Know Your Enemy: St. Lawrence

It's been a tough couple of years in Canton, and it's probably very little coincidence that long-time head coach Joe Marsh's health concerns were a dominating topic over the last two years. Last year, those health issues led him to take a leave of absence from the team, and unfortunately, they have since led to his retirement. While Marsh's absence is a blow for the school (and for the league, which loses a true class act behind the bench), it will at least allow the program to move on to the next chapter on firm ground.

St. Lawrence
Nickname: Saints
Location: Canton, NY
Founded: 1856
Conference: ECAC
National Championships: 0
Last NCAA Appearance: 2007
Last Frozen Four: 2000
Coach: Greg Carvel (1st season)
2011-12 Record: 14-19-3 (10-11-1 ECAC, 8th place)
Series: SLU leads, 76-52-6
First Game: January 3, 1951 (Troy, NY)
Last RPI win: January 27, 2012 (Troy, NY)
Last SLU win: November 5, 2011 (Canton, NY)

2012-13 games: February 8, 2013 (Canton, NY); March 2, 2013 (Troy, NY)

Key players: F Kyle Flanagan, sr.; D George Hughes, sr.; D Justin Baker, jr.; F Greg Carey, jr.; F Kyle Essery, jr.; D Pat Raley, jr.; G Matt Weninger, jr.; F Patrick Doherty, so.; F Gunnar Hughes, so.; F Chris Martin, so.; F Tommy Thompson, so.; F Matt Carey, fr.; F Alex Hagen, fr.; D Ross McMullan, fr.

Key losses: F Jacob Drewiske, D Peter Child, F Mark Armstrong

Previous KYE installments:

• 2010-11
• 2011-12

You can't get much more hot and cold than St. Lawrence last year. Five straight losses opened the season, then they won four out of five. Four straight losses followed, then they were unbeaten in six of seven. Another four losses in a row, then five wins in a row, and four losses in their last five games to end the season. Rollercoasters at Six Flags don't make you nearly that queasy.

So really, the question is this... will the real St. Lawrence please stand up?

SLU's early season troubles were at least identifiable by the monstrously difficult schedule they had early on, with three of those first five games coming against teams that would later play in the Frozen Four, a fourth coming against an NCAA team in Michigan, and the fifth played in front of 10,000 rabid RIT fans at Blue Cross Arena in Rochester, but that doesn't account for bombs later in the season (giving up four goals to Brown comes to mind).

No, the Saints' real problem was in an inconsistent offense. The defense was practically never exceptional throughout the season, but on the occasions where the offense came alive, SLU looked very solid. But you've still got a problem when the defense can only keep the opponents under three goals on only three occasions after New Year's Day.

There's no question that Greg Carey and Kyle Flanagan, one and two on the team in scoring for the last two years, are two of the top forwards in the ECAC. Both are averaging just over a point per game for their careers thus far, which is never a bad sign. Their linemate, Martin, had a solid freshman outing. But by and large, teams that could shut down that line found themselves with a better than average chance at skating away with victory thanks to a porous defense.

Weninger has been very good at times for SLU, but he's been very rough as well. George Hughes is excellent at puck distribution, as his 20 assists last season would indicate, but besides him and Raley, there's not an overwhelming amount of solidity on that blue line in front of Weninger.

Greg Carey's younger brother Matt arrives on campus this fall, and he certainly has the potential to be just as good. McMullan promises size in the back at 6'5". Hagen, whose father also played at St. Lawrence, arrives from the BCHL, where he produced some OK numbers.

The bottom line for Greg Carvel in his first season has got to include not only getting the team's defensive affairs in order, but also in producing more offensive options for the Saints. If he can achieve both, this is a team that at least has the potential for a top-half finish, but if not, it's going to be a very difficult year in Canton and they'll be clawing and scraping to stay at home in the first round.

The Best of What's Around

Well, it's about that time. We're under three weeks now until the puck drops on another season of RPI hockey. College hockey in general unofficially gets underway this coming weekend as Mercyhurst, RIT, and Colgate play exhibitions in women's hockey, and there'll now be either men's or women's college hockey every week until early April (with the exception of the week before the men's Frozen Four, of course).

It's been a mercifully quiet offseason for the first time since WaP began back in 2009. Only a few ECAC underclassmen jumped to the pros, just one team swapped conferences, and in our own backyard, not much to report with the exception of one player leaving school. So we have been pretty quiet since the season ended back in March, for sure, but it's now time to crank things up once again.

