• The Watertown Daily Times staff checks in with notebooks on St. Lawrence’s close losses and mounting penalty minutes, while Clarkson is pleased with a physical line combo despite being ravaged by injuries.
• Brown battled back from two deficits and tied Harvard 3-3 in a game Tuesday night. Four of the combined six goals came on the power play. The Crimson are unbeaten in three after beating Clarkson and St. Lawrence last weekend.
• The NHL’s Central Scouting office released its fall rankings looking ahead to the 2009 NHL Entry Draft and 11 current ECAC Hockey players are mentioned.
• Yale’s Alec Richards pitched a 3-0 shutout against Brown, the first blanking by a Bulldog this season, with 17 saves. They’ve won four of their first five games with the only loss coming in overtime at St. Lawrence. They’ll host Alabama-Huntsville for two games this weekend before returning to ECACH play at Brown on Tuesday and hosting Rensselaer and Union next weekend.
• It’s probably not a bad time for Union to have an exam break. The grind of the end of the semester comes every year for the Dutchmen around the 10-game mark and for the second consecutive season it’s meant a slow start to league play. Union was able to dig out of that hole with a strong second half last year, and they’ll have to do it again after winning just one of its first four ECACH games, all on home ice.
• RPI is another team that can benefit from no games this weekend as the latest adversity to hit the team has been some sickness running through the team, according to this report. The Engineers are six games under .500 but have a chance to get things turned around at their annual holiday classic after Thanksgiving that features top-10 teams Northeastern and Princeton in addition to RPI and Mercyhurst.
• We’ve never minded a little on-ice banter between opponents but it’s probably best for coaches to stay out of. Ken Schott has some background in his blog posting (second item), and coaches’ reactions at the end of this video, if you turn your speakers up.
