One would expect that with only two weekends remaining in the ECAC regular season, the playoff picture would be relatively clear. This is not so in this year's ECAC.
The top four teams --St. Lawrence, Colgate, RPI and Dartmouth -- remain the same, but below them has been constant shifting with each weekend.
Teams like Cornell and Clarkson have turned it on of late, while Harvard and Yale have slipped to the lower rung of the conference.
This weekend saw a few upsets, including last-place Brown beating St. Lawrence, and sweeps by Colgate, Cornell and Clarkson.
Brad Tapper of RPI remains the leader in points with 27-15-42. Trailing behind him are Andy McDonald and Darryl Campbell of Colgate with 39 and 34 points respectively.
St. Lawrence
The Saints traveled to Cambridge on Friday to face Harvard. The game was not out of reach for the Crimson until Kevin Veneruzzo scored at 19:12 to make it 4-2 and ice the game for St. Lawrence. Derek Gustafson made 32 saves in the winning effort.
The next night the Saints ran into a revved up Brown squad, and were upset 6-0 by the last-place Bears. St. Lawrence changed goalies three times in a futile attempt to stop the barrage. None of the goalies had more than six saves.
Colgate
The Red Raiders swept this weekend at home to pull them right behind St. Lawrence, and proved they will be a force to be reckoned with come playoff time.
On Friday night, Colgate took on the third-place Engineers from RPI. After taking a 3-0 lead, the Raiders held on to win 5-4. They went 2-5 on the power-play and Etienne Morin netted one goal and two assists.
The next night against Union, Colgate opened up a 5-0 lead and never looked back on its way to a 9-3 win. Once again, the Red Raiders' power play was clicking (3-9). Andy McDonald netted two goals and one assist to gain ground in the ECAC scoring race.
RPI
The Engineers' road trip to Colgate and Cornell turned into a nightmare as they were swept. They are now in danger to losing their third-place position.
On Friday night RPI fell behind by three goals to Colgate, and despite four goals in the second half on the game, were unable to finish the comeback. Brian Pothier had two goals in the losing effort.
The next night was the opposite for RPI. They opened up a 2-0 lead over Cornell, but gave up the next three goals in a 3-2 loss. Goalie Scott Prekaski made 58 saves for the Enigineers.
Cornell
The Big Red showed they intend to make a late-season run with two wins this weekend over Union and RPI. Against Union, Cornell's special teams were in full effect as they scored two power play goals and a shorthanded goal in a 4-3 win.
Against the Engineers, Cornell put 61 shots on the RPI net on their way to a 3-2 win. All three Cornell goals came in the second period.
Clarkson
The Golden Knights proved they won't go away by sweeping this weekend.
At Brown on Friday evening, before only 730 fans, Clarkson spread the scoring over six players in a high-scoring 6-5 win.
The next night at Harvard, the Golden Knights went 2-5 on the power-play for a 5-4 win. Karl Mattson made 34 saves in net for Clarkson.
Harvard
A shorthanded goal from Trevor Allman and a power play tally from Peter Capouch were not enough for the Crimson, as they fell 4-2 to first-place St. Lawrence at home on Friday.
The next night, even with better offensive output, the Crimson fell again to Clarkson, 5-4.
Union
Despite going 3-8 on the power play, the Flying Dutchmen fell 4-3 at Cornell. Brandon Snee made 41 saves in the losing effort.
Saturday night at Colgate Union fell behind 5-0 before scoring a goal, and came up with too little, too late in a 9-3 loss. Jeff Wilson and Jeff Sproat both had a goal and an assist.
Brown
The last-place Bears are not content to go down without a fight.
On Friday night, the Bears fell 6-5 in a closely fought game against Clarkson. Brown's three tallies in the third were not enough to match the Knights.
The next night in a surprising upset, Brian Eklund and the Bears toppled St. Lawrence 6-0. Six different scorers did the damage for Brown. Eklund made 32 saves for his first shutout of the year. This was the second win in three games for Brown.
