{"id":97759,"date":"2018-03-16T07:23:07","date_gmt":"2018-03-16T12:23:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.uscho.com\/ecac-blog\/?p=2531"},"modified":"2018-03-16T07:23:07","modified_gmt":"2018-03-16T12:23:07","slug":"heading-to-lake-placid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wwwproxy.uscho.com\/2018\/03\/16\/heading-to-lake-placid\/","title":{"rendered":"Heading to Lake Placid"},"content":{"rendered":"
There are four teams left in ECAC Hockey, each with a different storyline entering the championship weekend in Lake Placid.<\/p>\n
Cornell is looking to add to its trophy case, as the Big Red already won the ECAC Hockey and Ivy League titles this year. This is the tenth time in the last fourteen years that Cornell has made it to the league semifinals. The Big Red will face seventh-seeded Princeton, who are playing in the championship weekend for the first time since 2009.The Tigers lost to in double overtime to Cornell in the semifinals before tying St. Lawrence in the now defunct third-place game.<\/p>\n
Fourth-seeded Harvard is looking for its third Whitelaw Cup in the last four years. The Crimson might not be as dominant as in recent years, but still have a dangerous team led by ECAC Hockey Player of the Year Ryan Donato, who had a hat trick in Game 3 of the league quarterfinals Sunday against Dartmouth.<\/p>\n
Harvard will go up against No. 3 Clarkson in the second semifinal game on Friday. The Golden Knights are making their first appearance in the semifinals since 2007, when it beat Quinnipiac in the championship game to win the Whitelaw Cup.<\/p>\n
The Big Red are the only one of the four teams that enters the weekend assured of an NCAA tournament bid. Clarkson, which is currently tied for tenth in the PairWise, has a high chance of getting an at-large bid should it not win the championship, while Princeton and Harvard will need to win twice this weekend in order to make the national tournament.<\/p>\n
Here are the picks for Friday\u2019s games. I\u2019ll be on the road today to Lake Placid and will provides updates from all three games as well as post my prediction for Saturday\u2019s championship game.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Friday, March 16<\/strong><\/p>\n No. 7 Princeton vs. No. 1 Cornell, 4:05 p.m.<\/strong><\/p>\n Season series: Cornell, 2-0<\/p>\n This is an interesting matchup, as Princeton plays a high-flying, run-and-gun type of game, while Cornell is more methodical, but still plenty dangerous offensively. The Tigers might have two of the most dynamic lines in the country, led by junior Ryan Kuffner and his 29 goals, while Cornell goalie Matthew Galajda was named ECAC Hockey\u2019s rookie of the year and goalie of the year. However, Princeton has had defensive issues at times this season, which could hurt it against a Big Red team that doesn\u2019t have the big guns Princeton does, but is deep offensively.<\/p>\n