Photo Courtesy: Quinnipiac Athletics
By Gabbi Riggi
Four teams remain, vying for the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament as the representative for the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference. Only eight teams across the country make it to the big dance, and the race draws even tighter.
The four teams in the ECAC represent some of the best in the country, all within the top 10 of the USCHO.com poll. Clarkson, the defending national champion is the number one seed, number two Harvard, three Cornell and four Quinnipiac.
Matchups are not done by highest playing lowest seed as it was the the first round. The semifinals have continued as a bracket, giving us the two matchups.
The first is the host, Clarkson against Cornell. The teams split the season series, with Cornell taking the first game 8-3 and tying 1-1 a month later. Cornell also comes into the series having won four of the last five conference tournaments.
Even though Cornell is the lower seed in the match, there’s a real chance they come away with the victory. The two teams have come away playing each other evenly all year, it will come down to the strength of Clarkson’s defense against one of the more potent forward forces in the league.
The second is Harvard “hosting” Quinnipiac. The way these games play on the ice is much different than the way they play out on paper.
Harvard is the only team in the ECAC to sweep the season series against Quinnipiac. The Bobcats have also gone 4-5-1 against ranked opponents, with all five losses coming in the second half of the season.
This matchup is going to be one of the most excited games to see. Both games against this season were close 2-1 matches, with the most recent coming to an overtime Bobcats loss at home.
The game was evenly played for all 60 minutes, and looked to end in a strongly contested tie. Unfortunately for the Bobcats, a double deflection in the last minute of overtime sent Harvard away victorious.
It’s also one of the few matchups I’ve truly seen the Bobcats really anxious for. After the last home game for the Bobcats, Chelsea Laden spoke volumes about the anticipation for the matchup.
“Both games have been rather close so we’re really excited to play them,” she said. “We wanted to play them, as soon as that last Harvard game ended, we were like ‘I wanna play them tomorrow!’ because we know that we’re just as good or better of a team than them.”
Now that the stage is set, let’s talk about the real exciting stuff: predictions.
It’ll take a lot for Quinnipiac to get past Harvard, but if it’s the team that so thoroughly dominated Princeton last weekend, there should be no contest. What’s most important is maintaining that strong back pressure that has been the bread and butter for this team all year long.
The issue comes after 60 minutes have concluded. If this matchup goes to overtime, then Harvard has enough scoring prowess and finishing power to come away victorious. If Quinnipiac can get out to an early lead and begin playing that nation-leading team defense, they will be victorious.
On the other side of the matchup, the best-case scenario for the Bobcats is to play Clarkson over Cornell. Clarkson is a team whose number they’ve had all year, winning all three matchups this season. Two of those were 1-0 shutouts, and one a 3-1 victory in the Nutmeg Cup tournament.
So, the way the chips fall, if Quinnipiac gets past Harvard I see them winning the ECAC tournament. If Cornell defeats Clarkson, I see them taking home the ECAC spot in the NCAA tournament for the third year in a row.
