Can things be any crazier? If you thought two years ago it was nuts, and last year it was nuttier, this time may take the cake. <\/p>\n
With a week to go in the regular season, there are only two spots decided in the ECAC — first and last. Other than that, there is nothing decided. Four home-ice spots are up in the air. There are still three playoff spots to be determined. <\/p>\n
Just your typical ECAC year. <\/p>\n
Cornell<\/b> – The Big Red skate away with the Cleary Cup. ‘Nuff said. <\/p>\n
Brown<\/b> – The Bears are now the hottest team in the ECAC with another weekend sweep. They still lose the tiebreaker for home ice, but have a shot at second place. <\/p>\n
Princeton<\/b> – Three big points keep the Tigers ahead of the others nipping at their heels. <\/p>\n
Yale<\/b> – A weekend sweep and the Bulldogs are back in the playoff hunt. <\/p>\nLosers<\/h4>\n
Vermont<\/b> – Two more games and the misery ends. <\/p>\n
Dartmouth<\/b> – The Big Green had a chance to sit alone in second and came out of the weekend with one point. <\/p>\n
Union<\/b> – What once was a chance at home ice could be no playoffs at all. <\/p>\n
St. Lawrence<\/b> – The Saints got one point, but then got shellacked at Colgate. They need help. <\/p>\nWe Did Okay<\/h4>\n
Clarkson<\/b> – The Knights got two points and are still in the hunt for second and home ice.<\/p>\n
Colgate<\/b> – Two points are better than none. The Raiders still hold the last home-ice spot.<\/p>\n
Harvard<\/b> – It could have been a bad weekend for the Crimson, but after a loss to Rensselaer, they bounced back to remain in second place. <\/p>\n
Rensselaer<\/b> – The Engineers got a big win over Harvard, but the streak was broken, and with the loss to Brown, home ice might not be there. <\/p>\nClearing It Up — Sort Of<\/h4>\n
Here’s a handy-dandy guide to your team, its possible finishes, the best- and worst-case scenarios, and who you should be rooting for this weekend if you’re a fan of that team. <\/p>\n
Maybe we’ll just confuse you. <\/p>\n
As we go through this, the scenarios we paint for best and worst finish are examples. There are others out there. <\/p>\n
No doubt here.<\/p>\n
Best<\/b> – First
\nWorst<\/b> – First
\nRooting For<\/b> – The teams you don’t want to play next week, or for a team you don’t want to play to finish in 11th. <\/p>\nClarkson<\/h4>\n
Best<\/b> – 2nd
\nHow?<\/b> – Two wins as Clarkson wins any tiebreakers head-to-head with Dartmouth or Harvard, or in a three-way tie.
\nWorst<\/b> – 7th
\nHow?<\/b> – Two losses and Brown gets one point, Colgate gets one point and Rensselaer gets three points.
\nRooting For<\/b> – Whoever is playing Harvard, Dartmouth, Colgate, Brown and Rensselaer. <\/p>\nDartmouth<\/h4>\n
Best<\/b> – 2nd
\nHow?<\/b> – Two wins and Harvard does not sweep.
\nWorst<\/b> – 7th
\nHow?<\/b> – Two losses and Colgate splits, Brown splits and Rensselaer wins and ties.
\nRooting For<\/b> – Yale, Princeton and Cornell. <\/p>\nHarvard<\/h4>\n
Best<\/b> – 2nd
\nHow?<\/b> – Two wins and a Clarkson or Dartmouth not to get two wins.
\nWorst<\/b> – 7th
\nHow?<\/b> – Two losses, Clarkson and Dartmouth tie each other, Rensselaer gets three points and Colgate and Brown get two points.
\nRooting For<\/b> – Vermont, St. Lawrence, Cornell, Yale and Princeton to beat Brown and a toss-up on Colgate-Rensselaer. <\/p>\nBrown<\/h4>\n
Best<\/b> – 2nd
\nHow?<\/b> – Two wins, Clarkson, Dartmouth and Harvard split the weekend and Colgate gets three points at a maximum.
\nWorst<\/b> – 8th
\nHow?<\/b> – Two losses, two Colgate losses and two Princeton wins, Brown loses the tiebreaker in that three-way scenario.
\nRooting For<\/b> – St. Lawrence, Vermont, Yale and Princeton to beat Harvard, and a toss-up on Colgate-Rensselaer. <\/p>\nColgate<\/h4>\n
Best<\/b> – 2nd
\nHow?<\/b> – Two wins, Clarkson, Dartmouth and Harvard split the weekend.
