Weekly Links (9/24/11 - 9/30/11)

Former QU star Greg Holt

There are a ton of links this week, which means one thing... college hockey season is almost here! Get excited (Greg Holt is)! The pre-season national and league rankings came out, along with pre-season all-conference teams. Here's all the links from the week.

Russ Bitely thinks the ECAC Hockey Championship should be held in NYC [Examiner]

Without A Peer thinks the league tournament location should rotate [WaP]

Union lands two recruits [Ken Schott's Blog]

USA Today has Yale (8th) and Union (11th) in national rankings (Top 15) [USA Today]

USCHO has Yale (9th), Union (11th), RPI (18), and Cornell (20) in their Top 20 [USCHO]

Article about RPI goaltender Bryce Merriman [Troy Record]

Dartmouth's Dustin Walsh featured in INCH's A-Z segment [INCH]

SLU will be teaming up with The Renewal House of Canton, NY for Goals For Good [@GoalsForGood]

2011-12 Season preview of the SLU Saints [St. Lawrence Athletics]

RPI AD talks with Ken Schott about the Engineers possibly moving to Hockey East [Ken Schott's Blog]

ECAC Coaches Pre-Season Poll and All-Conference team [1989 & Still Waiting]

ECAC Media Pre-Season Poll and All-Conference team [1989 & Still Waiting]

Know Your Enemy: Colgate [WaP]

Audio of Harvard coach Ted Donato on ECAC Media Teleconference [WHRB]

RPI adds 2011 NCAA tournament appearance to banner [@slapschotts]

The College Hockey Blog's 2011-12 ECAC season preview [TCHB]

USCHO picks Harvard's Biega (9th), RPI's Bailen (7th), and Union's M. Bodie (5th) in their top defensemen for 2011-12 [USCHO]

Cap Carey's weekly Clarkson Video Report [Knights Tales]

The QU Hockey Blog takes a look at where each ECAC team has finished over the past six years, and how many players from each team made an All-Conference team [From the Nip to the Bank]

Union teams up with The V Foundation for their Goals For Good campaign this year [@GoalsForGood]

Cornell is excited too

College Hockey News says Cornell has one of the top freshman classes this season [CHN]

Julie Robenhymer features RPI in Episode 1 of College Hockey Spotlight [Hockey Buzz]

Colgate will have three captains this season: Kevin McNamara, Corbin McPherson, and Thomas Larkin (all will wear C's) [@JohnMcGrawPBP]

USCHO picks Yale's Brian O'Neill as the 8th best forward for the 2011-12 season [USCHO]

Article about RPI's Brock Higgs' new outlook on life [Troy Record]

WHRB releases their pre-season picks [WHRB]

Cap Carey previews Clarkson's Sunday exhibition game vs. Ottawa [Knights Tales]

Ken Schott's ECAC Hockey Pick 'Em Derby starts next week [Ken Schott's Blog]

Video from an open skate at Union [Official Blog of Union Hockey]

Here's why RPI recruit Riley Bourbonnais might get drafted this year [United States of Hockey]

Daniel J. Cassavaugh recaps another great week of SLU Hockey tweets [Casstle of Saints]

QU Hockey Blog does 2011-12 player point projections for the Bobcats [From the NIP to the Bank]

Union celebrates new season by naming student section [Concordiensis]

Colgate's 2011-12 season preview [ECAC Hockey]


Good luck to all the ECAC players in pre-season action this weekend!

ECAC Pre-Season Coaches and Media Polls and All-Conference TeamsReleased

Coaches Poll Official Release
Media Poll Official Release
1989 & Still Waiting Picks

The Media and Coaches agreed (for the most part on the top three teams, with both picking Yale, Union, and Cornell to finish first, second, and third, respectively. RPI and Dartmouth were picked 4th and 5th in  one of the polls, so the Coaches and Media agree on who the Top 5 teams are. I have Quinnipiac in my Top 5 this year as my sleeper pick. I might be right, and maybe I won't. But, that's my pick for the surprise team of the year. I also have Colgate WAY higher than the Coaches and Media. Maybe that's because I saw them beat Union in the playoffs last season with my own eyes, or maybe because they bring back a good group of young players. I'm not a guru (and trust me nobody else is). The only thing the Coaches and the Media didn't agree on was Harvard. The Coaches picked the Crimson 7th, while the Media has them last. Coach Donato brought in a highly touted group of recruits, so who knows what these young guns can bring. I picked them 10th.

