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ECAC 2023-2024: New year, new ice

B

BowWowWow

Member
This week, Colgate was picked 1st in the coaches' preseason poll. As of this summer, Laura Bellamy is now coaching Harvard. This year, all twelve teams will make the playoffs. The first round will be best of 1, with a bye for the top four teams; the quarterfinals best of 3; and the semis and finals best of 1 hosted at the top surviving seed.

Here are the preseason poll results and preseason All-ECAC team.

2023-24 Preseason Poll
(parentheses: first-place votes; coaches could not vote for their own team or players)
  1. Colgate – 121 (11) - unanimous selection
  2. Yale – 101
  3. Quinnipiac – 96
  4. Cornell – 94 (1)
  5. Clarkson – 92
  6. St. Lawrence – 67
  7. Princeton – 66
  8. Harvard – 46
  9. Brown – 41
  10. RPI – 25
  11. Dartmouth – 23
  12. Union – 20
Preseason All-ECAC
May the best team prevail!
 
Nice thread...will be visiting here ! Colgate plays an ex game against SLU this saturday, Ohio State visits Hamilton x2 in two weeks,
 
Yes, Sept. 29-30 has the eye-catching matchup of Ohio State @ Colgate! Among the non-conference series coming up, both Clarkson and SLU play Vermont twice. On Friday Oct. 13, the league season starts with Harvard at Dartmouth.
 
I have said it before, but it bears repeating: I hate that the ECAC has gone to the "all teams make the playoffs" philosophy. It makes a mockery of the regular season games. Teams fight and scrap for those playoff positions, but now it is all just one long exhibition season in preparation for the playoffs. In a twelve team league, maybe 6 should make the playoffs, but I was okay with 8.
 
hab said:
I have said it before, but it bears repeating: I hate that the ECAC has gone to the "all teams make the playoffs" philosophy. It makes a mockery of the regular season games. Teams fight and scrap for those playoff positions, but now it is all just one long exhibition season in preparation for the playoffs. In a twelve team league, maybe 6 should make the playoffs, but I was okay with 8.
Click to expand...

Yeah, personally, I feel that 8 out of 12 teams was about the right number to make the playoffs.

Also, agreed that the preseason poll doesn't reflect anything very deep. I would expect Cornell to maybe surprise positively, though - they are returning most of their highest-scoring players.
 
The Ice Garden season preview for the ECAC - it's nice to see the increased NCAA coverage there. They mention the success of Yale goalie Pia Dukaric, as well as the somewhat fewer games the Ivies play. One thing that could be noted also, re: Cornell, is their strong incoming goalie Annelies Bergmann.
 
BowWowWow said:
The Ice Garden season preview for the ECAC - it's nice to see the increased NCAA coverage there. They mention the success of Yale goalie Pia Dukaric, as well as the somewhat fewer games the Ivies play. One thing that could be noted also, re: Cornell, is their strong incoming goalie Annelies Bergmann.
Click to expand...

If Bergmann is as good as advertised, she is the missing piece Cornell had last year. Quite frankly their goalies IMHO last year were mediocre at best and the main reason for the number of losses they suffered.
 
BowWowWow said:
The Ice Garden season preview for the ECAC - it's nice to see the increased NCAA coverage there. They mention the success of Yale goalie Pia Dukaric, as well as the somewhat fewer games the Ivies play. One thing that could be noted also, re: Cornell, is their strong incoming goalie Annelies Bergmann.
Click to expand...

Poorly written article. Was it necessary to take a cheap shot at Harvard? We all know what has transpired inside the program and hopefully, Laura Bellamy and her staff can right the ship.
 
Skate79 said:
Poorly written article. Was it necessary to take a cheap shot at Harvard? We all know what has transpired inside the program and hopefully, Laura Bellamy and her staff can right the ship.
Click to expand...

True, I kind of didn't focus on that part of the story, given that, as you say, we all know about what's gone on and know that a new coach is on board.
 