With the season approaching, it's always a good idea to take stock of which players to be watching for. Below are the top ten returning players in each category in ECAC play, with RPI's top returning players added on if necessary - they're the ones in bold. Are these the only players to be watching for? Of course not; some returning players will improve and become stars, and I'm sure you'll see some freshmen providing immediate impact. For those that are returning, though, these are the ones proven to be in the upper echelon of the league.

Points
Danny Biega, Harvard – 23
Daniel Carr, Union – 22
Greg Carey, St. Lawrence – 21
Andrew Calof, Princeton – 21
Connor Jones, Quinnipiac – 21
Andrew Miller, Yale – 21
Antoine Laganiere, Yale – 20
Kellen Jones, Quinnipiac – 20
Matthew Peca, Quinnipiac – 20
Kenny Agostino, Yale – 19
(Nick Bailen/Brock Higgs – 13 each)

Goals
Daniel Carr, Union – 12
Greg Carey, St. Lawrence – 11
Brandon McNally, Dartmouth – 10
Greg Miller, Cornell – 10
Andrew Calof, Princeton – 10
Antoine Laganiere, Yale – 10
Kellen Jones, Quinnipiac – 9
Eric Robinson, Dartmouth – 9
Wayne Simpson, Union – 9
Rob Kleebaum, Princeton – 8
Kenny Agostino, Yale – 8
(Marty O’Grady – 5)

Assists
Connor Jones, Quinnipiac – 16
Jeremy Price, Colgate – 16
Matthew Peca, Quinnipiac – 16
Andrew Miller, Yale – 16
Danny Biega, Harvard – 15
Ben Sexton, Clarkson – 14
Kyle Bodie, Union – 14
Kyle Flanagan, St. Lawrence – 13
Joel Lowry, Cornell – 13
Josh Jooris, Union – 12
(Brock Higgs – 12)

Power Play Points
Danny Biega, Harvard – 14
Greg Carey, St. Lawrence – 10
Jeremy Price, Colgate – 10
Matthew Peca, Quinnipiac – 10
Ben Sexton, Clarkson – 9
Kyle Flanagan, St. Lawrence – 9
Marshall Everson, Harvard – 9
Kyle Bodie, Union – 9
Mat Bodie, Union – 9
Patrick McNally, Harvard – 9
Nick Bailen, Rensselaer – 9
Dennis Robertson, Brown – 9

Power Play Goals
Daniel Carr, Union – 6
Marshall Everson, Harvard – 5
Greg Carey, St. Lawrence – 5
Wayne Simpson, Union – 5
Antoine Laganiere, Yale – 5
Alex Fallstrom, Harvard – 4
Nick D’Agostino, Cornell – 4
Loren Barron, Quinnipiac – 4
Kellen Jones, Quinnipiac – 3
Ryan Haggerty, Rensselaer – 3

Short-Handed Points
Matt Hatch, Union – 2
Mark McGowan, Rensselaer – 2
Daniel Carr, Union – 2
Jeremy Price, Colgate – 2
Spiro Goulakos, Colgate – 2

Defenseman Scoring
Danny Biega, Harvard – 23
Jeremy Price, Colgate – 18
Mat Bodie, Union – 16
Michael Sdao, Princeton – 15
Patrick McNally, Harvard – 15
Nick D’Agostino, Cornell – 14
Shayne Gostisbehere, Union – 14
Dennis Robertson, Brown – 14
Spiro Goulakos, Colgate – 14
George Hughes, St. Lawrence – 14
(Nick Bailen, Rensselaer – 14)

Goals Against Average
Troy Grosenick, Union – 1.60
Eric Hartzell, Quinnipiac – 1.99
Andy Iles, Cornell – 1.99
Bryce Merriam, Rensselaer – 2.32
Jeff Malcolm, Yale – 2.63
Matt Weninger, St. Lawrence – 2.73
Eric Mihalik, Colgate – 2.76
Steve Michalek, Harvard – 2.77
Mike Condon, Princeton – 2.99
Sean Bonar, Princeton – 3.08

Save Percentage
Troy Grosenick, Union - .940
Andy Iles, Cornell - .922
Eric Hartzell, Quinnipiac - .921
Mike Condon, Princeton - .920
Jeff Malcolm, Yale – .916
Matt Weninger, St. Lawrence - .911
Bryce Merriam, Rensselaer - .911
Steve Michalek, Harvard - .906
Eric Mihalik, Colgate – .896
Sean Bonar, Princeton - .893

