September 28, 2009
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Yale Chosen First in Polls For First Time
CHN Staff Report
ALBANY, N.Y. — Defending ECAC regular-season and tournament champion Yale has been picked to finish first in both the ECAC Hockey Writers and Broadcasters Association (ECACHWBA) Preseason Poll and Coaches poll.
Yale, which won the ECAC regular season for the second time in 2008-09, was picked first in the polls for the first time. It is also picked 10th in College Hockey News' preseason Top 10.
Yale has an experience group returning, led by returning all-league selection senior forward Sean Backman. The Bulldogs return much of their firepower on offense from last year, including their top 10 scorers, who all registered at least 10 points each in overall play.
Cornell finished second in both polls, and Princeton was third in both. Both teams were also in CHN's Top 10.
The Big Red are led by the head coach Mike Schafer, who enters his 15th season behind the Cornell bench in 2009-10 and whose teams have finished no worse than fourth in the last ten seasons in league play. Cornell lost the Bemidji State in the NCAA Northeast Regional final, after defeating Northeastern in the first round.
Harvard, Dartmouth and Union were 4-6 in both polls. St. Lawrence-Clarkson were picked No. 7-8 by the writers/broadcasters, but only No. 10-11 by the coaches. Conversely, the writers/broadcasters had Colgate-RPI-Quinnipiac in the 9-10-11 slots — while the coaches had Colgate No. 7, and Quinnipiac-RPI tied for No. 8.
Brown, led by first-year coach Brendan Whittet, was last in both polls.
The writers/broadcasters selected forwards David McIntyre of Colgate, Riley Nash of Cornell and Mark Arcobello of Yale to the preseason all-league team. They were joined by defensemen Alex Biega of Harvard and Brendon Nash of Cornell; and goaltender Zane Kalemba of Princeton.
Yale's Sean Backman, who had a hat trick against Cornell in last year's ECAC championship game, was named to the preseason team by the coaches, instead of Arcobello. And instead of Brendan Nash on defense, the coaches selected Dartmouth's Evan Stephens. The other selections were the same.