This is pretty much what I expected. As you can see, I also picked Mello, Bailen, Biega, O'Neill, and Miller. It seems like everyone has their own pick for the third forward, and they are all legitimate picks. I really can't complain with Maclellan and Carey as I picked them for my All-ECAC Second Team. But, I have to go with Union's Jeremy Welsh (yeah, yeah call me a homer, but I'm trying to be as objective as possible on this blog). He's 6'3" and 200+ pounds, with a good set of wheels and a great shot. How many centers in the league can match up with that? I also assume he will be playing once again with sophomore studs Josh Jooris and Daniel Carr, both of whom had great freshmen campaigns. He is a guy who is getting better and better with experience, and this season could be his best... and if it's, WATCH OUT!


At the end of the day these pre-season polls and teams are absolutely meaningless. This is all just fun and games to see if you're correct at the end of the year. Most times you're not, and I bet it's very rare that anyone is 100% correct. My sleepers could be absolute busts, and I could have underrated teams. But, this is just what I think looking at all these teams on paper. We will find out who was right and wrong once the teams take the ice.

ECAC Hockey Tweets of the Week (9/20/11 - 9/26/11)

Another week, another dominant week for the Saints of St. Lawrence. Is this competition over already? I really hope not because that wouldn't be fun. I guess I have to be a little harder on the Tweeting Saints. I tried my best to do so this week, but thanks to #eshasbrutalhair, it was hard to say no to some of their tweets. I really want to see other ECAC tweeters to get into this funny hashtag game.

I also want to say that I really enjoyed all the chatter on Twitter this week that stemmed from my post about the location of the ECAC tournament. ECAC gurus are still talking about it today! Everyone has some really good ideas and points. NYC seems like a popular choice, but others are still strong on Lake Placid and Albany. Personally, there really is no perfect choice at this moment in time, so I'd be willing to try any option.

Keep tweeting #ECACHockey tweeters!

George Hughes

Mark Armstrong (SLU) - @MarkArmstrong95
September 21 - @GregCarey10 Rumor has it the compressor crashed because it couldn't stand Essery on the ice with that hair #esshasbrutalhair

George Hughes (SLU) - @Hughesy189
September 21 - #eshasbrutalhair is now trending in the north country. Thanks to the creator. Me. @Hughesy189

Greg Carey (SLU) - @GregCarey10
September 21 - @ECACHockeyBlog compressors are down. A non-skating saint is an unhappy saint. #eshasbrutalhair

Greg Carey

Matt Wahl (Brown) - @wahlywheels
September 25 - Great beach day with the boys. Didn't need the brown hockey lifeguard heroes but iv never felt more safe at the beach.

Mark Armstrong (SLU) - @MarkArmstrong95
September 25 - If we play hockey at least half as good as our twitter game is its going to be a good year. Welcome @stratdoggy to the #ecactwittergame


If you think missed any great tweets, just leave a comment or shoot me a message, and I'll consider.

ECAC Hockey Video of the Week: A Tribute to Harry Zolnierczyk

Harry Z

Former Brown captain Harry Zolnierczyk might be the most loved and despised players to play in the ECAC in recent memory.

First, the love: over his last two seasons at Brown he accumulated 64 points in 67 games and was the leader of the team physically and emotionally. He was named the ECAC Player of the Week twice and the Ivy League Player of the Year last season.

Now, the hate: Harry Z was one of the dirtiest players in the league during his tenure. He led the ECAC in penalty minutes with 128 minutes! The second most penalized player in the league last year was Clarkson's Mark Borowiecki, who had 67 penalty minutes (almost half of Zolnierczyk's PIM).

So, as you can see, it would make sense if his teammates loved him and his opponents hated him. While I disliked him when he played against Union, you have to love a guy who and score and be scrappy (even though he was a bit too scrappy at times). He kind of reminds me of Sean Avery (24 points, 174 PIM in 10-11) and Scott Hartnell (49 points, 142 PIM in 10-11).

Harry is currently playing in the Philadelphia Flyers organization. After Brown's year ended last season, he went to play for the Adirondack Phantoms (the AHL affiliate of the Flyers) where he netted three goals and added two assists in 16 games.

These two videos are in tribute to Harry Z. Both are from last season and are two of the biggest highlights of Harry and Brown's season.


(Isn't that second goal ridiculous?!)