Returning Goals Per Game (difference from last year)
Union – 2.50 (-0.95)
Cornell – 2.36 (-0.64)
Quinnipiac – 2.32 (-0.41)
Princeton – 2.27 (-0.37)
Dartmouth – 2.09 (-0.77)
Harvard – 1.95 (-0.82)
Yale – 1.95 (-1.41)
St. Lawrence – 1.82 (-0.45)
Rensselaer – 1.64 (-0.30)
Brown – 1.45 (-1.00)
Clarkson – 1.41 (-1.18)
Colgate – 1.05 (-2.22)

----

And, while we're at it, a look at the top returning players around the nation. ECAC players are in bold, RPI's top returners are included for comparison, and players in italics are those from outside of the league that the Engineers are scheduled to get a look at this season.

Points per game
Mark Zengerle, Wisconsin – 1.35
Kyle Flanagan, St. Lawrence – 1.32
Joey Diamond, Maine – 1.27
Brett Gensler, Bentley – 1.25
Cole Schneider, UConn – 1.18
Rylan Schwartz, Colorado College – 1.14
Erik Haula, Minnesota – 1.14
Matt Nieto, Boston University – 1.14
Connor Jones, Quinnipiac – 1.11
Ben Hanowski, St. Cloud State – 1.10
(Brock Higgs – 0.68)

Goals per game
Joey Diamond, Maine – 0.68
Rylan Schwartz, Colorado College – 0.66
Nick Bjugstad, Minnesota – 0.62
Cole Schneider, UConn – 0.61
Ben Hanowski, St. Cloud State – 0.59
Brett Gensler, Bentley – 0.57
Antoine Laganiere, Yale – 0.54
Andrew Calof, Princeton – 0.53
Wade Megan, Boston University – 0.51
Jordan George, Bemidji State – 0.50
(C.J. Lee – 0.21)

Assists per game
Mark Zengerle, Wisconsin – 1.00
Nate Schmidt, Minnesota – 0.88
Andrew Miller, Yale – 0.85
Kyle Flanagan, St. Lawrence – 0.82
Matthew Peca, Quinnipiac – 0.79
Connor Jones, Quinnipiac – 0.76
Danny Biega, Harvard – 0.74
T.J. Tynan, Notre Dame – 0.72
Matt Nieto, Boston University – 0.70
Nick Sorkin, New Hampshire – 0.70
(Brock Higgs – 0.59)

Power Play Goals
Rylan Schwartz, Colorado College – 11
Joey Diamond, Maine – 11
Mark Anthoine, Maine – 11
Brant Harris, UConn – 10
Kyle Flanagan, St. Lawrence – 9
Antoine Laganiere, Yale – 9
Derek Arnold, UMass-Lowell – 9
Wade Megan, Boston University – 9
Kyle Rau, Minnesota – 9
Wayne Simpson, Union – 9
Daniel Carr, Union – 9
(Nick Bailen – 6)

Points per game (Defensemen)
Danny Biega, Harvard – 1.03
Nate Schmidt, Minnesota – 0.95
Joey LaLeggia, Denver – 0.88
Patrick McNally, Harvard – 0.82
Nick Jensen, St. Cloud State – 0.82
Lee Moffie, Michigan – 0.78
George Hughes, St. Lawrence – 0.77
Andrew Prochno, St. Cloud State – 0.76
Mike Boivin, Colorado College – 0.76
Mat Bodie, Union – 0.74
(Nick Bailen – 0.56)

Goals Against Average
Troy Grosenick, Union – 1.65
Parker Milner, Boston College – 1.66
Jason Torf, Air Force – 1.73
Shane Madolora, RIT – 1.93
Frank Slubowski, Western Michigan – 2.03
Andy Iles, Cornell – 2.12
Doug Carr, UMass-Lowell – 2.13
Raphael Girard, Harvard – 2.14
Juho Olkinuora, Denver – 2.18
Eric Hartzell, Quinnipiac – 2.20
(Bryce Merriam – 2.36)

Save Percentage
Parker Milner, Boston College - .937
Troy Grosenick, Union – .936
Raphael Girard, Harvard - .933
Shane Madolora, RIT - .931
Jason Torf, Air Force - .929
Doug Carr, UMass-Lowell - .928
Jared Coreau, Northern Michigan - .928
Casey DeSmith, New Hampshire - .926
Juho Olkinuora, Denver - .924
Josh Thorimbert, Colorado College - .924
(Bryce Merriam - .908)

Know Your Enemy: Cornell

Yup, here they are. Another year, another first round bye, another ECAC semifinal, another NCAA appearance. Last year, Cornell kicked it up a notch by upsetting regional top-seed Michigan in the first round of the tournament and taking eventual runners-up Ferris State to the limit in the Midwest regional. What does the future hold for the Big Red? Brace yourself... more of the same, in all likelihood.