\nWorst<\/b> – 8th
\nHow?<\/b> – Two losses, a Princeton sweep and Brown ties Yale.
\nRooting For<\/b> – St. Lawrence, Vermont, Yale, Princeton. <\/p>\nRensselaer<\/h4>\n
Best<\/b> – 2nd
\nHow?<\/b> – Two wins, a Dartmouth-Clarkson tie and each loses its other game, and Brown and Harvard get no more than two points.
\nWorst<\/b> – 9th
\nHow?<\/b> – Two losses and Union sweeps and Princeton gets three points.
\nRooting For<\/b> – Yale, Princeton, Vermont, St. Lawrence and the tie. <\/p>\nPrinceton<\/h4>\n
Best<\/b> – 6th
\nHow?<\/b> – Two wins, Colgate gets swept and Brown gets swept. This sets up a three-way tie for sixth, which Princeton wins over Colgate.
\nWorst<\/b> – 11th
\nHow?<\/b> – Two losses, a Union win, and St. Lawrence and Yale get at least three points.
\nRooting For<\/b> – Vermont, Dartmouth, Rensselaer and Yale. <\/p>\nUnion<\/h4>\n
Best<\/b> – 7th
\nHow?<\/b> – Union sweeps, Rensselaer gets swept and Princeton splits.
\nWorst<\/b> – 11th
\nHow?<\/b> – Union loses twice and St. Lawrence and Yale each get two points.
\nRooting For<\/b> – Cornell and Colgate to beat Rensselaer, Vermont, Dartmouth, Harvard and Brown. <\/p>\nSt. Lawrence<\/h4>\n
Best<\/b> – 8th
\nHow?<\/b> – Two wins, Princeton gets swept, Yale does not sweep and Union at most splits.
\nWorst<\/b> – 11th
\nHow?<\/b> – Two losses and one Yale point.
\nRooting For<\/b> – Harvard, Brown, Cornell and Colgate. <\/p>\nYale<\/h4>\n
Best<\/b> – 8th
\nHow?<\/b> – Two wins, Princeton gets swept, St. Lawrence does not sweep and Union at most splits.
\nWorst<\/b> – 11th
\nHow?<\/b> – Two losses and one St. Lawrence point.
\nRooting For<\/b> – Vermont, Dartmouth, Cornell and Colgate <\/p>\nVermont<\/h4>\n
No doubt here.<\/p>\n
Best<\/b> – 12th
\nWorst<\/b> – 12th
\nRooting For<\/b> – closing out the season on a good note. <\/p>\nScenarios<\/h4>\n
Six Ways For Second?<\/b><\/p>\n
Can there be a six-way tie for second place? Yes. But it’s tough to get there, as a lot of ties are involved. What has to happen? <\/p>\n
You now have a six-way tie for second place. How does that shake out? <\/p>\n
The order:<\/p>\n
2. Clarkson
\n3. Harvard
\n4. Colgate
\n5. Dartmouth
\n6. Brown
\n7. Rensselaer <\/p>\n
Four Ways For Eighth?<\/b><\/p>\n
Hey, this can happen too! How? <\/p>\n
Who is the odd team out if this happens? <\/p>\n
So the order of this four-way tie is:<\/p>\n
8. St. Lawrence
\n9. Yale
\n10. Princeton
\n11. Union <\/p>\n
Travel Partner Heaven<\/b><\/p>\n
How can you get the most travel partners playing each other in the playoffs? Well, we know that Dartmouth can’t play Vermont, Cornell can’t play Colgate and Yale can’t play Princeton. But, Harvard can play Brown, Rensselaer can play Union, and Clarkson can play St. Lawrence.<\/p>\n
We then get: <\/p>\n
1. Cornell
\n2. Clarkson
\n3. Rensselaer
\n4. Brown
\n4. Dartmouth
\n6. Harvard
\n7. Colgate
\n8. Union
\n9. Princeton
\n9. St. Lawrence
\n9. Yale
\n12. Vermont <\/p>\n
Break the ties. <\/p>\n
The matchups: <\/p>\n
Three travel partner series. <\/p>\n
Rematches?<\/b><\/p>\n
Can we get series that happened last year? We can’t get Clarkson-Vermont, nor St. Lawrence-Union. But Rensselaer-Dartmouth, Princeton-Cornell and Yale-Harvard can still happen.<\/p>\n
We get: <\/p>\n
1. Cornell
\n2. Clarkson
