The ECAC had five teams in four Holiday tournaments but in all four tournaments, the ECAC failed to bring home any hardware.
Dartmouth picked up a 3-2 “win” over Army in the opening round of the Ledyard Bank Classic. The game will go into the record books as a 2-2 tie as the game went into a shootout. They couldn’t bring home their own tournament as they fell to the No. 7 Massachusetts-Lowell River Hawks 7-4 in the championship game.
The Colgate Raiders also competed in the Ledyard Classic but they are glad 2016 is over as they couldn’t make a third period comeback as they fell 3-2 against the River Hawks. In the consolation contest the Black Knights came away with a 4-1 victory.
Down in Estero, Fla Cornell almost came away with the Florida College Classic as they fell to Colorado College 2-1 in overtime in the title game. They had a good start to the second half with 5-2 victory over Northern Michigan in the opening round.
In Pittsburgh, Quinnipiac look like they were getting back on track as they defeated a shorthanded Boston College team 3-1 in the opener of the Three Rivers Classic. In the championship game, it was a different story as Robert Morris jumped on the Bobcats in third period with three goals en route to the 5-2 victory.
Out in Prescott, Ariz., the Brown Bears earned a 9-8 shootout victory over Arizona St. in the opening round of the Desert Hockey Classic. Charlie Corcoran had four goals and an assist for Brown. Max Willman had a goal and two assists. The offensive didn’t carry over in the 4-1 loss to UConn in the title game.
Rick Bennett wasn’t pleased with the loss against North Dakota
In a marquee game that was overshadowed a bit by the holiday tournaments and Canada-USA at the World Juniors on Saturday, Union hosted North Dakota in a top ten contest. The Fighting Hawks came away with the 3-1 victory.
Union coach Rick Bennett wasn’t pleased with the Dutchmen as Spencer Foo scored the only goal late in the third period.
“I look in the mirror, our coaching staff should look in the mirror and we need to get better,” Bennett told reporters after the game. “That was absolutely a poor performance tonight: top line all the way down. Poor performance tonight.”
Union was 0-for-5 on the power play and out shot North Dakota 33-29.
They will face another top ten team in the country on Thursday as they travel to Boston University.
Forgettable trip to Boston for RPI and Clarkson
It was a long trip back to New York for both RPI and Clarkson. The teams combined to lose 13-3 on Friday night. Clarkson battled Northeastern in a non-conference game. Northeastern jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first 12 minutes of the contest en route to a 8-2 victory. Casey Jones used all three goaltenders in the contest.
RPI meanwhile faced the Harvard Crimson in an ECAC contest and lost 5-1. It was a slow start for the Engineers as they were out shot 14-6 in the first period. They played better in the final 40 minutes as they had 25 shots on net, but they couldn’t dig themselves out of the hole from the opening period.