Cornell
Nickname: Big Red
Location: Ithaca, NY
Founded: 1865
Conference: ECAC (Ivy League)
National Championships: 2 (1967, 1970)
Last NCAA Appearance: 2012
Last Frozen Four: 2003
Coach: Mike Schafer (18th season)
2011-12 Record: 19-9-7 (12-4-6 ECAC, 2nd place)
Series: Cornell leads, 59-32-7
First Game: January 31, 1908 (Albany, NY)
Last RPI win: February 25, 2012 (Ithaca, NY)
Last CU win: February 12, 2011 (Troy, NY)

2012-13 games: January 19, 2013 (Troy, NY); February 22, 2013 (Ithaca, NY)

Key players: F Erik Axell, sr.; D Braden Birch, sr.; D Nick D'Agostino, sr.; F Greg Miller, sr.; D Kirill Gotovets, jr.; G Andy Iles, jr.; F Dustin Mowrey, jr.; F Cole Bardreau, so.; F Brian Ferlin, so.; F Joel Lowry, so.; F John McCarron, so.; D Joakim Ryan, so.; F John Knisley, fr.; D Gavin Stoick, fr.; F Teemu Tiitinen, fr.; D Reece Willcox, fr.

Key losses: F Sean Collins, D Sean Whitney, D Keir Ross, F Locke Jillson

Previous KYE installments:

• 2010-11
• 2011-12

Count 'em - Cornell has picked up a first-round bye in each of the last four years and as mentioned last year has missed it only once since the league expanded to a 12-team playoff: 2008, when they lost a tiebreaker with Union for fourth place. That makes 13 straight seasons in the top four.

Cornell has their system and they play it well, and last year, like most years, they were right in the thick of things for the Cleary Cup until RPI helped snatch it away from them on the last day of the regular season, with Matt Tinordi scoring to tie things up at Lynah Rink with just over two minutes left in regulation, followed by a Patrick Cullen goal with just seconds left in overtime on the Engineers' seventh shot of the extra period, gifting the regular season crown to Union. So while they still tend to get the job done, Cornell actually hasn't won the Cleary Cup since 2005.

Will they be in the hunt this year? If you're asking that question, try going back to the start and then read again. Cornell wasn't offensively gifted last year (they frequently aren't anyway), but they do return eight of their top nine scorers from last season (all but Collins, who was second on the team with 26 points). Ferlin showed immense potential before his season ended to an injury. Knisley is positively short for a Schafer recruit at 5'9" but he'll have been on the recruiting books for four full years once he finally suits up for the Big Red - he played with Mike Zalewski for two years at Vernon in the BCHL.

Defensively, Birch and D'Agostino are rocks already, Ryan showed potential, and now they bring in Stoick from the US Under-18 team and Willcox, a fifth-round draft pick of the Philadelphia Flyers. Add in Iles between the pipes (whose outstanding season was overshadowed by Troy Grosenick in Schenectady), and the much-maligned but highly effective Cornell defensive scheme, and you've got a team that's tough to score on, even with the loss of Whitney and Ross.

As difficult as RPI's season was last year, they actually managed to win the season series with the Big Red for the first time in roughly forever, and they've now played three straight tight ones against Cornell. Can that continue? Perhaps, but it won't be easy. We've already discussed top contenders like Union and Quinnipiac, but this team, which was a goal away from the Frozen Four in the third period against Ferris State, hasn't changed a great deal from last season, and that places them right in the mix right along with them.

Know Your Enemy: Colgate

Few teams have been harder to draw a bead on before the season over the last couple of years as Colgate. Expected to do well two years ago, they instead flopped to the bottom of the table before leading an inspired run to Atlantic City. Expected to be a middling team last year, they instead got out of the gate fast and was one of the most consistently solid teams in the league until they faltered down the stretch. What does the future hold for the Raiders? It's still hard to tell.

