THE SKINNY

There were plenty of reasons for several ECAC Hockey member teams to feel good about at the end of last year, and even more as the summer transpired and led us to this point in the calendar year. Optimism reigns across college hockey in the early days of October as teams begin to take the ice.

Yale, Union and Rensselaer represented ECAC Hockey in the NCAA Tournament, marking the second time in a three-year span that three ECACH teams played for the season-ending championship. Colgate and Harvard – teams that struggled mightily during the regular season – turned things around at the end of the year and made impressive late-season runs, including the Raiders advancing to the ECAC Hockey championship weekend in Atlantic City. Dartmouth and Cornell also made stops on the Boardwalk, but were unable to pass go and advance to the NCAAs. They’ve got their sights on taking that next step this year.

There are new coaches bringing new ideas at Clarkson, Princeton and Union. Quinnipiac, Brown and St. Lawrence have enough talent and experience to feel good about their chances this year. It all adds up to good feelings for great things in the 2011-12 campaign. Some will come though and make lasting positive memories, other teams will be left to find new positives for the next year.

BREAKTHROUGH TEAM

Danny Biega

For the last two years, Harvard really struggled in the first half of the season and then shown some life after the start of the new year. They’ve won first-round conference playoff series on the road in both 2009 and 2010. Both of those rosters and nightly lineups were littered with freshmen and sophomores playing key roles. Those players have experienced disappointment, and have also seen how things get done during winning streaks. Seven of the team’s top-nine scorers from last year return, and they’ve got the league’s best defenseman in Danny Biega back on the blue line. An impressive recruiting class will be able to ease into the college game among a strong mix of veteran players. Expect consistency this year from the start, and a big year from the Crimson.

PRIMED FOR A FALL

One of the preseason themes at RPI is that even though top-end talent may be less than it has been in the last two years, it’s a team sport and the Engineers like their mix headed into the year. Here at INCH, we like top-end talent. A foundation-building senior class headed by the likes of Chase Polacek, Bryan Brutlag, Tyler Helfrich and John Kennedy led the way. Goaltender Allen York was one of the nation’s best and signed a pro contract at the end of the year. They were a big part of getting the Engineers back to the NCAA Tournament after a lengthy drought. This is not a forecast for the program’s demise and a total rebuild, but another NCAA trip is a big ask this time around.

PRESSURE TO PERFORM

York was not the only standout goaltender in New York’s Capital District to strike while the iron was hot and sign a pro contract. Union’s Keith Kinkaid made a similar move following his sophomore season and signed a deal with the New Jersey Devils organization. Union returns lots of offensive firepower and should contend for the league title, but the biggest question mark is between the pipe. Sophomore Troy Grosenick and a pair of freshmen will compete for the minutes in the crease. How they perform will determine if it will be another championship-contending campaign in Schenectady.

TOUGHEST ACT TO FOLLOW

Princeton’s new coach, Bob Prier, has been a part of successful teams at St. Lawrence as both a player and an assistant coach. Now, in his first head-coaching position at the college level, Prier follows Guy Gadowsky behind the bench in Old Nassau. Gadowsky led the Tigers to the most successful stretch in the program’s 100-plus year history and left to take on the challenge of building the upstart program at Penn State. There are some nice roster pieces in place for Prier with the Tigers, and he will emphasize a tenacious work ethic. In terms of results, sustaining Princeton’s run of success over the last five years will be difficult to accomplish.

BEST PLAYER

Brian O'Neill

Yale’s Brian O’Neill is one of those players that just catches your eye. Whether watching in-person or on TV – whether you’re an opponent, a teammate, scout, a media member or a fan – the Bulldogs’ number nine stands out almost every time you see Yale play. He’s back for his senior season after leading the high-scoring team in points for the last two seasons. Some will remember that his season ended about halfway through Yale’s final game last year, an NCAA regional final defeat against the eventual national champions. He had just scored a goal to get Yale back in the game, then was penalized with a major and game misconduct eight seconds later. It was a bitter end to Yale’s season that had great aspirations. They’ll look to take that next step and make the Frozen Four this year, led by O’Neill.

IMPACT NEWCOMER

Cornell advanced to the championship game of the conference tournament last year with solid goaltending and a pretty reliable defense corps. The Big Red could use a little more punch up front however – Greg Miller led Cornell last year with just 29 points. Enter Brian Ferlin, an incoming freshman from Jacksonville, Fla. Ferlin had 73 points in 55 games last year for the Indiana Ice of the United States Hockey League, and finished third in points in that league. He has also represented the United States in international play, and was a fourth-round draft pick of the Boston Bruins in this past summer’s NHL Entry Draft.

UNSUNG PLAYER

The Toronto Maple Leafs made Brown defenseman Dennis Robertson a sixth-round draft pick in the 2011 NHL Entry Draft. They’ve obviously seen something in a versatile player who was a member of ECAC Hockey’s All-Rookie team after a solid freshman year. He had 17 points and played 30 games as a freshman blue-liner last year. He doesn’t get the notoriety of some other defensemen in the league, but is one to watch for the Bears.

THREE BURNING QUESTIONS

• Is this the year that Dartmouth makes the NCAA Tournament? No program has had as many close-misses as the Big Green in the last several years in the NCAA Tournament criteria. It happened again in 2011, and the team learned the importance that every game holds throughout the year. We think this is the year that Dartmouth makes it through behind the goaltending of James Mello.

• What impact will new coach Casey Jones have at Clarkson? Jones will try to bring some excitement back to Cheel Arena after a couple of disappointing seasons. The thought here is that will take some time, as Clarkson has missed on some recent recruiting classes.

• What should we make of Colgate? The Raiders were confident that they were playing well despite a dismal record through much of last year. It came together at the end of the year and they won two playoff series on the road. A summer trip to Europe allowed the Raider team to spend lots of time together. It’ll be a better overall year for Colgate.

MARK IT DOWN
Three things you can take to the bank in ECAC Hockey this season.

• There will be a lot of eyes on some of the league’s younger players this year and next. ECAC Hockey coaching staffs have put together another sound group of recruiting classes. A total of 14 current and future ECAC Hockey players were selected in the 2011 NHL Entry Draft.

• Quinnipiac will challenge for a top-four spot in the league. The Bobcats’ 2010-11 roster was laden with freshmen and sophomores, and a year of strength and experience can only help them this time around. They finished 16-15-8 overall, with a 6-9-7 league record last year, and stretched Cornell to overtime of game three in a quarterfinal playoff series.

• Everyone in the league is pulling for St. Lawrence coach Joe Marsh, who has temporarily stepped away from his coaching duties with the Saints to deal with a medical situation. He’s one of the best-liked and most respected people in ECAC Hockey, and we hope he’ll return to the rink and behind the bench very soon, in great health.