No. 12 Clarkson at No. 5 St. Lawrence
Clarkson: 8-22-4 (4-15-3 ECACH)
St. Lawrence: 15-13-7 (9-8-5 ECACH)
Season Series: Tied, 1-1-1
Golden Knights Fact: Clarkson has lost its last five postseason overtime games.
Saints Fact: St. Lawrence is 3-0-2 at home against Clarkson over the last three seasons.
How Clarkson Wins: Keep shots down. The Golden Knights have allowed just 22 shots against in each of their last two victories.
How St. Lawrence Wins: Regain home-ice dominance. SLU was 8-3-4 at Appleton in the regular season.

No. 11 Brown at No. 6 Rensselaer
Brown: 8-17-4 (6-12-4 ECACH)
RPI: 17-15-4 (10-9-3 ECACH)
Season Series: Tied, 1-1-0
Bears Fact: Brown got stung for seven goals against (one empty-netter) against Princeton last week but Mike Clemente still made 46 saves in that game, perhaps rounding into last year’s playoff form.
Engineers Fact: RPI’s last home playoff series was in the 2005-06 season, a two-game loss to Quinnipiac.
How Brown Wins: A renewed sense of pride has made Brown a tough team to play every night and they’ve got confidence in the postseason after last year’s deep run.
How Rensselaer Wins: Allen York is probably the second-best goalie in ECAC Hockey and can make the difference while the likes of D’Amigo, Polacek, Pirri and Kerins get the goals.

No. 10 Dartmouth at No. 7 Quinnipiac
Dartmouth: 9-17-3 (7-12-3 ECACH)
Quinnipiac: 17-15-2 (11-11-0 ECACH)
Season Series: Tied, 1-1-0
Big Green Fact: Scott Fleming is Dartmouth’s first 20-goal scorer since Lee Stempniak and Hugh Jessiman reached that mark in the 2002-03 season.
Bobcats Fact: Quinnipiac has had a winning record in the regular season in all 12 of its Division I seasons.
How Dartmouth Wins: Outscore ‘em. Dartmouth comes into the first playoff weekend as the hottest team of the bunch, with a five-game unbeaten streak (3-0-2) and is averaging more than four goals per game in that streak.
How Quinnipiac Wins: It’s been a streaky season for the Bobcats, but they won their last two games of the regular season and can take that momentum into this weekend.

No. 9 Harvard at No. 8 Princeton
Harvard: 7-19-3 (7-12-3 ECACH)
Princeton: 12-13-3 (8-12-2 ECACH)
Season Series: Princeton leads, 1-0-1
Crimson Fact: This is the first time that Harvard has opened the playoffs on the road in 10 years (at Cornell, 1999-2000 season).
Tigers Fact: Junior forward Mike Kramer has 25 points this season, after posting just 28 points combined in his first two years.
How Harvard Wins: Pretend it’s the regular season. The Crimson have lost 17 straight non-league games, which includes playoff games and non-league games against ECAC Hockey teams.
How Princeton Wins: Zane Kalemba has to play to his potential, and he’s done that against Harvard, stopping 68 of 72 shots this season in two games against the Crimson.