Brown and Yale @ Quinnipiac and Princeton

[kdiff77]

This season has flown by. And that's not really a good thing; I need my college hockey!

This is a crucial weekend for all 4 teams involved, which should make for some absolutely intense games. In addition to the latest installment of what Brian Sullivan is aggressively trying to coin the "Whitney War", Yale is fighting for the regular season crown, while Brown, QU, and Princeton are battling it out with Harvard for home ice in the first round of the playoffs. Off the top of my head, I think the standings look like this:

QU- 18 pts
HU- 17 pts
Brown/Princeton- 16 pts

Brown beat both QU and P at home in December, so if we muster ties with each team, we win the tiebreaker in each series. However, two ties would probably not be enough to get us home ice, unless Harvard doesn't pick up a point in the NC. QU can distance themselves with one win, so I would say they're in the driver's seat, even though as of right now, Brown has the tiebreaker. Princeton really needs to get at the very least 3 points to even have a hope for home ice.

And, of course, all of this is dependent on Harvard dropping at least 3 points this weekend. I believe Brown holds the tiebreaker with them, but don't know about QU and P.

It should be an absolutely excellent weekend for hockey! I'm going to try to make it down to Hamden on Friday, but I doubt I'll end up heading down to Jersey for Saturday's showdown.

Anybody else have some thoughts or anything they'd like to contribute? It's a huge weekend with major implications all around, so don't hold back!! Take advantage of those First Amendment rights.

 

[LTsatch]

Re: Brown and Yale @ Quinnipiac and Princeton

Beat Q

 

[allnightwong]

Re: Brown and Yale @ Quinnipiac and Princeton

Beat Yale.

 

[licwinko]

Re: Brown and Yale @ Quinnipiac and Princeton

beet q

 

[yhforlife]

Re: Brown and Yale @ Quinnipiac and Princeton

BEAT Q

 

[Mike Hutter]

Re: Brown and Yale @ Quinnipiac and Princeton

I will repeat what I said last week in the thread for Brown's games against SLU and Clarkson - If Clemente keeps his head in the game, Brown can take 4 points.

Last week Clemente did and Brown got 3 points. With Brown depleted by injuries, Clemente is mostdefinutely the key.

I watched P play both Union and RPI last week on TV. P looked bad against U. Its victory against RPI and its crew of scorers was due largely to Kalemba. His first period stops - 20+ - were incredible; perhaps the best period of goaltending I have seen a goalie play in a long time. His play deflated RPI and it wound up losing 7-0 on senior night and Big red Freakout to boot. If Kalemba can continue that play, P can end up in Albany.

 

[kdiff77]

Re: Brown and Yale @ Quinnipiac and Princeton

I will repeat what I said last week in the thread for Brown's games against SLU and Clarkson - If Clemente keeps his head in the game, Brown can take 4 points.

Last week Clemente did and Brown got 3 points. With Brown depleted by injuries, Clemente is mostdefinutely the key.

I watched P play both Union and RPI last week on TV. P looked bad against U. Its victory against RPI and its crew of scorers was due largely to Kalemba. His first period stops - 20+ - were incredible; perhaps the best period of goaltending I have seen a goalie play in a long time. His play deflated RPI and it wound up losing 7-0 on senior night and Big red Freakout to boot. If Kalemba can continue that play, P can end up in Albany.

So true. This time of year, goaltending is a must. If you don't have it, you just aren't going to win. Which is one reason I like Cornell better than Yale this year in the postseason- Scrivens is as solid as they get, and Yale still hasn't decided on a No.1. This principle is what allowed us to sweep Harvard last year in Cambridge, too- Clemente was hot, but Harvard was still rotating goalies the last few weeks of the season.

 

[yhforlife]

Re: Brown and Yale @ Quinnipiac and Princeton

So true. This time of year, goaltending is a must. If you don't have it, you just aren't going to win. Which is one reason I like Cornell better than Yale this year in the postseason- Scrivens is as solid as they get, and Yale still hasn't decided on a No.1.

How? Yale has 6 straight wins against them.

 

[allnightwong]

Re: Brown and Yale @ Quinnipiac and Princeton

How? Yale has 6 straight wins against them.

Very true.

 

[kdiff77]

Re: Brown and Yale @ Quinnipiac and Princeton

How? Yale has 6 straight wins against them.

If they play head-to-head, then Yale probably wins. But I was talking more about NCAA Tournament chances. Just like last year, I think Cornell can make it further, and this is because they have Scrivens and Yale has nothing remotely comparable. Yale's offense is spectacular, and they have a solid defense, but I've noticed in hockey that "Defense wins championships" isn't entirely accurate- goaltending takes defense's place in this sport. You can have the best defense in the world (Yale has great defenders), but if your goalie isn't the best on the ice, you'll probably lose. Examples: USA beating Canada. The Canucks outshot us 46-23, I believe, but we won 5-3. That's because Ryan Miller straight up outplayed Marty Brodeur, and even though the Canadian defense did a great job limiting our chances, we took advantage of the few chances they gave us, along with Brodeur's miscues, and Miller did the rest.

You can also have the best goalie and absolutely NO defense and still fare pretty well- see Brown from 2001-2004. Yann Danis faced 30-40 shots a game because the Brown defense was just atrocious, but because he was so amazing, he kept us in games long enough to allow our offense to score 3-4 goals. We had a pretty good offense anyway those years, but without Yann, we would not have been anything special.

But, head-to-head, I do agree with you that Yale has the advantage over Cornell.