The Madness of March is upon us, and its time to look forward to the ECAC Hockey tournament. It's also a good time to look back on the regular season, and how the coaches and media did with their preseason predictions.
I'll also examine why a team exceeded expectations, was a disappointment or finished where everyone thought. I will also list my preseason predictions.
Teams are listed in order of how they finished.
1. Yale
Preseason picks — Coaches, seventh; media, seventh; me, sixth.
Credit Yale for exceeding expectations. Forwards Mark Arcobello, Sean Backman and Broc Little led a balanced offensive attack. Alec Richards has been solid in goal. An 8-0-2 stretch helped the Bulldogs reach first place. Yale is a pleasant surprise.
2. Cornell
Preseason picks — Coaches, third; media, third; me, fourth.
Cornell looked like it was going to run away from the rest of the league when it started 8-0-2 in its first 10 ECACH contests. But a 2-5-1 slump dropped the Big Red out of first.
They won their last two home games last weekend, but then lost at Yale on Friday and then had to overcome a 2-0 deficit to beat Brown, 3-2, in overtime to finish second. They are right where everyone thought they would be.
3. Princeton
Preseason picks — Coaches, first; media, first; me, first.
Princeton, the defending ECACH tournament champions, should have been better than what they are. Forward Lee Jubinville, last year's ECACH Player of the Year, finished fourth in team scoring this year. Maybe he missed Cam MacIntyre, who missed most of the season because of injury.
If not for goalie Zane Kalemba (20-7, 1.61 goals-against average), the Tigers would be further down the standings. I consider the Tigers a disappointment.
4. St. Lawrence
Preseason picks — Coaches, eighth; media, eighth; me, seventh.
The Saints are on a roll, thanks to the play of goalie Alex Petizian, as everyone in the Capital Region witnessed over the weekend with shutouts of Union and RPI.
St. Lawrence has been good offensively, too. They scored eight against Cornell Jan. 30, and seven against Dartmouth Feb. 21. Mike McKenzie, Brock McBride and Kevin DeVergilio have carried the offensive load. The Saints have been a nice surprise, and get a week off.
5. Harvard
Preseason picks — Coaches, second; media, second; me, second.
There should be an asterisk with the Crimson. The picks were made prior to learning that two key players, junior goalie Kyle Richter and senior defenseman Jack Christian weren't going to play this season.
The Crimson suffered through an 0-9-4 skid midway through the season, but went 4-0-2 over their final six games to earn home ice in the first round. So, the Crimson didn't do too badly.
6. Dartmouth
Preseason picks — Coaches, 11th; media, 11th; me, ninth.
I guess we never should doubt Dartmouth coach Bob Gaudet. He guided a young team to the verge of a first-round bye. He got great play out of freshman goalie Jody O'Neill, who is a leading candidate for ECACH Rookie of the Year.
Dartmouth is a pleasant surprise.
7. Quinnipiac
Preseason picks — Coaches, sixth; media, fifth; me, eighth.
The Bobcats have some great scorers (Bryan Leitch and David Marshall), but goaltending has always been an issue. So, no surprise where they finished.
8. Union
Preseason picks — Coaches, fifth; media, sixth; me, third.
Coming off a fourth-place finish last season, many expected the Dutchmen to challenge for a first-round bye again this year. But they have been inconsistent, and always seemed to be playing catch-up hockey. A disappointing finish.
9. Clarkson
Preseason picks — Coaches, fourth; media, fourth; me, fifth.
A lot of early season injuries hindered the Golden Knights. The goaltending was inconsistent, too. Clarkson has been a disappointment.
10. Colgate
Preseason picks — Coaches, ninth; media, 10th; me, 11th.
The Raiders finished where they were expected to. However, they played in an NCAA record-tying 16 overtime games this season. Goalie Charles Long has played well down the stretch. Could be a dangerous team in the first round.
11. RPI
Preseason picks — Coaches, 10th; media, ninth; me, 10th.
A 1-7 February doomed the Engineers to 11th. No surprise where they finished.
12. Brown
Preseason picks — Coaches, 12th; media, 12th; me, 12th.
We all got one right!
I will have post playoff predictions late Thursday night.
Video review
I have video interviews from Union's games over the weekend. To see them, click
here.
Daily Gazette ECAC Hockey Team of the Week — St. Lawrence
The Saints take a pair 2-0 wins over Union and RPI to earn the final ECACH tournament first-round bye spot. They will be tough in the quarterfinals, and I wouldn't be surprised to see them in Albany in a couple of weeks.
RPI women
Congratulations to the RPI women's hockey team for reaching the ECACH tournament final four for the first time. The Engineers swept Princeton, 2-1 in double overtime and 1-0, over the weekend. The Engineers are just in their third year in the league.
RPI will face Harvard in the semifinals at 1 p.m. Saturday at the Bright Hockey Center. Dartmouth and St. Lawrence play in the other semifinal. The final is Sunday.
The polls
Boston University is on top in both polls.
USCHO.com/CBS College Sports Division I Men's Poll
Team (First Place) Record Pts Last Week
1 Boston University (44) 25- 5-4 994 1
2 Notre Dame ( 6) 27- 5-3 956 2
3 Michigan 26-10-0 888 3
4 Northeastern 22- 8-4 850 4
5 Denver 20-10-4 763 5
6 North Dakota 21-11-4 716 8
7 Vermont 19- 8-5 689 9
8 Miami 19-10-5 627 7
9 New Hampshire 18- 9-5 562 12
10 Princeton 20- 9-0 549 6
11 Yale 20- 7-2 536 11
12 Cornell 18- 7-4 502 10
13 Colorado College 16-10-9 331 13
14 Ohio State 20-12-4 324 15
15 St. Lawrence 19-11-4 316 17
16 Minnesota-Duluth 16-10-8 241 14
17 Minnesota 14-11-7 205 18
18 St. Cloud State 18-14-2 141 19
19 Wisconsin 16-14-4 112 16
20 Boston College 15-12-5 89 NR
Others receiving votes: Air Force 56, Mass.-Lowell 22, RIT 16, Dartmouth 6, Minnesota State 5, Alaska 4.
USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine Men's College Hockey Poll
Rank School Last Week's Ranking 2008-09 Record Weeks in Top 15
1 Boston University, 502 (26) 2 25-5-4 21
2 University of Notre Dame, 484 (8) 1 27-5-3 21
3 University of Michigan, 436 3 26-10-0 21
4 Northeastern University, 410 4 22-8-4 18
5 University of Denver, 355 5 20-10-4 21
6 University of North Dakota, 329 7 21-11-4 12
7 University of Vermont, 294 8 19-8-5 16
8 Miami (Ohio) University, 259 9 19-10-5 21
9 University of New Hampshire, 233 10 18-9-5 20
10 Yale University, 192 12 20-7-2 5
11 Princeton University, 189 6 20-9-0 20
12 Cornell University, 159 11 18-7-4 15
13 St. Lawrence University, 64 NR 19-11-4 1
14 The Ohio State University, 62 15 20-12-4 8
15 Colorado College, 44 13 16-10-9 17
Others receiving votes: University of Minnesota-Duluth, 31; University of Minnesota, 22; Boston College, 10; U.S. Air Force Academy, 2; St. Cloud State University, 2; Rochester Institute of Technology, 1.
