ECAC Hockey Report, Week of 1997 October 13

© 1997, Joe Schlobotnik (archives)

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Recent Action

College hockey season got out to a somewhat inauspicious start for the ECAC this weekend as the Golden Knights of Clarkson were pasted 7-1 by Wisconsin in the first round of the Ice Breaker Invitational in Madison. Clarkson's senior netminder Dan Murphy was pulled halfway through the second after surrendering two goals in 17 seconds to put the Badgers up by two, but his replacement, sophomore Christian Marois, let in the first shot he faced 57 seconds later, so Murphy was back in, and ended up with 25 saves on 31 shots. The Knights looked better the following afternoon in a 5-4 loss to Boston University in the consolation game. Clarkson fans can also take heart in the fact that these games may ultimately be recorded as exhibitions, pending an NCAA ruling.

Standings

The conference season is a few weeks away, but to refresh your memory here's last year's finish, along with the results of this year's ECAC Coaches' Poll. Rensselaer are the preseason favorites, with nine of the twelve first-place votes.
                     1996-97 Results        1997-98 Poll
                   W- L-T   PF-PA   Pct     Rank Pts FPV 
 1  Clarkson      17- 5-0   34-10  .773       2  132  3
 2  Cornell       14- 6-2   30-14  .682       3  115
 3  Vermont       13- 6-3   29-15  .659       7   71
 4  RPI           12- 7-3   27-17  .614       1  137  9
 5  Union         11- 8-3   25-19  .568      11   30
    Princeton     11- 8-3   25-19  .568       4  100
 7  Colgate       10- 9-3   23-21  .523       6   80
 8  Harvard        9-11-2   20-24  .455       5   92
 9  St Lawrence    5-12-5   15-29  .341       8   67
10  Yale           6-14-2   14-30  .318      10   37
11  Dartmouth      5-15-2   12-32  .273       9   47
12  Brown          4-16-2   10-34  .227      12   28    

The National Scene

With little or no official NCAA action taking place, RPI hold their place at #10 in the second US College Hockey Online Poll of the season. Cornell remain among the top non-ranked vote-getters, while Clarkson drop completely off the map with their poor showing in Madison.

Upcoming Games

Several more ECAC squads begin play this weekend. Colgate is in Ann Arbor for a pair with Michigan, while Saturday sees the renewal of the ECAC-Hockey East rivalry as Vermont visits regional foe New Hampshire and RPI is at Boston Univeristy. The Engineers-Terriers match will mark the ECAC's first television appearance, as viewers in parts of New England will see the game on WABU.

And until next week, this is Joe Schlobotnik with the ECAC Hockey report.


Last Modified: 2019 July 24

Joe Schlobotnik / joe@amurgsval.org

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