How much fun would it have been to have RPI and Union in the ECAC tournament final four this weekend? Definitely a lot.
Instead, the top four seeds will be at the Times Union Center this weekend. No. 1 Yale faces No. 4 St. Lawrence in Friday's first semifinal at 4 p.m. No. 2. Cornell meets No. 3 Princeton, the defending tournament champion, at 7:30 p.m. On Saturday, the consolation game is at 4 p.m., with the championship game at 7 p.m.
Certainly, RPI and Union gave everyone hope that they might be playing this weekend. The Dutchmen passed a big test by winning their first postseason series at the Division I level, sweeping Clarkson in the first round. Had it not been for a bad start to Sunday's game against Princeton, when they allowed three goals in the first 6:34 of the game, the Dutchmen could be playing in Albany this weekend.
I think it's only a matter of time before the Dutchmen get there. They have great offense coming back, led by sophomore Adam Presizniuk (16-22-38), and juniors Mario Valery-Trabucco (15-14-29) and Jason Walters (13-15-28). They will be hit hard by losses on defense with the departure of seniors Lane Caffaro, Mike Harr and Brendan Milnamow. Goalie Corey Milan had a good season, but he will need to be more consistent.
No one expected the Engineers to get as far as they did. After finishing 11th in the regular season, they surprisingly swept Dartmouth in the first round, and then had Cornell on the ropes in the quarterfinals.
Give coach Seth Appert a lot of credit for having the courage to go with freshman Allen York instead of senior Mathias Lange in goal during the playoffs. York showed that he can be a top-notch netminder, so the Engineers look set.
The forwards coming back will be beneficial. Sophomore Chase Polacek (11-21-32) led the way in scoring. Freshman Patrick Cullen (10-13-23) will only get better. Sophomore Tyler Helfrich (5-18-23) must score more. Freshman Alex Angers-Goulet (7-8-15) came on strong in the second half.
While fans of these teams are disappointed that they didn't reach the final four, I have a strong feeling that RPI and Union are very close to being there next season.
Thanks
Before I go on, I wanted to thank everyone who posted comments on my blogs during the Union-Princeton series over the weekend. And thanks for the kind words. It's nice that you enjoyed the live updates.
You can expect more of the same this weekend from the final four.
Daily Gazette ECACH teams of the week — Cornell, Princeton, St. Lawrence and Yale
All four teams advanced to the ECACH final four, so why not honor them all?
League awards
The ECACH isn't waiting for Thursday to announce the league award winners. The winners will be announced Tuesday.
The winners will be presented with their awards at the league banquet Thursday.
The polls
Notre Dame is back on top in the USCHO.com/CBS College Sports top-20 poll, while Boston University remains No. 1 in the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine top-5 poll.
USCHO.com/CBS College Sports Division I Men's Poll
Team (First Place) Record Pts Last Week
1 Notre Dame (27) 29- 5-3 977 2
2 Boston University (23) 29- 6-4 969 1
3 Michigan 28-10-0 900 3
4 Denver 22-10-5 819 5
5 Northeastern 25-10-4 778 4
6 North Dakota 24-12-4 776 6
7 Yale 22- 7-2 689 10
8 Princeton 22-10-0 584 11
9 Cornell 20- 8-4 533 12
10 Vermont 20-11-5 532 7
11 New Hampshire 19-12-5 437 9
12 Miami 20-12-5 435 8
13 Minnesota 17-12-7 397 16
14 St. Lawrence 21-11-4 394 15
15 Boston College 18-13-5 280 18
16 Wisconsin 19-15-4 253 17
17 Minnesota-Duluth 18-12-8 250 19
18 Ohio State 23-14-4 148 14
19 Mass.-Lowell 19-15-2 126 NR
20 Colorado College 16-12-10 101 13
Others receiving votes: Alaska 40, Air Force 37, Northern Michigan 21, St. Cloud State 11, RIT 7, Minnesota State 4, Bemidji State 2.
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 Boston University, 495 (19) 1 29-6-4 23
2 University of Notre Dame, 491 (15) 2 29-5-3 23
3 University of Michigan, 436 3 28-10-0 23
4 University of Denver, 396 5 22-10-5 23
5 University of North Dakota, 368 6 24-12-4 14
6 Northeastern University, 352 4 25-10-4 20
7 Yale University, 315 10 22-7-2 7
8 Princeton University, 230 11 22-10-0 22
9 University of Vermont, 193 7 20-11-5 18
10 Cornell University, 189 12 20-8-4 17
11 University of Minnesota, 131 NR 17-12-7 20
12 University of New Hampshire, 130 9 19-12-5 22
13 Miami (Ohio) University, 126 8 20-12-5 23
14 St. Lawrence University, 104 15 21-11-4 3
15 Boston College, 46 NR 18-13-5 19
Others receiving votes: University of Minnesota Duluth, 42; University of Wisconsin, 18; The Ohio State University, 9; University of Massachusetts Lowell, 6; Colorado College, 3.
