College Hockey:

This Week in ECAC Hockey: March 13, 2008

Welcome to the second round … the quarterfinals, if you will. By this time Monday morning, we’ll have our Albany brackets, and I’ll have my hotel room.

A couple of strange things happened while writing this week’s column. For starters, I was a perfect eight-for-eight on contacting coaches. This never happens. Second, each and every one of the coaches spoke of playing hard, aggressive, assertive hockey, be they on the road or sleeping in their own beds Friday night.

A couple of things strike me about that. First off, that this is the ECAC, which translates as Every Contest’s A Close [one]. (Formerly “Each Contest’s A Crapshoot.”) This is a defensive league with a half-dozen national-caliber goaltenders and only half that many big-time snipers.

The second thing is that this is the playoffs. If ever a team should strive to play the perfect road game — tight checking, perfect defense, and just one or two opportunistic goals — shouldn’t this be that time?

But hey, I’m just a writer. I’ll make more of a fuss with another 20 years and half-dozen titles under my belt.

No. 8 Colgate @ No. 1 Clarkson

Season series: 0-0-2; 0-0 @ Clarkson (2/9), 1-1 @ Colgate (1/18)
Last two seasons: 1-0-3, Clarkson
Last four meetings at Clarkson: 0-0-4

There aren’t many teams who would be unhappy with taking two points from the Golden Knights this year. Earning those points without suffering a loss was a nice little bonus, too.

For one reason or another, the Raiders have played some of their tightest defensive hockey against Clarkson over the past few years … and when the defense hasn’t been so hot (as in their contest at Starr this season), goalie Mark Dekanich has been simply en fuego.

“Obviously, our goaltender played very well — as did theirs — the last few games,” said Raiders head coach Don Vaughan, but while he said “the scores would be indicative of [a good match-up]” for Colgate, he doesn’t buy into the regular-season results much these days.

The Raiders rebounded from a Game 1 setback to St. Lawrence in the first round of the playoffs, knocking off the visiting Saints 3-2 and 3-1 to advance to the quarterfinals. The hosts scored two big power-play goals and only allowed one in nine chances for SLU in the wins.

“Last weekend, we got caught standing around in the second period Friday night … but I’m very happy with how our guys responded,” said Vaughan. “Our penalty-killing was better. The kill took a slide at the end of the regular season, and we had to refocus there.”

The Raiders have been hard-pressed for timely scoring all year long, so you’ll have to excuse the Colgate faithful if the consecutive three-goal games are embraced as a veritable overabundance. In fact, the offense seems to be blossoming at just the right time: in their nine games since Valentine’s Day, the Raiders have potted 31 goals.

Clarkson’s counterpart George Roll is equally mindful of what the Raiders bring to the table. Citing a resurgent power play, legitimate scoring threats, Dekanich, and talented defense, Roll sees “a lot of things” to be wary of in the Raiders’ locker room.

That said, Clarkson’s firepower has laid waste to many an opponent’s best-laid defensive strategies.

“We have a lot of respect for their team,” Vaughan continued. “We’ll have to gap quickly, and not give them a lot of room.”

Despite their regular-season title, the Golden Knights have not been as blessed on the scoreboard as they had originally anticipated. While Steve Zalewski has made a convincing argument to challenge Lee Jubinville for MVP honors, teammates David Cayer and Nick Dodge saw their numbers fall off precipitously from last year’s totals.

“We thought we’d score a lot more this year,” said Roll. Of Dodge, “Last year it came easy. This year it’s been a bit of a struggle for him.”

Roll specifically cited a diminished power-play unit as a reason for Dodge’s relative lack of returns: nine of his 18 overall goals were scored on the PP last season, compared to only four of 11 this time around.

While this offense may not be as malicious as its predecessor, Roll sees a very distinct silver lining, in that the Knights are now very accustomed to playing — and winning — in tight contests. David Leggio has followed up his Dryden-winning junior campaign with a stellar senior year as well, holding a 2.06 GAA in league play to match a .926 save percentage.

“We’re not going to go out and change our style” at this point in the year, Roll said.

As though I need to say it, Clarkson hasn’t lost a league game at home since November 11, 2006, a span of 22 games. Will it matter that school is on spring break this week? Maybe a little bit. What will matter more is the fact that Colgate clearly refuses to be bullied on Cheel ice.

“If history is any indication … and not just this year, but whenever we play them … it’s [going to be] a tight game,” summed Roll.

No. 7 Yale @ No. 2 Princeton

Season series: 3-0-0, Princeton; 6-2 @ Yale (10/26, nc), 4-3 @ Yale (1/11), 4-2 @ Princeton (2/9)
Last two seasons: 3-2-0, Princeton
Last four meetings at Princeton: 2-2-0

Princeton is in a unique position, having never weathered one of those finicky bye weeks. The Tigers weren’t exactly purring along last time we caught up with them; they had just dropped both North Country games, surrendering their shot at the regular-season title, but escaped to the Garden State with second place all the same.

In regards to the week off, coach Guy Gadowsky — the odds-on Coach of the Year — said “you can never really tell until you get going” how your team will perform. “I haven’t figured out the formula yet,” he quipped.

The aforementioned junior Jubinville will probably take Player of the Year honors as well, having led his surprising squad with 10 goals and 21 assists against the rest of the league. Classmate Brett Wilson actually led the Stripes in goals, however, with 13 league goals in the full complement of games.

Senior Mike Moore has been everything Gadowsky could ever hope for in a defenseman and a captain, leading his younger D-corps by example with four goals and 16 ECAC points and absolutely shut-down play in his own end.

Zane Kalemba emerged as Princeton’s number-one netminder this year. The sophomore played in 19 league games and posted a 2.43 GAA with a .913 save percentage.

While the two Ivies have evolved since they last ran into each other over a month ago, Gadowsky still values the game tape from their previous matchups.

“We can always learn from looking at it,” he said.

Up the coast, Yale is building a bit of momentum following three straight wins over Rensselaer — a 3-0 shutout to conclude the First Season (as it were), followed by consecutive 3-2 overtime playoff wins.

The sandwiched game, the first of the playoffs, was especially encouraging to coach Keith Allain and the Blue.

“One of the untold stories [of that triple-OT win] is that we had enough depth to roll four lines” deep into the extra sessions, said Allain.

Against an overmatched Engineers team, the Bulldogs effectively stifled what little offensive potential RPI had available. The ‘Tute only got 68 shots — in over 230 minutes — on Yale goalie Alec Richards.

“The last two weekends, we’ve done really well defensively,” confirmed the former Eli ‘keeper Allain.

Flying beneath the radar of popular consciousness are Yale freshmen Broc Little and Denny Kearney. The tandem combined for 11 goals and 17 assists in league play, while second-year forwards Sean Backman and Mark Arcobello have attracted much of the oppositions’ focus after stellar freshman campaigns. The sophs haven’t slowed up much despite the attention, scoring 19 and 16 EC’ points, respectively.

Richards has suddenly taken the reins in New Haven, or so it appears. After Billy Blase started 20 league games in the regular season, Richards has now played three straight. Perhaps Allain likes Richards’ playoff experience, maybe Bl