\n3. Dartmouth
\n3. Harvard
\n5. Brown
\n5. Colgate
\n7. Rensselaer
\n8. Yale
\n9. Union
\n10. Princeton
\n11. St. Lawrence
\n12. Vermont <\/p>\n
Let’s break the ties. <\/p>\n
The matchups: <\/p>\n
Three rematches, plus a series between the two teams not in the playoffs last year, plus Union goes to the North Country for the third straight year.<\/p>\n
Have your own fun at Joe Schlobotnik’s ECAC Page<\/a><\/p>\n Last weekend, the Dartmouth Big Green lost a game to Yale, 4-2. In that game the Bulldogs got two power-play goals and after the game, Big Green forward Chris Taliercio was quoted by David Sherzer of The Dartmouth<\/i> in regards to the refereeing of Peter Torgerson. <\/p>\n “I felt like it was a bunch of 25-year-old goons playing 15-year-olds, and every time we touched somebody, he called a penalty,” he said. “I think he is the worst ref in the league, and you can put that in any paper you want. He ruined a good game tonight.” <\/p>\n Now, if one of the 12 head coaches said something like this, the ECAC league office might suspend that head coach for one game. In fact, earlier this season a head coach was suspended for one game after remarks about officiating according to the school’s weekly release. <\/p>\n If a head coach was suspended for remarks about officiating, shouldn’t Taliercio receive the same suspension? <\/p>\n Well, at the beginning of the year, we challenged you to pick the ECAC. Here were the picks: <\/p>\n Scoring the picks as we have for the past couple of weeks, let’s take the standings. <\/p>\n Here are the standings as of today: <\/p>\n 1. Cornell We’ll apply the appropriate tiebreakers, as the ECAC does for the playoffs. <\/p>\n So the standings for our purposes: <\/p>\n 1. Cornell Now let’s do our comparisons with the points in parentheses. <\/p>\n 1. Cornell – Fans (2) \/ Becky and Jayson (0) Guess what? Well, back to a tie at 30-30.<\/p>\n The Iron Columnists finally destroyed Mike Johnson. Good riddance. <\/p>\n The competition thus far:<\/p>\n Vic Brzozowksi<\/b> t.<\/i> The Iron Columnists – 7-2-1<\/b> It is time to bring out our final challenger of the season. Will the Iron Columnists go into the offseason with a losing streak? We doubt it. <\/p>\n So, Dave Bryan<\/b>, take your best shot at the Iron Columnists.<\/p>\n The Picks<\/b><\/p>\n Friday, Mar. 1<\/b><\/p>\n Brown<\/a> at Princeton<\/a> Harvard<\/a> at Yale<\/a> Vermont<\/a> at Clarkson<\/a> Dartmouth<\/a> at St. Lawrence<\/a> Colgate<\/a> at Union<\/a> Cornell<\/a> at Rensselaer<\/a> Saturday, Mar. 2<\/b><\/p>\n Brown<\/a> at Yale<\/a> Harvard<\/a> at Princeton<\/a> Vermont<\/a> at St. Lawrence<\/a> Dartmouth<\/a> at Clarkson<\/a> Colgate<\/a> at Rensselaer<\/a> Cornell<\/a> at Union<\/a>Double Standard?<\/h4>\n
Picks Challenge<\/h4>\n
Challenge Range Becky and Jayson
1. Clarkson (8) 1- 4 1. Cornell
2. Harvard (14) 1- 7 2. Dartmouth
3. Cornell (6) 1- 6 3. Harvard
4. Dartmouth (4) 1- 6 4. Clarkson
5. St. Lawrence 2- 7 5. St. Lawrence
6. Rensselaer 2-10 6. Vermont
7. Vermont 5-10 7. Rensselaer
8. Union 8-11 8. Union
9. Colgate 7-12 9. Colgate
10. Yale 6-12 10. Yale
11. Princeton 7-12 11. Princeton
12. Brown 9-12 12. Brown<\/pre>\n
\n2. Clarkson
\n2. Dartmouth
\n2. Harvard
\n5. Brown
\n5. Colgate
