ECAC Tournament Roundup

Friday, March 15, 2013 (ECAC Quarterfinal)

Brown 3, Rensselaer 1

Michael Juola scored with 1:44 left in regulation to give Brown the win on the road against second-seeded RPI. "I thought it was a great game,” Brown coach Brendan Whittet said. “We stuck to what we needed to do defensively and that allowed us that opportunity at the end. It was a great shot. (Juola) buried it and Borelli played tremendous from the get go. They had some good, good chances.”

Cornell 3, Quinnipiac 2

QU coach Rand Pecknold said he felt good coming out of the bye, and the Bobcats looked great early on, getting nine of the game's first 12 shots and taking a 1-0 lead. But Cornell was able to weather the storm, and after getting swept by QU in two games during the regular season, was able to find a rhythm. This is a Cornell team that is now 7-1-1 in the last nine, and one that no one wanted to face in the playoffs, let alone top-seeded Quinnipiac. ... Brian Ferlin, as responsible as anyone for Cornell's turnaround with his much-improved play, scored twice, both on the power play. Cornell went up 3-2 after two, and kept it that way despite QU pumping 15 shots at the net in the third.

Yale 6, St. Lawrence 1

After allowing the first goal, Yale still wound up outshooting St. Lawrence, 48-13. Andrew Miller had two goals and two assists, while his linemates Jesse Root and Kenny Agostino added a goal and two assists. “Sometimes when you come out and play that way but they get the first goal, it can change the momentum,” Yale coach Keith Allain said. “What I’m most proud of was that it didn’t change the momentum at all, and that’s a testament to the character in that locker room. If you are going to be successful in our league, you have to handle adversity.”

“We haven’t had the best first periods or first games (in the playoffs during his four years),” said Miller. “We had an opportunity to jump on them early with a quick start, but we got down 1-0. When everything is going right and you are outplaying them, you hope to be on top. But that’s hockey. We just stuck to our system and made the plays.”

Union 4, Dartmouth 1

Forward Daniel Carr scored twice, junior defenseman Mat Bodie had a goal and an assist, and junior goaltender Troy Grosenick made 31 saves, including two breakaway stops, to lead Union. Dartmouth, which was pushed to three games by Harvard in the first round, will have to do it again if it wants to extend its season and give itself a chance at the NCAAs. The win for Union, inched it up to 15 in the Pairwise, which would be good enough for the NCAAs, but the Dutchmen can hardly afford a slip.

Union got off to a quick start, but Dartmouth seemed to weather the storm and tied the game. But Union began taking control at the end of the second and into the third period, to take a 1-0 series lead. "We had a couple of breakaways and guys made good plays, and (Grosenick) made good saves, and it was a good battle," Dartmouth coach Bob Gaudet said. "The game is about winning battles. I thought we had a really good second period and they made a good play -- we'd like to have it back, on the second goal. ... It's just a game of bounces."

Said Union coach Rick Bennett, "It's easy to pick out the goals ... but (Matt) Wilkins did a really good job down low, physicality, creating a lot of room. ... You just never know after a bye - those guys came out with a sense of urgency ... that was huge for us tonight."

Sunday, March 10, 2013 (ECAC First Round)

Dartmouth 6, Harvard 3

Dartmouth salvaged its season by coming back to win games 2 and 3 of this series. The wins don't really help its standing in the Pairwise that much, since they are against non-TUCs, and the Friday loss mitigates the wins in its RPI. But at least the Big Green gave themselves a chance to continue the season. It will play at Union next weekend, a team it has never met in the playoffs. Both of those teams are on the NCAA bubble, and need two wins. Even with two, there are no guarantees for the winner, but the loser of that series will surely be eliminated.

Harvard ... what can't you say? A terrible season, but let's give coach Ted Donato credit for this ... the Crimson pulled themselves back from the lowest depths in mid-season, to play much better in the last six weeks. They could've folded the tents, and didn't. And with all the mid-season turmoil of players being suspended amid that academic scandal, Donato probably buys himself more time as coach. But you have to figure he'll be on the hot seat now. A good guy, and a loyal Harvard alum with a distinguished playing career ... but despite some "moments," the program has gone backwards under his watch.