Colgate
Nickname: Raiders
Location: Hamilton, NY
Founded: 1819
Conference: ECAC
National Championships: 0
Last NCAA Appearance: 2005
Last Frozen Four: 1990
Coach: Don Vaughan (20th season)
2010-11 Record: 19-17-3 (11-10-1 ECAC, 4th place) 
Series: RPI leads, 57-56-3 
First Game: February 19, 1916 (Hamilton, NY) 
Last RPI win: February 24, 2012 (Hamilton, NY)
Last CU win: February 4, 2012 (Troy, NY)

2012-13 games: January 18, 2013 (Troy, NY); February 23, 2013 (Hamilton, NY)

Key players: F Kurtis Bartliff, sr.; F Robbie Bourdon, sr.; D Thomas Larkin, sr.; D Jeremy Price, sr.; D Nathan Sinz, sr.; G Eric Mihalik, jr.; F John Lidgett, so.; F Joe Wilson, so.; D Spiro Goulakos, so.; F Michael Borkowski, fr.; D Ryan Johnston, fr.; D Kevin Lough, fr.; F Tylor Spink, fr.; F Tyson Spink, fr.

Key losses: F Austin Smith, F Chris Wagner, F Austin Mayer, D Corbin McPherson, F Matt Firman, F Nick Prockow

Previous KYE installments:

• 2010-11
• 2011-12

The offensive drivers of the Raiders' success last year were Hobey finalist Smith, who pumped in a nation-leading 36 goals in 39 games (more than anyone else in the nation by six), and linemate Wagner, who frequently fed Smith to rack up 34 assists to go with 17 goals of his own. Smith and Wagner were one of only two sets of teammates in the country to both achieve 50 point seasons last year (Minnesota-Duluth's Jack Connolly and Travis Oleksuk also managed the feat). Unfortunately for Colgate, both men are now gone, with Smith graduating and Wagner choosing to forego his final two years of college eligibility to sign with the Anaheim Ducks.

Throw in the graduations of Mayer (23 points) and Firman (15 points) and the Raiders are losing four of their top six point producers from last year, players who combined for 146 total points, which approaches half of their total team scoring output and represents over half of their goal scoring output from last season. For a team that depended so heavily offense last year, that can't sit terribly well. In league play, Colgate loses  a whopping 2.22 goals per game from last season, far beyond what any of the other 11 squads need to make up, and they rank dead last for what does return.

It's not that Colgate doesn't have players who can fill the void - Bourdon (12), Wilson (10), and Lidgett (5) are the top returning goal scorers - it's just that it's always a little easier knowing who your go-to guys are coming into the season. Just ask the Engineers last year.

Defensively, the Raiders were a mixed bag. There was a period from mid November through the end of 2011 in which the team looked positively unstoppable, holding opponents under 3 goals in each of seven consecutive contests, outscoring them 27-10 and going 6-0-1. Unfortunately, the defense managed the feat only seven more times in its final 21 games, forcing the offense to pick up the slack - and after mid-February, the offense started to show problems.

Colgate's eight-man freshman class arrives exclusively from Ontario junior leagues, though five of them (all listed above) were all-stars last season in the CJHL, including three former teammates of Jacob Laliberte with the Cornwall Colts. Two of those teammates, the identical Spink twins, were Laliberte's linemates two years back and were for a time rumored to have been pursued by the Engineers. They could fill some of the offensive gap, but as last year's RPI team illustrated, it's never easy having to rely on freshmen for goals.

The Raiders will likely benefit from an experienced defensive grouping, including a pair of NHL draftee seniors in Larkin and Price, but Mihalik needs to continue the slow improvement he displayed last year and the Smith-Wagner gap needs to be filled in a hurry. The Raiders always present RPI with a challenge and should provide a pair of challenging games nonetheless. A bottom four finish would probably be classified as a disappointment for this team (though not outside the realm of possibility), so look for a middle four finish with an outside shot at competing for a bye if everything (and we do mean everything) falls into place.

Know Your Enemy: Brown

It's time to get down to brass tacks with Brown. They are the only team in the ECAC that has finished in the bottom four in both of the last two seasons, but it's far worse than that. There hasn't been an ECAC playoff game in Providence since... 2005. That's not to say that the Bears haven't had their high moments in the last seven years (RPI fans will wince at the memory of 2010 specifically), but there haven't been many.