\n7. Rensselaer
\n8. Princeton
\n9. Union
\n10. St. Lawrence
\n10. Yale
\n12. Vermont <\/p>\n
\n2. Clarkson
\n3. Harvard
\n4. Dartmouth
\n5. Colgate
\n6. Brown
\n7. Rensselaer
\n8. Princeton
\n9. Union
\n10. St. Lawrence
\n11. Yale
\n12. Vermont <\/p>\n
\n2. Clarkson – Fans (1) \/ Becky and Jayson (2)
\n3. Harvard – Fans (1) \/ Becky and Jayson (0)
\n4. Dartmouth – Fans (0) \/ Becky and Jayson (2)
\n5. Colgate – Fans (4) \/ Becky and Jayson (4)
\n6. Brown – Fans (6) \/ Becky and Jayson (6)
\n7. Rensselaer – Fans (1) \/ Becky and Jayson (0)
\n8. Princeton – Fans (3) \/ Becky and Jayson (3)
\n9. Union – Fans (1) \/ Becky and Jayson (1)
\n10. St. Lawrence – Fans (5) \/ Becky and Jayson (5)
\n11. Yale – Fans (1) \/ Becky and Jayson (1)
\n12. Vermont – Fans (5) \/ Becky and Jayson (6) <\/p>\nIf It’s So Easy, You Try It<\/h4>\n
\nThe Iron Columnists d.<\/i> Vic Brzozowksi<\/b> – 8-3-1 to 7-4-1<\/b>
\nBen Flickinger<\/b> d.<\/i> The Iron Columnists – 11-4-2 to 10-5-2<\/b>
\nThe Iron Columnists d.<\/i> Ben Flickinger<\/b> – 5-1-4 to 4-2-4<\/b>
\nJohn Beaber and Lisa McGill<\/b> t.<\/i> The Iron Columnists – 6-7-0<\/b>
\nThe Iron Columnists d.<\/i> John Beaber and Lisa McGill<\/b> – 7-5-3 to 6-6-3<\/b>
\nMike Johnson<\/b> d.<\/i> The Iron Columnists – 10-3-1 to 6-7-1<\/b>
\nMike Johnson<\/b> t.<\/i> The Iron Columnists – 5-5-2<\/b>
\nMike Johnson<\/b> d.<\/i> The Iron Columnists – 6-5-1 to 5-6-1<\/b>
\nThe Iron Columnists d.<\/i> Mike Johnson<\/b> – 7-3-2 to 3-7-2<\/b> <\/p>\n
\nDave’s Pick<\/b> – The Bears are on a roll. Brown 4, Princeton 2<\/i>
\nBecky and Jayson’s Pick<\/b> – Princeton 3, Brown 1<\/i><\/p>\n
\nDave’s Pick<\/b> – The home team seems to like this series. Yale 4, Harvard 2<\/i>
\nBecky and Jayson’s Pick<\/b> – Harvard 4, Yale 2<\/i><\/p>\n
\nDave’s Pick<\/b> – Poor, poor Vermont. Clarkson 8, Vermont 1<\/i>
\nBecky and Jayson’s Pick<\/b> – Clarkson 5, Vermont 1<\/i><\/p>\n
\nDave’s Pick<\/b> – The Big Green roll to home ice. Dartmouth 5, St. Lawrence 2<\/i>
\nBecky and Jayson’s Pick<\/b> – St. Lawrence 3, Dartmouth 2<\/i><\/p>\n
\nDave’s Pick<\/b> – The Dutchmen can’t stop the slide. Colgate 4, Union 1<\/i>
\nBecky and Jayson’s Pick<\/b> – Colgate 4, Union 2<\/i><\/p>\n
\nDave’s Pick<\/b> – The Big Red defense wins out. Cornell 1, Rensselaer 0<\/i>
\nBecky and Jayson’s Pick<\/b> – Cornell 3, Rensselaer 1<\/i> <\/p>\n
\nDave’s Pick<\/b> – Home sweet home for the Bulldogs. Yale 4, Brown 2<\/i>
\nBecky and Jayson’s Pick<\/b> – Brown 3, Yale 1<\/i><\/p>\n
\nDave’s Pick<\/b> – The Crimson pick up home ice. Harvard 3, Princeton 2<\/i>
\nBecky and Jayson’s Pick<\/b> – Harvard 4, Princeton 2<\/i><\/p>\n
\nDave’s Pick<\/b> – Poor, poor Vermont. St. Lawrence 8, Vermont 2<\/i>
\nBecky and Jayson’s Pick<\/b> – St. Lawrence 4, Vermont 3<\/i><\/p>\n
\nDave’s Pick<\/b> – The Knights take this one. Clarkson 4, Dartmouth 2<\/i>
\nBecky and Jayson’s Pick<\/b> – Clarkson 4, Dartmouth 1<\/i><\/p>\n
\nDave’s Pick<\/b> – The Raiders pick up the last home-ice slot. Colgate 5, Rensselaer 2<\/i>
\nBecky and Jayson’s Pick<\/b> – Colgate 3, Rensselaer 2<\/i><\/p>\n
\nDave’s Pick<\/b> – The Big Red close out the regular season in style. Cornell 4, Union 0<\/i>
\nBecky and Jayson’s Pick<\/b> – Cornell 2, Union 1<\/i> <\/p>\n