(Got to love the celly)

Weekly Links (9/17/11 - 9/23/11)

Kyle Essery

This was pretty busy week in the world of ECAC Hockey. Thanks to the Tweeting Saints of SLU, we all now know that Kyle Essery has brutal hair. Just check out all the tweets the Saints had over the past few days, and look for #eshasbrutalhair.

Here are ECAC Hockey links from this past week:

Twitter: Former ECAC columnist for CHN, Jason Klump, is now covering the conference for Inside Hockey [@Jason_Klump]

Article: Princeton head coach Bob Prier featured in INCH's A-Z [INCH]

Release: ECAC Hockey partners up with Fischer Hockey [ECAC Hockey]

Blog: Know Your Enemy: Cornell [WaP]

Article: Former Union goaltender Keith Kinkaid learning from Martin Brodeur [Times Union]

Picture: Logos put down at Dartmouth's Thompson Arena [@Dartmouth_MIH]

Release: Former NHLer Jaroslav Modry named RPI's volunteer coach [RPI Athletics]

Blog: The QU Hockey Blog finished up their list of top Bobcats of all-time [From the NIP to the Bank]

Picture: Union's 2011-12 headshots have been posted [Union Athletics]

Release: Union College is voting on what to name their student section at Messa Rink [Union Athletics]

Article: Are Yale student-athletes sacrificing academics for athletics? [Yale Daily News]

Release: CHN picks Yale 10th, Union as honorable mention in pre-season poll [CHN]

Article: Taking a look at the story of one-time Union recruit Julien LaPlante [Concordiensis]

Video: Cap Carey interviews some Clarkson players after practice [Knights Tales]

Blog: Daniel J. Cassavaugh recaps SLU's fun week on Twitter [Casstle of Saints]

Release: RPI's golf outing to take place on Monday, September 26 [RPI Athletics]


A big debate over the past day or so has been where the ECAC Tournament should be held. I said Albany, but others say Lake Placid. What do you think?

Where Should The ECAC Hockey Tournament Be Held?

Over the past few weeks there have been reports of ECAC Hockey talking with Providence, Rhode Island and the Dunkin' Donuts Center to move their post-season tournament from Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey to "The Dunk" as soon as this year, even though the conference still has two more years in their agreement (See Providence Journal and Ken Schott's Blog).

Personally, I think the move away from Atlantic City is a necessary one. Last year's attendance was absolutely brutal. The main reason for this was probably because there was only one team --- Princeton --- who was even remotely close to the city, and that was a 105 minute drive.

When picking a site for the ECAC Tournament a few things come into play:
1) Distance from teams/fanbases
2) Arena size
3) City where arena is

To me, the obvious choice is the Times Union Center in Albany, which is the geographic and physical center of the conference.

Here's a look at the approximate distance (according to MapQuest) from each school to the arena:

Brown - 164 miles
Clarkson - 196 miles
Colgate - 107 miles
Cornell - 167 miles
Dartmouth - 135 miles
Harvard - 166 miles
Princeton - 185 miles
Quinnipiac - 130 miles
RPI - 9 miles
St. Lawrence - 199 miles
Union - 20 miles
Yale - 140 miles

As you can see, it would not be hard for any ECAC Hockey fan to travel to Albany. Sure, a SLU fan would have to travel farther than an RPI fan, but it's still not bad. I mean, would a SLU fan rather drive 199 miles to Albany or 450 to Atlantic City? It also seems that most major roadways go through Albany.

The Times Union Center also has a good enough capacity to hold the event. The place can hold about 14,000 people. While ECAC Hockey fans haven't proven to be able to put 14,000 people in one building, I can still see putting about 10,000 in the rink depending on who the teams are. Imagine how packed a Cornell-Union-RPI-Yale championship weekend  would be (which isn't too far fetched for this year)? I could definitely see Boardwalk Hall (about 11,000 capacity) selling out if it were located in Albany.

I think the Herb Brooks Arena in Lake Placid, which holds a little under 8,000 people, is a good idea, but the olympic ice surface is a big problem to me. You don't want the biggest league games of the year being decided on an ice surface different from all the other games during the year. Also, whoever wins then has to go and play on an NHL ice surface the following game in the NCAA tournament. Plus, getting to LP could be a pain in the neck, as well as getting hotel rooms.