Brown
Nickname: Bears
Location: Providence, RI
Founded: 1764
Conference: ECAC (Ivy League)
National Championships: 0
Last NCAA Appearance: 1993
Last Frozen Four: 1976
Coach: Brendan Whittet (4th season)
2011-12 Record: 9-18-5 (5-13-4 ECAC, 12th place)
Series: RPI leads, 55-22-6
First Game: December 28, 1951 (Troy, NY)
Last RPI win: January 20, 2012 (Providence, RI)
Last Brown win: March 7, 2010 (Troy, NY)

2012-13 games: December 8, 2012 (Providence, RI); February 15, 2013 (Troy, NY)

Key players: D Richie Crowley, sr.; F Chris Zaires, sr.; G Marco DeFilippo, jr.; F Garnet Hathaway, jr.; D Dennis Robertson, jr.; D Matt Wahl, jr.; F Ryan Jacobson, so.; F Massimo Lamacchia, so.; F Matt Lorito, so.; F Nick Lappin, fr.

Key losses: D Jeff Buvinow, F Jack Maclellan, F Bobby Farnham, G Mike Clemente, F Jarred Smith

Previous KYE installments:

• 2010-11
• 2011-12

That last year outside of the bottom four of the league also coincides with the last winning season Brown has had, and with seven losing campaigns in a row, the Bears are second (along with Bowling Green) for the longest such streak in the nation outside of Atlantic Hockey (Alaska-Anchorage has not had a winning season since 1993, their last year as an independent).

For whatever reason, even though Brendan Whittet has basically had two decent recruit classes in a row, it hasn't translated into success on the ice for the Bears, though the school is certainly becoming known as a breeding ground for tough guys, with recent grads Aaron Volpatti and Harry Zolnierczyk seeing NHL time in the last couple of seasons. And despite solid careers from Buvinow, Maclellan, and Farnham, Brown has continued to be cellar dwellers.

This season, the Bears could well be at least a minor force to be reckoned with offensively. Jacobson's freshman year was a very bright point in a difficult season, and Lorito developed nicely as an assist leader as well. Lappin, who led the USHL's Tri-City in scoring last season, comes in to add to the youth movement in Providence, but the discussion on Brown's freshman class will surely revolve around how good it could have been with Kevin Roy, the USHL's Player of the Year and 4th-round draft pick of the Anaheim Ducks. Roy was expected to be one of the ECAC's top rookies, but he decommitted from Brown in July. His older brother, Derick, was also supposed to be arriving as a goaltender, but he decommitted at the same time. Both are now bound for Northeastern instead.

The loss of Buvinow and Clemente means the Bears essentially start from scratch on defense, with Buvinow consistently considered among the better defensemen in the ECAC and Clemente more or less being the team's top choice goaltender for four straight years (he split time with Dan Rosen his freshman year). DeFilippo saw a limited amount of action last year and was not sharp when he was in net (including the game against RPI in Providence). Still, there is some talent with Robertson and Wahl especially, but the Bears are going to need some people to stand up in a big way to bolster what was already one of the nation's weaker defenses.

Elements of Brown's freshman class that have shown up on campus at least arrive with decent backgrounds, mostly coming from the USHL and the BCHL, the top junior leagues in North America, but they're going to have a tall task in front of them. Kevin Roy could have been a major shot in the arm for this team, but his defection certainly represented a major blow for a program that continues to struggle to climb out of the league's depths. Unless Bruno can parlay their reputation for toughness into a cohesive unit capable of putting up good defense against the rest of the ECAC, it's likely to be another long season in Providence.

Know Your Enemy: Yale

We've mentioned the surprise that was Dartmouth's falling off which dovetailed almost exactly with RPI's own struggles last year, but one of the other major negative surprises of the season was definitely at Yale. The Bulldogs had been the favorites to win the ECAC despite a number of losses up front, but after a promising start the wheels came off in late November, and the team that had been one of the most dominant in the league for several seasons in a row needed a burst of energy in February just to ensure home ice for the first round.

