The biggest sweep was by the Golden Knights of Clarkson, who went on the road to upset second-place Vermont 5-1 and edge Dartmouth 4-3. While the Catamounts were being burned in Burlington, league-leading St. Lawrence widened their lead by trouncing Dartmouth 7-4. Things seemed to be going the Saints' way as they rolled into Vermont, but the Cats woke up and Eric Perrin had a hat trick while he and linemate Martin St. Louis had four points each in a 6-3 victory.
Joining Clarkson on road sweeping duty were Cornell, who took four points from Ivy foes Princeton and Yale, clipping the Tigers 3-2 in the third straight overtime game between the two teams and holding off the Elis 6-4. Cornell's travel partner Colgate thrashed Yale 6-1 Friday, but were shocked 4-3 by last-place Princeton the following night. Sweeping at home were the Harvard Crimson, with wins of 4-3 over Rensselaer and 6-0 over Union, while Brown managed three points, tying Union at 2 before downing a beleagered RPI 4-1. Finally, the ECAC played two of its last three non-league contests in the past week, with Yale losing to Merrimack 8-4 last Tuesday and Harvard falling 4-1 to Northeastern this evening in the first round of the Beanpot. The classic tournament among Boston's four premier college hockey programs is being held in the Fleet Center for the first time, after the closing last year of the Boston Garden. The other semi, a rematch of last year's final, saw Boston University come back from a 1-0 deficit to defeat Boston College 4-1.
The ECAC standings changed slightly this week as the top three teams all split while the next three swept. The St. Lawrence Saints cling to their one-point lead on Vermont, 23 points to 22, and both teams have now clinched playoff spots. Cornell, Clarkson and Harvard all move into third with 19 points, while Colgate drops three places to sixth with 18. In the lower division, Brown has taken over seventh place from RPI, 13 points to 11; Dartmouth and Union remain tied for ninth with 7 a piece, and Princeton climb into an eleventh-place tie with Yale at 6 points.
Next week Vermont brings the Perrin-et-St.-Louis show to Central New York where they and Dartmouth visit Colgate and Cornell; Friday's Catamounts-Red Raiders game will be shown nationally on Prime Sports' College Hockey Game of the Week. RPI brace for an extension of their woes as St. Lawrence and Clarkson come to town to meet the Engineers and the Union Skating Dutchmen. Finally, Brown are at Princeton and Yale, while Harvard visit Yale Friday and take Saturday off to prepare for Monday night's Beanpot consolation game with Boston College. The Beanpot final, to be shown tape-delayed on espn2, pits Hockey East rivals Boston University and Northeastern.
With the ECAC hockey report, this is Joe P------k, Mr. Squishy sports.