"The Dunk" in Providence is also a decent choice with their 12,000 person capacity. It would be an easy drive for Brown, Harvard, Quinnipiac, and Yale fans, but for Cornell, Clarkson, St. Lawrence, and Colgate fans it could be a real hike. But, I do like Providence as a city since there are things to do. I can say the same things about Boston, but I think ECAC Hockey would get lost there since it's the home of Hockey East. Plus, the TD Garden is too big to hold such an event.

Other places that have been mentioned include Binghamton, Syracuse, Springfield, and Worcester, but I don't like either of these places as sites. There would be no real "host" teams, plus cities like Springfield and Worcester are really not great cities. I'm not saying Albany is an awesome city, but it's definitely better than these two Massachusetts cities. I can also say the same about Bridgeport (not good city) and Hartford (rink a little too big).

The Glens Falls Civic Center in Glens Falls, New York is also an interesting thought since it's just an hour north of the TUC, and is less than 30 minutes away from Saratoga Springs, but the arena only holds 5,000 people.

So, in conclusion, I think the league should admit their mistakes and go back to Albany. It would make all fans happy since Albany is within legitimate driving distance of everybody and is a pretty decent and affordable city. But, I would not be disappointed if the conference tried hosting the tournament in Providence or tried once again in Lake Placid.

This is just my opinion. Some people might know more about the cities and venues I mentioned. What do you think?

ECAC Hockey Tweets of the Week (9/13/11 - 9/19/11)

Sorry for posting this a day late. Had some technical issues, but have resolved them.

Once again, not a huge list of great tweets, but we have some real beauties this week. I'm not sure if you tweeps are slacking or I'm getting tougher. Maybe the latter, so step up your game! I will only post unreal gems.

But, like usual, the Saints dominated the Twitterverse... they even got their beat writer in on the act! But, so did their rivals from Clarkson.

Matt Wahl

Matt Wahl (Brown) - @wahlywheels
September 13 - Congrats @RichieShakez for stealing the Brown hockey body fat crown from me. If you play your cards right you'll have my greenjacket too

Matt Weninger (SLU) - @MWeninger
September 14 - Good luck @aabogo32.. skate fast, hit hard, keep your mitts on cause your not tough.. have fun #beauty

Josh Jooris (Union) - @JJooris19
September 15 - Team head shots today @KevinSullivan27 definitely takes home to worst mug award #combover,and @goaler27 w/ most improved #NoAllergicReaction

Cap Carey (Clarkson) - @CapCareyWDT
September 15 - We are only about 16 days from the start of referee complaining season. Ooops, I meant college hockey season!

Matt Weninger

Daniel J. Cassavaugh (SLU) - @DanielJ_WDT
September 18 - Nelson Armstrong is so young he probably likes Hello Kitty. @GunnarHughes

Mark Armstrong (SLU) - @MarkArmstrong95
September 18 - Hoping my action photo on the website this yr isn't one of me sitting in section K row 14 eating some #Appleton poutine #lifeofagrinder

Gunnar Hughes (SLU) - @GunnarHughes
September 19 - @ECACHockeyBlog I gave @tysonfulton a set of hands for his birthday today #silkymittens

ECAC Hockey Video of the week (9/19/11): RPI's 1985 Championship Season

In 1985, the RPI Engineers put together one of the greatest seasons in the history of ECAC Hockey. They began the season with a 1-2 record, but then went on to go unbeaten for the rest of the season on their way to becoming national champions. In the Frozen Four, the Engineers beat Minnesota-Duluth 6-5 in triple overtime before beating Providence 2-1 in the championship game. RPI's Adam Oates, George Servinis, Tim Friday, and Ken Hammond were named to the all-tournament team.

The only teams RPI lost to that season was St. Lawrence and North Dakota, and their only tie was against Lake Superior State in the final game before the Frozen Four in the NCAA regionals. Also, RPI beat then DIII Union 3-2 in overtime in a game in Schenectady.

RPI hasn't reached the Frozen Four since 1985, but behind Seth Appert, their next trip could be very soon.

Here are two videos dedicated to this historic season. The first one is highlights from the season and the second is footage from the end of the championship game.

Weekly Links (9/10/11 - 9/16/11)

Mike and Mark Bavis. Mark died on 9/11/01

Sorry for the late post. Here's all the links, photos, and news from this week. Have a great weekend! Hockey season is just around the corner!

