Last Modified: 2019 July 24
Joe Schlobotnik / joe@amurgsval.org
URL for this frameset: http://www.elynah.com/tbrw/tbrw.cgi?1999/ecac.981014.shtml
(scores are linked to box scores and recaps on US College Hockey Online, which is not affiliated with The Big Red What? or Joe Schlobotnik)
The ECAC began interconference play this weekend, with St. Lawrence travelling to Minneapolis for the second annual Ice Breaker Cup. The Saints faced hosts Minnesota in the late game, but considerable attention was paid to the early contest, which paired preseason #1 Boston College with #4 Ohio State in a rematch of last year's NCAA semifinal. BC got out to a 3-0 lead by the halfway point of regulation, but the Buckeyes tied the contest before Brian Gionta's third goal led the Eagles to a 4-3 overtime victory. In the late game, SLU leaned heavily on Senior netminder Eric Heffler, who had nearly held off eventual National Champions Michigan in last year's Great Lakes Invitational. Friday night Heffler stopped 46 of the 50 shots he faced, while the Saints made the most of their scoring opportunities, getting 6 of their 24 shots past WCHA preseason rookie of the year Adam Hausler for the 6-4 decision.
Saturday (after Minnesota defeated Ohio State, 4-3, in the Consolation Game) found St. Lawrence, who barely made the ECAC playoffs last year, facing the top team in the nation for the Ice Breaker title. Again Heffler was on the spot, as BC outshot SLU 31-14, but this night the Eagles proved too much for the plucky Saints, and Chris Masters's third-period goal made Boston College 3-2 winners. Nonetheless, Heffler earned All-Tournament goaltender and Most Valuable Player honors.
As mentioned last week, the ECAC released its annual preseason coaches' poll last month. Here are the results of that poll, together with last season's standings and The Big Red What?'s two statistical measures, Pred and the new RPred:
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1997-1998 Results 1998-1999 1998-1999 1998-1999
Team Poll Pred RPred
Rk W - L -T PF -PA Pct Rk Pts FPV Rk Pts Rk Pts
Yale 1 17- 4-1 35-9 .795 4 95 1 34 3 26
Clarkson 2 16- 4-2 34-10 .773 1 138 8 2 30 1 31
RPI 3 11- 7-4 26-18 .591 5 88 4 25 3t 26
Brown 4 11- 9-2 24-20 .545 8 66 7 22 7t 22
Harvard 5 10-11-1 21-23 .477 3 118 2 5 25 2 27
Colgate 6 9-10-3 21-23 .477 6 79 11 14 9 18
Princeton 7 7- 9-6 20-24 .455 2 124 2 8 19 10 17
Cornell 8 9-12-1 19-25 .432 7 78 10 15 7t 22
Vermont 9 7-11-4 18-26 .409 10 53 3t 26 5 24
St. Lawrence 10 8-12-2 18-26 .409 9 54 6 24 6 23
Dartmouth 11 7-12-3 17-27 .386 11 26 9 16 11 16
Union 12 4-15-3 11-33 .250 12 17 12 12 12 13
The US College Hockey Online Poll is on hiatus thus week, but USA Today and American Hockey Magazine published their first poll of the season this week, and they also place Clarkson at number 7. No other ECAC squads made the top ten, but Princeton and Harvard also received votes.
How about a statistical measure? Because of the way strength of schedule is calculated in the Ratings Percentage Index, only four teams currently have a well-defined RPI :
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Ratings Percentage Index after 4 games
Team RPI PCT OPP OPOP
1 Boston College .7125 1.000 .500 .750
St. Lawrence .7125 .500 1.000 .250
3 Minnesota .2875 .500 .000 .750
Ohio State .2875 .000 .500 .250
Sure, the RPI won't make sense until everyone's got a few more games under their belt, but how often can you calculate it by hand?
Two more ECAC squads begin interconference play Saturday night, both against Hockey East representatives. RPI host regular season champs Boston University while Vermont welcome neighboring New Hampshire to Gutterson Arena.