Saturday, March 9, 2013 (ECAC First Round)

Cornell 4, Princeton 2

Cornell rolled through Princeton to sweep the series. Despite being on the road, most people were picking Cornell because these teams headed into the postseason going in opposite directions. That proved to be true. It didn't come easy, necessarily, but Cornell was seemingly in control throughout the weekend. Cornell did it without center Dustin Mowry, who has a concussion, though is expected back for next week's quarterfinals. Cornell has already been playing without center Cole Bardreau to a neck injury, leaving it very thin up the middle. But the Big Red has stuck it out and is now 6-1-1 in the last eight.

"We're really starting to come (along) as a team," Cornell coach Mike Schafer said. "It was a good weekend with not having Dustin Mowry up the middle. He's such a good offensive player for us. Everybody's dinged up this time of year, but losing skill up the middle with Bardreau and Mowry ... guys stepped up and played great. ... There's obviously areas where I wasn't getting through, and you go through that, and you have to figure it out. But they (the players) are the ones that deserve the credit. They stuck together. They didn't turn on each other, we didn't turn on them, and they didn't turn on us."

Brown 4, Clarkson 3

Brown gets the two-game sweep, and will advance to face an opponent to be determined in the ECAC quarterfinals. “It’s a really good feeling,” said Brown coach Brendan Whittet. “We worked hard to get home ice and to host Clarkson. Clarkson put up a heck of a good fight tonight, that’s for sure. When they were down and out, they came back and played really hard.” Facing the end of their season and trailing, 4-1, entering the final period, the Golden Knights mounted a furious comeback attempt, outshooting Brown, 17-3, during the last 20 minutes. Jarrett Burton scored a pair of power-play goals, including a five-on-three with 3:19 left in regulation, that brought his team back to within a goal, 4-3. Following Burton’s goal, Clarkson still had 1:37 remaining on a power play. However, the Bears were able to kill the advantage, thanks in part to two huge saves by senior Anthony Borelli. “The third period was not how we play,” said Whittet. “We went into a little bit of a prevent mode, which is never a good thing. You are trying to end a team’s year; they came out really hard and they took it to us for the third period.”

St. Lawrence 4, Colgate 1

Ryan Flanagan was able to return to the lineup this weekend, just 10 days after emergency appendectomy surgery. His absence last weekend, contributed to St. Lawrence missing out on a first-round bye. But his return definitely contributed to the two-game sweep of Colgate. Saturday, Flanagan scored early, and later helped set up Greg Carey's 28th goal of the season, and the Saints never looked back.

Colgate, meanwhile, had a funny season. It opened the year with questions about how it would replace all the goal scoring it lost from last year's team, but scoring was never a problem. The Raiders had some good non-league wins, and were even in good Pairwise position coming down the stretch, but were never able to put it all together in the league. Continued goaltending inconsistency contributed to it. “It’s a funny game; you have to work for your breaks,” Colgate coach Don Vaughan said. “But if you look back at how we lost a couple of games, the hockey gods weren’t shining on us. We had some tough overtime losses, just a bounce of the puck. Even tonight, we hit two posts. They go the other way and you gain a little momentum from that. Sometimes they go in and sometimes they don’t.”

St. Lawrence's power play led the way, and Flanagan's assist on Carey's goal was the 100th of his career. “Their best players were their best players in this series,” Vaughan said. “Flanagan and Carey and (Jeremy) Wick, and (George) Hughes played phenomenal for them on the back end. It’s the ECAC and anybody can win it, but if that St. Lawrence plays the way they did this weekend then they’re going to be in the mix.”

Still, Colgate seems to have a bright future if it can settle the goaltending. “We’ve got a great group of young kids and they’re only going to get better,” Vaughan said. “This experience will help them.”

Dartmouth 4, Harvard 1

Dartmouth responded after Friday's loss, and will try to avoid being the next ECAC team to be victimized by a 12 seed.

Friday, March 8, 2013 (ECAC First Round)

Cornell 4, Princeton 0

Brown 3, Clarkson 0

St. Lawrence 4, Colgate 2

Harvard 2, Dartmouth 1