Yale
Nickname: Bulldogs
Location: New Haven, CT
Founded: 1701
Conference: ECAC (Ivy League)
National Championships: 0
Last NCAA Appearance: 2011
Last Frozen Four: 1952
Coach: Keith Allain (7th season)
2011-12 Record: 16-16-3 (10-10-2 ECAC, 6th place)
Series: RPI leads, 53-40-6
First Game: January 22, 1909 (Albany, NY)
Last RPI win: January 21, 2012 (New Haven, CT)
Last YU win: November 11, 2011 (Troy, NY)

2012-13 games: December 7, 2012 (New Haven, CT); February 16, 2013 (Troy, NY)

Key players: D Colin Dueck, sr.; F Antoine Laganiere, sr.; G Jeff Malcolm, sr.; G Nick Maricic, sr.; F Andrew Miller, sr.; F Kenny Agostino, jr.; F Clinton Bourbonais, jr.; F Jesse Root, jr.; D Gus Young, jr.; D Timothy Fallen, so.; D Matt Killian, so.; F Matt Beattie, fr.; F Carson Cooper, fr.; D Rob O'Gara, fr.; F Charles Orzetti, fr.; F Stu Wilson, fr.

Key losses: F Brian O'Neill, D Kevin Peel, F Chad Ziegler, D Nick Jaskowiak, F Kevin Limbert, F Charles Brockett

Previous KYE installments:

• 2010-11
• 2011-12

Defensively, Yale appeared unstoppable early in the season, especially when Malcolm managed to rattle off not just three shutouts in a row, but three shutouts in a row in the ECAC, including blankings of high-powered Colgate and Union (and RPI, but come on, the Engineers couldn't score on an empty net in November last year). However, things unraveled quickly, especially after a shocking 7-6 loss to Sacred Heart, and not only did the Bulldogs fail to shut out a single game after that, they were regularly giving up 3, 4, and 5 goals a game for most of the remainder of the season.

The goaltending question with Yale is one that just never quite seems to go away. It was present at the start of the season two years ago (and answered with Ryan Rondeau), it was there last year (Malcolm appeared to be the answer early, then things fell apart and ultimately Yale allowed 12 goals in their last two games against Harvard), and now it's still there this year, although the potential answers are basically the same as they were last year.

In front of whoever ends up in net for Eli is a relatively young defensive contingent. Dueck and Young stand out as the only upperclassmen on the incoming roster, which will add an anticipated talent in O'Gara but will still consist of at least four freshmen and sophomores on any given night (though one of them will be Fallen, who had a very solid freshman year and put up 20 points from the blue line). That combined with the uncertainty in net makes Yale questionable on defense coming into the season, they'll need to be strong early.

O'Neill represents a sizable loss for the Bulldogs, as he netted 21 goals and scored 46 points to pace the team last year, but the cupboard is not bare by a longshot - Miller, the team's assist leader three years running, is back for his senior year, and Laganiere (19 goals) and Agostino (14 goals) dented the twine with regularity as well. Throw in a bevy of solid scoring talents led by late draft pick Beattie and Yale probably won't have too much of a problem putting the puck in the net.

Over the last several seasons, RPI/Yale has been an absolute treat to watch no matter who the players have been, where the games have been played, or what the records were because both teams try to play an uptempo game. There have been defensive battles and offensive track meets but the teams have gone a few seasons now without really turning out a stinker of a contest. Look for that to continue this season, and if you want to watch some fun hockey, be sure to turn out for this year's clashes between the Engineers and the Bulldogs.

Olympic Sized

It's official... the ECAC tournament is making its way back to Lake Placid, where it will be held in 2014, 2015, and 2016. Will that end the long battle over its location that has raged for the last decade, practically ever since the tournament moved to Albany in 2003?

Probably not.

The move out of Atlantic City makes sense. The league saw dollar signs a few years back and made the plunge because Albany wasn't doing enough to market the tournament - and managed to only make things worse. So it was that fans began to look elsewhere once again.

Many viewed Lake Placid as a panacea for the league, a guaranteed return to greatness. Others bounced more fanciful ideas or even loathsome ones, desperate for anything else. We actually proposed a rotating schedule which would include a number of different locations (we suggested Lake Placid, Albany, Syracuse, Providence, and Bridgeport).

If you're a believer in divine providence, perhaps the move back to Lake Placid will benefit RPI. After all, the Engineers are currently on the longest active drought of missing the tournament - by a solid five years, with the next longest droughts being Quinnipiac and Clarkson, who faced off in the 2007 championship but have not been back. The last time RPI reached the ECAC semis was 2002, the final season in Lake Placid during the original run.

There's one important thing that worked about Lake Placid, besides its relatively smaller size making it easier to fill the building - the teams that played there practically always had a large fan base to help fill the joint.

