In the end, there was relatively little change in the standings during the final regular-season weekend in ECAC Hockey.
Three of the top four teams – Quinnipiac, Clarkson, and Harvard – entered the weekend having already clinched a first-round bye. The fourth team, Cornell, blanked Princeton 4-0 Saturday to hold on to the final top-four spot in the standings.
Colgate, Rensselaer, Union, and St. Lawrence will each host a playoff series in the opening round. The Raiders had already clinched home ice entering the weekend, while RPI held on to its sixth seed in the tournament. The Dutchmen and Saints were one point out of hosting a playoff series but moved ahead of Princeton and Brown in the standings.
Colgate shot up to fifth place in the standings and was in the running for a first-round bye thanks to a 5-2-2 mark over the final month of the regular season.
“I am proud of how our team developed over the course of the year,” Raiders coach Don Vaughan said following Saturday’s loss to Quinnipiac. “We gained a lot of ground in the standings over the last month, and we were in a position to earn fourth place and a bye right up until the final regular-season game. That’s what I have really liked about this group. There is no quit in them. We shift our focus now to the playoffs. We are excited to be home next weekend for the first round.”
Here is a look at the four best-of-three opening round playoff series this weekend:
No. 5 Colgate vs. No. 12 Yale
Season series: Colgate, 1-0-1; Yale won in the shootout.
Like Colgate, the Bulldogs enter the playoffs playing well. Yale had a seven-game losing streak that began last month but ended the season with a 3-2 mark over its last five games, including a win at Clarkson last Friday.
Offensively, Colgate finished fifth in the league on scoring. That appears modest at first glance, but it’s a big improvement from previous years. The Raiders’ offense is driven by the top line of Josh McKechney and Colton and Alex Young. While Yale has gotten solid goaltending from sophomore Nathan Reid and freshman Luke Pearson, the Bulldogs simply don’t have the offense to match that line. Yale might have a hard time getting possession against a Colgate team that ranked second in the league in faceoff percentage (54.2), while the Bulldogs finished last (45.6)
Prediction: Colgate in three
No. 6 Rensselaer vs. No. 11 Dartmouth
Season series: RPI 2-0
For the first time this season, RPI will allow external spectators at Houston Field House. Those fans will get a chance to see the Engineers host a playoff series for the first time since 2016; RPI was set to host a quarterfinal series against Harvard two years ago, but that was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Engineers have been led by senior forward Ture Linden, who has twice as many goals in conference play as the next RPI skater.
Dartmouth averaged just over two goals per game in league play but has gotten outstanding play from goalie Clay Stevenson. After shaking off an early-season injury, the freshman finished fourth in the league with a .929 save percentage. That ranked just ahead of RPI’s Jack Watson, who has split time in goal with Linden Marshall this season.
RPI scored four times against Stevenson last Friday, but if the freshman is on point this weekend, he’s capable of stealing the series for the Big Green.
Prediction: Dartmouth in three
No. 7 Union vs. No. 10 Princeton
Season series: Union 2-0
The Dutchmen had stumbled a bit down the stretch but ended the regular season with a six-point weekend. Union clinched a home playoff series in exciting fashion, as Liam Robertson scored an empty-net goal in overtime Saturday to beat Dartmouth 3-2.
Special teams should be an important matchup in this series. Union’s power play ended the season ranked fourth in league play, while Princeton’s penalty kill was in the bottom third of the conference.
Princeton’s offense has had its moments at times this year, but the Dutchmen goalie Connor Murphy has started every game this season and has been the backbone of the Union defense. Defensively, Princeton ranked last in the conference in team save percentage and goals allowed per game.
Prediction: Union in two
No. 8 St. Lawrence vs. No. 9 Brown
Season series: 0-0-2; each team won in the shootout once.
St. Lawrence won an abbreviated league playoffs last season by going on the road and winning at Colgate and Quinnipiac. Now, the defending league champions are hosting a playoff series for the first time since 2017.
Last year’s title run came in part because of an outstanding season by goalie Emil Zetterquist. The senior wasn’t quite as a good this season, but he still lead a Saints penalty kill unit that was the best in the conference during league play.
Both Zetterquist and Brown’s Mathieu Caron were workhorses for their teams, ranking second and third in the league, respectively, in minutes played in conference games.
With two low-scoring offenses and two solid goalies, offense will likely be hard to come by in this series.
Prediction: St. Lawrence in three