Article: College Hockey News remembers September 11th [CHN]

Blog: The Without A Peer blog (RPI) is looking for some new staff members [WaP]

Photo: Quinnipiac 2011-2012 team photos [QU Athletics]

Blog: Could the ECAC tourney be leaving Atlantic City for Providence? [Ken Schott's Blog]

Article: Why RPI's Seth Appert didn't leave for bigger jobs [Troy Record]

Photo: Ice getting put down at Thompson Arena [YFrog - Dartmouth_MIH]

Photo: Colgate's new head shots are up [Colgate Athletics]

Article: Don Vaughan talks about Colgate's trip to Italy [College Hockey Inc.]

Blog: Know Your Enemy: Harvard [WaP]

Blog: Quinnipiac's Projected Lines [From the NIP to the Bank]

Release: Brown names Mike Souza as new assistant coach [ECAC Hockey]

Release: ECAC Hockey renews partnership with Howie's Hockey Tape [ECAC Hockey]

Blog: Union gets their head shots taken [Official Blog of Union Hockey]

Release: RPI's Hockey Line successful once again [RPI Athletics]

Blog: Clarkson's Pete Massar transfers to Vermont [Knights Tales]

ECAC Hockey Tweets of the Week (9/6/11 - 9/12/11)

It was a pretty slow this week in the world of ECAC hockey tweets. It started off fast and furious, but slowed down towards the end. But, that didn't stop Mark Armstrong from adding two more to his total, as well as Richie Crowley. Also, Princeton goaltender Mike Condon jumped on to the scene with some witty remarks on the Tweet of the Week competition. Also, got to love the tweets about getting good grades.

It wasn't a great week, but it's the pre-season. I do expect some better material very soon though.

Richie Crowley

Richie Crowley (Brown) - @RichieShakez
September 6 - You'd think being in first place by 5 would get @MarkArmstrong some followers. Wanna borrow some?

Richie Crowley (Brown) - @RichieShakez
September 6 - Feels good being in first place in the #ECAC right now

Mike Condon (Princeton) - @CoNdlbEar1
September 7 - @msdao24 thats a guaranteed tweet of the week #number3

Mark Armstrong (SLU) - @MarkArmstrong95
September 7 - @C_Mart10 like I said before, C's get degrees but Marsh wants the 4.0

Mike Condon

Chris Martin (SLU) - @C_Mart10
September 7 - @MarkArmstrong Student first my man, gotta get dat 4.0

Mike Condon (Princeton) - @CoNdlbEaR1
September 7 - @willychilly10 @Melman_16 @msdao24 @RobKleebaum boys, we need to get that tweet game up. its a new factor for the Pairwise #ncaatourney

Mark Armstrong (SLU) - @MarkArmstrong95
September 9 - Psyched to be in the Dartmouth new years tourny strictly because of the clam chowder in the rink

ECAC Hockey Video of the week (9/12/11): 1979 ECAC Quarterfinals - Cornell vs. Providence

Since I dropped some history knowledge on you all last week, I thought I would show a historic video this week. This vintage vid is from the ECAC Quarterfinals in 1979. The game is between former ECAC member Providence and perennial league power Cornell, and takes place at Lynah Rink.

With 16 minutes left in the game the Friars held a commanding 5-1 lead over the Big Red. But, Cornell stormed back with four late third period goals, including one with 13 seconds left. They carried the momentum into overtime and prevailed with a dramatic 5-4 overtime victory in one of the greatest games in ECAC Hockey history.

Click here for the box score.

Weekly Links (9/3/11 - 9/9/11)

It's been a tough week for hockey fans with the tragic news on Wednesday about the Lokomotiv Yaroslavl plane crash. The hockey world lost a lot of great people. This news is just a reminder that there are things more important in life than hockey. Our thoughts and prayers are go out to everyone that was  involved with this tragedy.

Here's all the happenings in ECAC Hockey this past week:

- Release: Harvard hires David Cataruzolo as Director of Hockey Operations [ECAC Hockey]

- Article: Former Vermont and ECAC star Tim Thomas brings Stanley Cup back to Burlington [Burlington Free Press]

- Article: RPI's CJ Lee featured in INCH's A-Z segment [INCH]

- Release: Princeton officially announces 2011-12 schedule [ECAC Hockey]

- Recruit: Defenseman James De Haas from the Toronto Lakeshore (OJHL) commits to Clarkson for 2012 or 2013 [Chris Heisenberg]

- Video: Union College Hockey - The Storm Is Coming [YouTube]

- Blog: Know Your Enemy: Dartmouth [Without A Peer]