Many home games were on this weekend for ECAC teams in non-conference:
- Quinnipiac: 2 wins vs. Maine.
- St. Lawrence vs. Mercyhurst: won 5-1 on Friday. Today, they came back from down 2-5 (with 1:17 left) to win 6-5 with 2 secs left in OT - with 3 extra-attacker goals.
- Clarkson: 2 wins vs. BC.
- Colgate vs. OSU: won 3-2 and lost 2-3 (OT). I caught the Saturday game (on espn+). At first, the ice was tilted heavily in OSU's favor, OSU going up 2-0, but Gate stayed in it, started getting more chances, and came back, with a power-play goal with Murphy pulled in the last couple minutes. They gave up a goal scored by Buglioni in OT.
- Union vs. Robert Morris: 5-2 and 2-3 (OT).
Last weekend (Sept. 23-24), Union lost 2 at St. Cloud State, RPI tied 2 vs. RIT, and Clarkson won 2 vs. Merrimack.
 
The preseason rankings in the USCHO season-preview article differ somewhat from those in the preseason coaches' poll. The rankings in the article this week:
1. Colgate
2. Yale
3. Quinnipiac
4. Clarkson
5. Cornell
6. Princeton
7. St. Lawrence
8. Brown
9. Harvard
10. Union
11. Dartmouth
12. RPI
 
Continues to be a disgrace that USCHO does:

• Not have an equal number of Men (20) and Women (15) in their National polls

• Does NOT list "25" in their M&W Ice Hockey Polls, like all other NCAA Sports.

Sorry to be a Pain in the _ss on this! Been complaining about this for 10 years! Love USCHO, but ....

Jack McDonald
 
Interesting points, Jack McDonald! I don't see why they couldn't rank 25 teams in the national poll - it would draw useful attention to more teams. From the ECAC, Princeton and / or St. Lawrence could make those rankings at this point, as they received votes recently.
 
Selected matchups that include ECAC teams this weekend:
  • Penn State @ Cornell series, after Penn State was swept by Colgate last weekend
  • St-Lawrence–Vermont home-and-home, after St. Lawrence swept Providence and Vermont had a loss and tie vs Clarkson
  • Providence–Quinnipiac home-and-home, after Quinnipiac swept UNH (one game in OT)
  • Mercyhurst @ Colgate series, after Mercyhurst split vs St. Cloud State
  • Harvard @ Dartmouth on Friday, the 1st ECAC game
Clarkson and Yale are off; the remaining ECAC teams also play non-conference.
 
Cornell had a good start at home sweeping Penn State. Dartmouth beat Harvard, 4-2.

Next weekend (10/20-10/21), the ECAC games are:
  • Yale & Brown @ Princeton & Quinnipiac, Fri and Sat
  • RPI & Union @ Dartmouth & Harvard, Fri and Sat
Colgate and St. Lawrence are off, Clarkson plays a series at Robert Morris, and Cornell plays a series at Mercyhurst.

What stands out to me so far is:
  • the strength of Clarkson’s defense, giving up 6 goals in 6 games and not giving up any powerplay goals yet; they may be underrated in the preseason poll
  • Colgate’s first-year class including Emma Pais, Madeline Palumbo, and Avery Pickering, alongside transfer Sydney Morrow; their veterans are also off to a fast start
I wonder what other things everyone has been noticing?
 
BowWowWow; [/LIST said:
I wonder what other things everyone has been noticing?
Click to expand...

St. Lawrence record looks impressive: 6-2 with a fairly tough pre-conference schedule. Lost one to Colgate and split with Vermont and even in those games they outshot their opponents.
 
hab said:
St. Lawrence record looks impressive: 6-2 with a fairly tough pre-conference schedule. Lost one to Colgate and split with Vermont and even in those games they outshot their opponents.
Click to expand...

Yes - some great players are on St. Lawrence, like their captain Julia Gosling - doing well. We can't count them out, for sure.

I just noticed too that Quinnipiac has the same defensive record as Clarkson (6 goals against in 6 games with no PP goals against). League games look like a battle!
 
Watching the stream of Cornell up 3-0 vs Syracuse this evening midway through the 2nd. Delianedis, Katie Chan, and Izzy Daniel have been producing on offense.
 
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