{"id":27823,"date":"2005-12-15T17:28:49","date_gmt":"2005-12-15T23:28:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2005\/12\/15\/this-week-in-the-ecachl-dec-15-2005\/"},"modified":"2010-08-17T19:56:23","modified_gmt":"2010-08-18T00:56:23","slug":"this-week-in-the-ecachl-dec-15-2005","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wwwproxy.uscho.com\/2005\/12\/15\/this-week-in-the-ecachl-dec-15-2005\/","title":{"rendered":"This Week in the ECACHL: Dec. 15, 2005"},"content":{"rendered":"
With the varying exam and winter-break schedules of the ECACHL’s 12 teams, the coming weekend promises to be the quietest of the season, with only one league matchup and one nonconference game on the docket. That said, both games look to be entertaining ones and should tide fans over until the holiday hockey tournaments start up in the days before and after Christmas. <\/p>\n
The weekend’s first contest has Dartmouth hosting Harvard in a rematch of the teams’ season opener, a 6-2 Harvard win that surprised some observers. That opening-night loss has lingered in Hanover; Dartmouth — which was predicted to finish in second and third place in the preseason coaches and media polls, respectively — has thus far not achieved its potential, struggling to a 4-7-0 overall record.<\/p>\n
“Our team has a lot of respect for Dartmouth,” said Harvard captain Peter Hafner. “I think that they are a team that’s going to really have a strong second half and surprise some people.<\/p>\n
“We know that the score of the first game isn’t indicative of the type of game we’re going to have with them this time around,” Hafner continued. “They’re a real dynamic team offensively that seems to be able to generate a lot of shots on net and will challenge us defensively.” <\/p>\n
The key for Harvard during the opener was building up a lead; Harvard took a 3-2 lead with about five minutes left in the second period, then added another goal during the opening minutes of the third. Down two goals, Dartmouth coach Bob Gaudet had no choice but to open up the offense, leaving the Big Green vulnerable to the Crimson’s counterattack.<\/p>\n
Harvard, with its fast-skating forwards who can puckhandle effectively, is ideally suited to utilize a strong forecheck and quick transitions to exploit an offense that is pressing to score. And that’s just what Harvard did in extending its lead and securing the win.<\/p>\n
Still, as Hafner noted, Dartmouth is a talented offensive team; the Big Green is led by senior forwards Mike Ouellette and Eric Przepiorka (14 points apiece) and has the second-highest scoring offense in league games, averaging nearly four goals. And the Dartmouth forwards do have a knack for getting shots on net; through 11 games, Dartmouth has put between 38 and 45 shots on the net six times.<\/p>\n
The Big Green’s biggest weakness has been the team’s overall defense and its consistent struggle to find a decent solution in net. Both sophomore Mike Devine and junior Sean Samuel have had extended auditions at the position, and neither has been particularly impressive. Both have save percentages below .900 and Samuel’s goals against average is almost 4.50, though Devine’s is a respectable 2.75. <\/p>\n
If one of those two players can step forward and, by virtue of his strong play, claim the position of starting goaltender, Dartmouth may be poised for a second-half run. The team will have played only a dozen games heading into its break, second-fewest in the ECACHL, and will have 17 games remaining during the second half. A win against Harvard, with which the team has developed an intensifying rivalry in the past few years, might go a long way towards sparking such a turnaround.<\/p>\n
That rivalry, in turn, is also the strongest reason to believe that Harvard won’t be taking Dartmouth lightly on Friday despite the ease of its win in the opener.<\/p>\n
“I think we’ve developed a real good rivalry with Dartmouth over the past several years and it seems like, with the exception of our first game this year, the games between us always seem to be one-goal games that go down to the wire,” Hafner said.<\/p>\n
The weekend’s other contest features the traveling Saints of St. Lawrence against the Vermont Catamounts at Gutterson Field House in Burlington. It will be the third road game in a row for St. Lawrence, which will then be off until a January 7 contest against Clarkson in Ottawa at the Corel Centre.<\/p>\n
Thus far, the Saints have played the No. 1 and No. 2 teams in the country at their home arenas, and the Catamounts will make lucky No. 3. Although that is a challenging nonconference schedule, Joe Marsh’s team has done fairly well on the road against ranked foes. <\/p>\n
The Saints opened their season in Madison against current No. 1 Wisconsin, and took the Badgers to overtime twice. Wisconsin pulled out the first game 3-2 on an overtime goal by Jack Skille, but the Saints returned the favor the next night with a shorthander 10 seconds into the extra period off the stick of Kyle Rank.<\/p>\n
Last weekend, St. Lawrence was on the road to take on the No. 2 Miami RedHawks, and the Saints rode a strong performance from their defense and goaltender Justin Pesony to a 1-1 tie.<\/p>\n
Prior to last weekend’s action, Marsh emphasized the shift he thought his team needed to make in order to be successful on the road.<\/p>\n
“Now we have to shift our focus and be a good smart road team,” he said before the team began its three-game road trip. “We need to be smarter, spend less time in the box, be more resilient.<\/p>\n
“And we need to tighten up our defense,” he added. “We certainly don’t want to be getting into high-scoring shootouts on the road.”<\/p>\n
That strategy served the Saints well against Miami, but the team was not as successful on Saturday during a 6-4 loss at Bowling Green. St. Lawrence allowed 27 shots on net while spending a modest 14 minutes in the box — but allowing Bowling Green to convert on two of its six power plays.<\/p>\n
St. Lawrence will have to attempt to return to the cautious and smart style Marsh wants, but must do so against one of the nation’s best teams, one that is nearly as explosive as the Saints.<\/p>\n
Both teams rank among the best in the nation offensively, with St. Lawrence averaging 3.67 goals per game and Vermont 3.40. The other side of the coin, though, is telling: while the Saints allow an average of 3.00 goals a game, the Catamounts have held opponents to 1.87. <\/p>\n
It is that first set of numbers that leads Vermont coach Kevin Sneddon to think that there is the potential for both teams to put a lot of points on the scoreboard, even if Marsh is keen to avoid a high-scoring shootout on the road.<\/p>\n
“First off, I expect a great college hockey game,” Sneddon said. “Knowing the styles of the two teams, I suspect it is going to be a very fast-paced, aggressive game.<\/p>\n
“Certainly with a team like St. Lawrence that can score, when you have the opportunity to get the puck on net, you have to take advantage of that,” he continued. “We know we’re going to have to get the rebounds and the second chance opportunities.<\/p>\n
“We’ll certainly have our hands full with St. Lawrence. It’s going to be a very important game for both teams going into the break.”<\/p>\n
If you aren’t able to be in the stands to watch either of this weekend’s games in person, Friday’s matchup between Dartmouth and Harvard in Hanover, N.H., will be broadcast live on CSTV as the station’s Game of The Week. As a result, the drop of the puck has been pushed back until 8 p.m.<\/p>\n
This week’s ECACHL’s Honor Roll reflects the fact that last weekend was not a very successful one for most of the teams that took the ice. Both Dartmouth and Union were swept, St. Lawrence took one point (albeit an impressive one), and Clarkson and Princeton both split on the weekend. And although Rensselaer won its only game, it was a fairly sloppy win that didn’t impress despite the high point totals for players like Kevin Croxton (three goals and two assists), Oren Eizenman. <\/p>\n
Only one league team had a pair of wins last week, and as such Harvard has both the Goaltender of the Week and the Player of the Week on its roster this week. Princeton’s Brett Wilson was named the Rookie of the Week, the second Tiger in the last three weeks.<\/p>\n
Player of the Week<\/b><\/p>\n