College Hockey:

This Week in the ECAC: February 26, 1999

With only two weeks left in the regular season, the ECAC is, as usual, a jumbled mess. Or is it?

Hopefully we can try to clear things up for you.

With that in mind, we will dispense with the regular "style" of the preview and bring you something that might put things in a little better perspective.

But before we begin, please take a look at the ECAC Standings.

What stands out when one looks at the standings is that the ECAC has separated itself into four distinct groups of teams. So what we will do is examine each of these four groups and give everyone a nice rundown for the coming weekend.

Now you may ask, what exactly are the four groups? We will now define them.

Group I — The "I Want That Automatic Bid To The NCAA Tournament" Group

Group II — The "I Want To Get Home Ice In The Playoffs and Perhaps A Bid To The Dance" Group

Group III — The "Just Get Us In and I Know We Can Do Damage" Group

Group IV — The "October Is Too Far Away" Group

Let’s take it away…

Group I — The "I Want That Automatic Bid To The NCAA Tournament" Group

Group I consists of two teams — Clarkson and St. Lawrence. These two have pulled away from the pack and have a comfortable margin over the other 10 teams in the league. Both have clinched home ice in the quarterfinal series and both are ranked in the USCHO Poll.

What remains to be decided here is who finishes up top, getting the automatic bid to the NCAA tournament and the number-one seed — which is important if that team makes it to Lake Placid because that team would play the winner of the 4 vs. 5 game.

Clarkson Golden Knights Record — 18-9-1, 15-3-0 ECAC, 1st Best Possible Finish — 1st Worst Possible Finish — 3rd

What can you say about the Golden Knights? A lot of people were predicting doom for this team when the Knights had not reached the .500 mark at the beginning of December. But right now, those people are long gone and the Knights are in the familiar role that people seem to know — first place in the ECAC late in the season.

"We lost so much at the start of the year that we knew we couldn’t afford to stumble," said head coach Mark Morris. "We gave away a lot of wins so we definitely can’t coast now.

"When you lose, you get the attention of your players. It was definitely a humbling experience for our players, our coaches and all of us to endure that slow start. It was a real eye-opener for us."

Victories over Yale and Princeton last weekend extended the Knights’ winning streak to 11 games. With two games remaining, the Knights are firing on all cylinders looking for that automatic bid.

"If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it," said Morris.

St. Lawrence Saints Record — 18-9-3, 13-2-3 ECAC, 2nd Best Possible Finish — 1st Worst Possible Finish — 4th

Going into last weekend, the Saints were tied with the Knights, but after a 4-1 win over Princeton and a 3-3 tie against Yale, the Saints find themselves one point behind for first place and the autobid.

It was a great weekend for Bob Prier, the senior captain of the Saints. He was named ECAC Player of the Week for his four-goal, one-assist weekend.

"We had some outstanding efforts by our seniors this past weekend," said head coach Joe Marsh. "Our whole defensive group stepped things up under some adverse circumstances. Both games were physical games and they took their toll, but I was pleased with the way the guys responded. We got another big weekend from Eric Heffler, and Bobby Prier, John Poapst, Erik Anderson and Dale Clarke had great efforts as well. It was pretty consistent right down the line, which is what we are going to need in the stretch run."

Home ice is clinched and advancement to Lake Placid for the first time may loom for the Saints. Marsh likes the way things look for his team right now.

"We’re in good position heading into the final four games, but it is going to be a dogfight," said Marsh. "The two games this past weekend were both high-intensity, playoff-like games and that is what we are going to see in the last four. Everyone has something at stake, and we are going to play them as they come and try to stay on top of our game."

Games This Week For Group I Brown and Harvard at Clarkson Friday – Saturday, 7:30 pm – 4:00 pm, Cheel Arena, Potsdam, NY Harvard and Brown at St. Lawrence Friday – Saturday, 7:30 pm – 7:00 pm, Appleton Arena, Canton, NY

All four games are key matchups. St. Lawrence clinches at least second place with a win, as does Clarkson. Clarkson can clinch the regular-season title with two victories and two St. Lawrence losses; otherwise we go to next weekend to decide it.

Group II — The "I Want To Get Home Ice In The Playoffs and Perhaps A Bid To The Dance" Group

This grouping is playing for three home-ice spots in the quarterfinals, and that has been a real battle. Moreover, as this grouping is separated by only four points in the standings, so after this weekend, the positioning may change dramatically.

Of the five spots that these teams occupy and the three home-ice spots that are being fought for, one spot in particular is very important — third place.

There are a few big reasons for this:

Home ice. Making the playoffs is one thing, but playing in front of your own crowd is another.

Avoiding the play-in Game in Lake Placid. It may be premature to talk about this, but if you finish third in the league and you do get to Lake Placid, you will not be playing in the play-in game on Thursday evening. You move straight to Friday’s semifinal round.

Avoiding Group II. What does that mean? Well, if you finish third in the league, you will avoid playing the other four teams of this grouping in the quarterfinals. If you finish third in the league, your quarterfinal matchup is against a team from Group III. Despite what everyone says about the league being so even and how any team can beat another on any given night, you would rather take your chances against a team from Group III than one from Group II.

So for all those reasons, you really, really want to win this grouping Is there a downside to finishing third in the league?

Only one that we can think of. No team that has finished third in the league has moved on to Lake Placid since 1994, when Rensselaer defeated Union in the quarterfinals. Observe…

1995 — Rensselaer defeated Harvard, 3-1 (points) 1996 — Harvard defeated St. Lawrence, 4-2 1997 — Princeton defeated Vermont, 4-2 1998 — Cornell defeated Rensselaer, 4-2

Rensselaer Engineers Record — 18-9-1, 11-6-1 ECAC, 3rd Best Possible Finish — 1st Worst Possible Finish — 7th

To use the age-old clich; the Engineers control their own destiny in Group II. They lead the grouping by two points, but have arguably the toughest schedule left of the five teams because they face the other four teams in the grouping.

The Engineers went from fourth to third last weekend, thanks to victories over Vermont, 5-2, and Dartmouth, 8-3, and two losses by Princeton.

"Things went real well," said head coach Dan Fridgen. "I thought that everybody contributed on all of the lines this weekend. We played strong from lines one to four and all six defensemen played well too."

While the Engineers do control their own destiny, Fridgen says that it doesn’t really matter.

"We just have one game at a time in mind, and we’re not looking too much at the big picture," he said. "People may write about it and I’m sure the guys see it, but we just to maintain the fact that we are playing well. We don’t want to look too far ahead — our [next] game is what’s important, and playing that game well."

Princeton Tigers Record — 15-9-1, 10-7-1 ECAC, 4th Best Possible Finish — 2nd Worst Possible Finish — 10th

Princeton started the season as the hottest team in the league, but has since turned into one of the biggest disappointments of the second half. The reason for the downward spiral has almost everything to do with Steve Shirreffs.

With the All-American defenseman in the lineup, the Tigers h