1993 - Brown, Clarkson, Harvard, RPI
1994 - Brown, Clarkson, Harvard, RPI
1995 - Clarkson, Colgate, Princeton, RPI
1996 - Clarkson, Cornell, Harvard, Vermont
1997 - Clarkson, Cornell, Princeton, RPI
1998 - Clarkson, Cornell, Harvard, Princeton, Yale
1999 - Clarkson, Colgate, Princeton, RPI, St. Lawrence
2000 - Clarkson, Cornell, Colgate, RPI, St. Lawrence
2001 - Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, St. Lawrence, Vermont
2002 - Clarkson, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, RPI

There's no question that it was a tremendous run by the teams with the top traveling fan bases in the league. Early on, Harvard was still drawing fairly well, and later in the tenure, a relative local team with a halfway decent traveling fan base was there in SLU. Every single season the tournament was held in Lake Placid, it featured at least two teams that travel well, sometimes three, and in 2000 it landed four. It always had at least one local team since one or both of the North Country teams reached every season.

There was something magic about the tournament back then. Like the Frozen Four today, it was a place where you tried to go every year, and you'd see old friends and old rivals, and it had the added bonus of taking place in a building that is an absolute mecca when it comes to American hockey. I was just a kid when I started going to see the Engineers play there, but I always got chills walking into 1980 Rink. Just thinking about it gives me chills.

The league's luck changed as soon as the tournament left the Adirondacks.

2003 - Brown, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard
2004 - Clarkson, Colgate, Dartmouth, Harvard
2005 - Colgate, Cornell, Harvard, Vermont
2006 - Colgate, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard
2007 - Clarkson, Dartmouth, Quinnipiac, St. Lawrence
2008 - Colgate, Cornell, Harvard, Princeton
2009 - Cornell, Princeton, St. Lawrence, Yale
2010 - Brown, Cornell, St. Lawrence, Union
2011 - Colgate, Cornell, Dartmouth, Yale
2012 - Colgate, Cornell, Harvard, Union

These last ten tournaments simply haven't been able to cobble together any solid turnouts in part because the teams that have been going don't have as big of a following on the road. That's not the only problem - Albany and Atlantic City were poor draws as locations - but it has an impact. No RPI at all, and Cornell and Clarkson never have made it in the same season. The closest thing the league ever got was in 2010 with Cornell and a local team in Union, and that's it.

Bottom line? Well, the bottom line for us seems to be that RPI needs to start holding up its end of the bargain - Clarkson too, for that matter. When the tournament moved to Albany in 2003, the league probably had hoped to see continued visits by the Engineers - something which never panned out. As a result, the attendance and the atmosphere at the tournament slowly began to dwindle until we reached a point that the tournament itself is no longer a "destination" the way it is in the Big Three leagues today.

The ECAC isn't unique in having teams it needs to succeed in order to have a flourishing tournament. The WCHA, for instance, long has relied on Minnesota to reach the Final Five in order to ensure that the Xcel Energy Center is basically full. When the Gophers missed out in 2010 and 2011, the tournament still drew fairly well, but not as much as it usually did. The CCHA has been reliant on Michigan's participation to draw in Detroit - and Boston has never lacked a local team or a member of its "Big Four" for Hockey East's finale.

And of course, you've got Atlantic Hockey in Rochester, which is pretty self-explanatory. Fortunately, even with RIT in the AHA title game the last three years, the ECAC is still outdrawing that league - but not by much.

It has its drawbacks. One of the other reasons the league left Lake Placid was the Olympic-sized ice surface. Once again, a league with 10 teams who play on NHL-sized ice will compete for the league championship on larger ice (Dartmouth and Harvard are both slightly bigger than the NHL's 200x85, but still closer to NHL-size). It's still isolated and tough to get to or from in inclement weather. It's still not a cheap place to find a room. But for now, it's home again.

For the ECAC, the move back to Lake Placid may in part be an admission that it's not going to be easy to fill large arenas for the tournament even if the right teams are there. The 2014 tournament may draw in more casual fans than usual - the ones like me who remember the league's glory days in the 1990s when Lake Placid provided heart-stopping games before packed crowds - but unless the right teams are there once again, the novelty will fade. If that happens, even Herb Brooks Arena will start to look a little empty.

But I'll be there in 2014. Perhaps the magic is ready to return.