{"id":30897,"date":"2010-01-07T21:03:58","date_gmt":"2010-01-08T03:03:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2010\/01\/07\/this-week-in-the-ecac-northeastmascac-jan-7-2010\/"},"modified":"2010-08-17T19:57:50","modified_gmt":"2010-08-18T00:57:50","slug":"this-week-in-the-ecac-northeastmascac-jan-7-2010","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wwwproxy.uscho.com\/2010\/01\/07\/this-week-in-the-ecac-northeastmascac-jan-7-2010\/","title":{"rendered":"This Week in the ECAC Northeast-MASCAC: Jan. 7, 2010"},"content":{"rendered":"
The start of the new year not only brings heaps of unfilled resolutions, but also signals the rebirth of Division III college hockey after a three week slumber. With most of the MASCAC idle last weekend and the ECAC Northeast and NESCAC engaging in mostly non-conference games, the true grind has yet to begin. But before that starts, let’s take a look at four teams that certainly enjoyed the latter part of 2009.<\/p>\n
With all but one team boasting a .500 overall record, the NESCAC has been tightly packed for the opening months of the season, nicely evidenced by Williams and Bowdoin currently tied for first with eight points a piece.<\/p>\n
Williams (4-0-1 in conference play, 6-0-1 overall) is ranked No. 10 in the latest USCHO.com Division III<\/a> poll, but things are just getting started for head coach Bill Kangas.<\/p>\n “We just got together Saturday night after being off for a while,” Kangas said. “We’re excited about getting back intro practice and playing again. We realize there’s a lot coming up.”<\/p>\n The Ephs have ridden the strong goaltending duo of sophomore Ryan Purdy (1.74 goals against average) and senior Marc Pulde (0.74) thus far. With each netminder playing well, it’s led to a timeshare situation for Kangas, something he didn’t seem to mind.<\/p>\n “It goes day to day,” he said of making a decision on who to start. “We make sure they are healthy and just communicate with them. It’s worked out pretty well to this point.”<\/p>\n With each goalie playing so well, it’s no surprise that Williams boasts the top ranked defense in the conference, along with the second ranked penalty kill. While there’s still a lot of games left, Kangas isn’t in any rush to look too far ahead.<\/p>\n “Honestly, we’re just focusing on tomorrow’s practice,” he said. “We don’t get to high or too low. Even the practices coming back from break, the first was OK, and during the double session [Sunday] we were better at the end of the day.”<\/p>\n Bowdoin starts the new year tied with Williams after finishing sixth with an 8-9-2 conference mark (11-12-2 overall) last season. <\/p>\n The Polar Bears have gotten a boost offensively from freshman Daniel Weiniger, who leads the team in scoring and is the second leading scorer (seven goals, three assists, 10 points) in NESCAC play. Four of those tallies have come on Bowdoin’s fourth ranked power play, which places the freshman second in the conference. Junior Kyle Shearer-Hardy leads all NESCAC defenseman with a 4-6-10 line.<\/p>\n Like their counterparts atop the NESCAC standings, the Polar Bears have enjoyed solid goaltending up to this point. Sophomore Richard Nerland (2.49 GAA) has seen the majority of the time in net.<\/p>\n A short drive across New England reveals another tightly contested conference race in the MASCAC, where Salem State holds a one point lead over Westfield State.<\/p>\n The Vikings jumped out to a 5-1-1 start, its best in six years, highlighted by a strong showing at the College of St. Scholastica Tournament on Nov. 27 and 28.<\/p>\n In the opening game, Salem State took then-eighth ranked St. Scholastica to overtime before falling, 4-3. However, they closed the tournament with a 3-0 whitewashing over the 2008 national champions and previously top ranked St. Norbert Green Knights.<\/p>\n “We were strong in both games,” Salem State coach Bill O’Neill said. “[In the] overtime loss we played really and well and the second night it was a solid game all over.”<\/p>\n The Vikings play in the tournament earned praise from Green Knights head coach Tim Coghlin.<\/p>\n