- Blog: Drafting the ECAC Storylines; 2011-2012 [Hockey Hourly, Updated Daily]

- Blog: Interview with two ECAC Hockey referees [Examiner.com]

- Release: Yale Hockey season tickets now available [Yale Athletics]

- Article: Cornell's Greg Miller featured on INCH's A-Z segment [INCH]

- Release: Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, current home of the ECAC Hockey Final Four, will host the 2012 AHL All-Star Game [AHL]

History of ECAC Hockey

Bob Brinkworth, RPI '64

The face of college hockey has changed dramatically recently with the creation of the Big 10 hockey conference and the National Collegiate Hockey Conference. These changes have affected almost every league in college hockey, except for the ECAC (for now). But, the ECAC has seen a fair number of changes over the years. The history of the conference goes way back, so figured I would share with all of you the glorious history of this historic conference.

The history of college hockey goes back to February 1, 1896 when Yale played Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, Maryland in the first ever collegiate hockey game. Less than two years later, Brown and Harvard faced off in the first collegiate game between universities still sponsoring hockey.

Like many conferences, the ECAC was created over a dispute. This dispute was between schools from New England and New York.  According to the College Hockey Historical Archives, "for the 1961 NCAA Tournament, the selection committee chose St. Lawrence and Rensselaer to represent the East, bypassing the Boston area schools. In the disputes that followed, it was decided to hold an eastern tournament the following season, with the tournament champion given the automatic bid to the NCAA tournament." This caused an informal league to be formed in 1961, which at first had 28 teams. The teams played whoever they wanted and the standings really didn't matter since the tournament selection committee picked the teams in the NCAA Tournament. The teams that played in that first season were: Colby, Harvard, Clarkson, Williams, Army, Colgate, RPI, Cornell, MIT, SLU, New Hampshire, Boston College, Merrimack, Providence, Middlebury, Bowdoin, UMass, Norwich, Princeton, Dartmouth, Yale, Boston University, Northeastern, Brown, UConn, AIC, Hamilton, and Amherst. In that year, Colby won the regular season title, SLU won the post-season title, and Clarkson lost to Michigan Tech in the national championship game. Vermont was added to the conference for the 1963-64 season.

Four years later in 1964, the conference split into two with the Ivies and the stronger programs remaining with the conference. This left 15 teams in the ECAC: BU, BC, Clarkson, Brown, Cornell, Northeastern, Dartmouth, Providence, Yale, RPI, Harvard, Army, Colgate, Princeton, and SLU. UNH was added for the 1966-67 season, and Pennsylvania was added a year later.

Ned Harkness after Cornell won the 1970 championship

The late 60's and early 70's were a great period for ECAC hockey. Cornell won the NCAA championship under legendary coach Ned Harkness in 1967 and 1970, while BU won the national championship in '71 and '72, as well as in 1978. This time also saw more changes in membership as Army moved down to Division II in 1973, and was replaced by Vermont in 1974. UPenn dropped their program after the 1977-78 season, and was then replaced by Maine who moved up to DI in the 1979-80 season. Also during that season, the conference split into three regions. The East consisted of BC, Providence, Maine, UNH, BU, and Northeastern; the West was made up of Vermont, Clarkson, RPI, Colgate, and SLU; and the Ivy region consisted of Dartmouth, Cornell, Brown, Princeton, Harvard, and Yale. You can start to see now how the present-day ECAC began to form.

The ECAC changed dramatically in 1983 when the teams from the East Region decided to leave the league and form their own "Super" league. This new league (later known as Hockey East) began play in the 1984-85 season with BC, BU, UNH, Northeastern, Providence, Maine, and UMass-Lowell all members of the league. When these teams officially left in 1984, the ECAC was left with 11 teams until Army came back to the league to be the twelfth member (they played their first full schedule in 1986-87).

The league structure stayed this way until Army decided to become an independent after the 1990-91 season. They were replaced by Union the following season. Vermont then left after the 2004-05 season to join Hockey East, and was replaced by Quinnipiac for the 2005-06 season.

And this is where we stand today. Interesting right?

