40, Ohio State 39, Maine 35,
Massachusetts 23, Yale 14, Niagara 2, Quinnipiac 1.
USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine
Men's College Hockey Poll
(first-place votes in parentheses)
Rank School Last Week's Ranking 2008-09 Record Weeks in Top 15
1 University of Notre Dame, 504 (30) 1 12-3-2 11
2 University of Minnesota, 459 (2) 2 7-2-5 11
3 Miami (Ohio) University, 443 (2) 4 10-3-3 11
4 Boston University, 380 5 10-4-1 11
5 University of Denver, 347 7 11-5-1 11
6 Northeastern University, 337 8 11-3-2 8
7 Princeton University, 307 9 10-2-0 10
8 Boston College, 279 3 9-5-2 11
9 Cornell University, 220 13 7-1-2 5
10 Colorado College, 212 6 9-5-4 11
11 University of Vermont, 192 12 9-3-2 6
12 University of Michigan, 126 14 11-7-0 11
13 U.S. Air Force Academy, 120 10 14-2-0 6
14 Minnesota State University, 46 11 8-5-3 9
15 University of New Hampshire, 33 15 7-6-3 10
Others receiving votes: Dartmouth College, 16; University of Wisconsin, 16; University of Nebraska Omaha, 13; St. Cloud State University, 9; University of Maine, 6; Yale University, 6; University of Alaska, 4; The Ohio State University, 4; University of Massachusetts Lowell, 1.
