Dutchmen running hot
Now riding a five-game win streak after sweeping Penn State in Happy Valley, the Dutchmen are keeping things tight at the top of the ECAC Hockey standings. Despite playing two fewer games than Quinnipiac, Union is three points behind the Bobcats with two games in hand. Oh hey, look at that: The Bobcats and Dutchmen play next week in Schenectady. That’s fortuitous, no?
The Daniels (Carr and Ciampini) have 13 goals between them, leading a squad scoring over four goals a game in league play. What’s scary is that the defense and goaltending – already holding conference opponents to 2.17 goals per game – can do much better. No. 1 goaltender Colin Stevens has a terrific 2.01 league GAA, but his save percentage is only .898. That’s not a competitive figure for a very competitive team.
Ryan Haggerty: Still quite good
We haven’t noted it in a while, but yes, Rensselaer junior forward Ryan Haggerty is still pretty ok at hockey. He has only been held scoreless in three games (out of 13), and has yet to be blanked in consecutive outings. On the other hand, Haggerty has seven multi-point games – including three three-point games – and five multi-goal games for a 15-5–20 line. Haggerty also leads Division 1 with seven power-play goals, he is the only player in the country with more than a goal per game, and he is also three goals ahead of the nearest competitor for raw total goals (a three-way tie).
Oh yeah, St. Lawrence’s Greg Carey (11-18–29) is alright, too. This concludes your early-season Hobey watch.
Leftovers
•Dartmouth is finally off the schneid (whatever that means) with its first win of the year, a hard-earned 2-1 victory over Ivy rival Harvard on Saturday. The Big Green out-shot the Crimson 35-23, but had to kill six penalties in order to wrap up Win No. 1 (1-8-0).
•In Hockey East-ECAC rivalry games, Boston University downed Cornell in Manhattan again in the fourth installment of Red Hot Hockey. BU is now 3-0-1 against the Big Red at MSG. Elsewhere, Providence edged Brown 3-2 in the Mayor’s Cup. In non-rivalry HEA-ECAC contests, Yale eked by Merrimack in New Haven; up the road, Quinnipiac slammed Massachusetts, 6-1.
•Harvard freshman defenseman Kevin Guiltinan leads the country with 3.27 blocked shots per game. Keep an eye on him – he’s hard to miss.
•Quinnipiac senior Connor Jones leads D-I in shots (76) and leads the ECAC in overall plus-minus (+15). He is one reason the Bobcats lead the nation in raw shots-on-goal, too (598).
•SLU is the national leader in power-play goals (22).
•RPI’s 14.3 percent shooting percentage is the best in the country.
•Clarkson’s 55.3 percent faceoff win rate is, also, the best in the country.