The league is also home to many memorable college hockey moments. Here's a list of a few memorable ECAC Hockey moments:

Mark Fusco, Harvard '83

- 1967: Cornell becomes the first ECAC team to win a national championship.
- 1970: Cornell becomes the first and only team to go undefeated in a season (29-0). They beat Clarkson for the national championship 6-4.
- 1980: Cornell becomes the only eighth seeded team to win the ECAC Hockey championship after knocking off the top three seeds.
- 1983: Harvard's Mark Fusco becomes the first defenseman to win the Hobey Baker award.
- 1986: Brown becomes the first US college hockey team to play in China.
- 1990: Colgate reaches the national championship game, but falls to Wisconsin. This marked the last time an ECAC team has reached the national championship game to date.
- 1994: Clarkson becomes the first program to win 1,000 games.
- 1998: Vermont goaltender Andrew Allen becomes the only goalie to ever be credited with a game-winning goal in a 4-3 win over Harvard.
- 1998: Princeton becomes the first ECAC team to win the ECAC championship after posting a record below .500 during the regular season.
- 2000: Vermont cancels their hockey season amidst a hazing scandal.
- 2000: SLU beats BU in the longest game in NCAA hockey championship history, a 3-2 4OT thriller. Robin Carruthers scored the game-winner.

Longest game in NCAA hockey history

- 2002: In the longest ECAC championship game, Harvard topped Cornell after 96 minutes of play.
ECAC team has reached the final weekend to date.
- 2007: Colgate coach Joe Marsh becomes the third DI college hockey coach to reach 400 wins at the same school. Jack Parker of BU and Red Berensen of Michigan are the only others.
- 2010: Quinnipiac beat Union in the longest game in NCAA hockey history 3-2. Greg Holt netted the game-winner after 150:22 of play at 1:03AM.

The league is also home to Hobey Baker award winners, and Hobey Baker himself:

- 1983: Mark Fusco - Harvard
- 1986: Scott Fusco - Harvard
- 1989: Lane MacDonald - Harvard

RPI celebrates their national championship in 1985

There have been a few ECAC teams that have won the national championship:

- 1954 (before ECAC): RPI
- 1967: Cornell
- 1970: Cornell
- 1971: Boston University
- 1972: Boston University
- 1978: Boston University
- 1985: RPI
- 1989: Harvard

Also, there have been many great players and coaches that have played/coached in the league. But, I'll go into that at another time. You can find more history about ECAC Hockey by clicking here.

ECAC Hockey Tweets of the Week (8/30/11 - 9/5/11)

Another week, another week full of some golden tweets from SLU's Mark Armstrong. His first three weeks has put him way in front of everyone else. Will he ever be caught? Yeah, that's a challenge.

This week also marked a good week from the tweeps at Union as they finally made a nice dent on the leader board. The Dutchmen have the most tweeps in the league, so maybe there is some hope for them. But, they're going to need to pick it up big time if they want to compete with Armstrong and the Saints.

Mark Armstrong (SLU) - @MarkArmstrong95
August 30 - @Longer11 jealous you guys got to go to Italy. Not jealous you had to put up with @ochoTRON the whole time

Josh Jooris

Chris Martin (SLU) - @C_Mart10
August 30 - The best part about canton NY, is the walmart in potsdam

Richie Crowley (Brown) - @Richie Shakez 
August 30 - Hurricanes and Earthquakes? Maybe #2012 is the end of the world, wait till april to see if an #ECAC teams wins the frozen four #confirmation

Josh Jooris (Union) - @JJooris19
August 31 - Hey @Kzajac19 wanna get your follower count up? Changing your pic would be a great start @KevinSullivan27 is hurtin your rep man #chuddd

Mark Armstrong (SLU) - @MarkArmstrong95
August 31 - Worst part of taking your roster pic is the fellas heckling from the hallway Best part, you can't look any worse than @TT_status @C_Mart10

Josh Jooris (Union) - @JJooris19
September 2 - Home away from home, the boys are back in town @UnionHockey.. Let the battle begin #ferdaboys

Michael Sdao

Mark Bennett (Union) - @markbennett91
September 1 - Not sure if me and @dchamp26 really have to be at this int. orientation #imnotfromchina #canadasnotthatfar

Michael Sdao (Princeton) - @msdao24
September 3 - My time in lincoln converted me to be a huskers fan but I cant say #gobigred cause i hate Cornell.

Mark Armstrong (SLU) - @MarkArmstrong95
September 4 - Those Brown players should have been around last year when the Clarkson guys tried to swim across the river and had to get rescued

ECAC Hockey Video of the week (9/5/11): Overtime Thriller in the 2003 ECAC Championship game

This week's video features a classic ECAC championship game. The game pitted the Harvard Crimson against the Big Red of Cornell and took place in Albany at the Pepsi Arena (now known as the Times Union Center) in the first year the city hosted the ECAC Final Four. Cornell featured star goaltender David LeNeveu, and future NHLers Douglas Murray and Matt Moulson, while Harvard had future NHLer Dominic Moore.

In this game, the Big Red jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead when Sam Paolini scored a power-play goal less than two minutes into the game. They held on to this slim lead into the third period until Moore tied the game eight minutes into period. The Crimson then jumped on top with less than four minutes left in regulation thanks to a Tyler Kolarik goal. Unfortunately for Harvard, they were not able to secure the victory as Mark McRae tied the game back up with 33 seconds left to send the game into overtime.

The Big Red took this momentum into the extra frame and this is what happened...



Both Cornell and Harvard made the NCAA Tournament. The Big Red made it to the Frozen Four... the last time an ECAC team has made it to the final weekend.

Brown Hockey players save the lives of teenagers at beach

Dennis Robertson

This article appeared in the September 2 issue of the Providence Journal. It's about five Brown Hockey players who saved the lives of a few teenagers at a beach in Rhode Island the other day.


By MARK DIVVER

Assistant Sports editor

Mike Wolff and five of his Brown hockey teammates hadn’t been swimming, surfing and boogie boarding for long in the choppy waves at South Shore Beach in Little Compton on Tuesday afternoon when they heard a girl screaming.

“I looked over to my right and this girl was yelling towards us, ‘Help! Help!’ ” Wolff said. “She was kind of bobbing up and down. Her friend was a little further out, maybe five or ten yards.”

Just over 30 yards from shore, the two girls, approximately 12 and 14 years old, were caught in a rip current in the aftermath of Tropical Storm Irene.

Wolff and teammate Jeff Ryan swam quickly to the girls and, battling the rip current, got them to shore.

“It was a hard swim to move even five yards,” against the rip current, which was pushing him away from shore, Wolff said.

Once they made it back to the beach, the girls “were in a panic,” said Wolff.

“ ‘Can you help my boyfriend? My boyfriend is hurt,’ ” one of the girls said. “(Jeff) Ryan and I were like, ‘Where is your boyfriend?’

“He was floating on his back, past where the waves were breaking. He was going under the waves, kind of getting tossed around,” said Wolff.

“When I first spotted the kid, I thought it was a dead body floating,” he said.

Seeing what was going on, the other four Brown players –– Dennis Robertson, Mike Borge, Bobby Farnham and David Brownschidle –– leaped into action. Robertson, who has worked as a lifeguard at a swimming pool in his native British Columbia, took charge, swimming to the boy, who was about 60 yards from shore. With help from Borge, Robertson got him onto a surfboard and headed toward the beach.

It was only after minutes of struggling toward shore and making little headway that the players realized that the way out of a rip current is to swim parallel to the beach until reaching calmer water, said Brownschidle.


To read the rest of this article click here.

Weekly Links (8/28 - 9/2)

Princeton's Skating Tiger

Almost all of the ECAC Hockey players are back to school! Hockey season is about a month away!

Here's everything that happened in the world of ECAC Hockey this past week:

- Article: Take a look back at RPI's return to the NCAA Tournament [RPI Athletics]

- Twitter: The Ivy Shootout will be held on October 28 and 29. The teams are Yale, Princeton, Brown, and Dartmouth (host).

- Article: Yale's Kenny Agostino had a good summer [Pittsburgh Penguins]

- Twitter: You can watch Clarkson Hockey via WCKN by streaming it live on B2/America One. A new contract has been signed for a two year deal [WCKN Hockey]

- Twitter: Gongshow Gear announces partnership with CCHA, which means it is no longer partnering with the ECAC as announced a few weeks ago [CCHA]

- Article: Union's Josh Jooris was featured in INCH's A-Z segment [INCH]

-  Release: USCHO is looking for an ECAC columnist [USCHO]

- Article: Clarkson head coach Casey Jones was also featured by INCH [INCH]

- Article: New Quinnipiac assistant coach Reid Cashman wants to prove naysayers wrong again [USCHO]

- Release: Harvard hires Jerry Forton as assistant coach [ECAC Hockey]

- Article: Kenny Agostino gets the best of both worlds at Yale [Pittsburgh Penguins]

- Blog: Know Your Enemy: Princeton [Without A Peer]


HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND AND HAPPY SEPTEMBER! WE'RE ALMOST THERE!