Colgate/Clarkson, RPI/Union and Vermont/Brown

Who else will have a shot at a Miracle on Olympic (sized) Ice?

That's the question that six other hopeful coaches are asking themselves on the eve of the ECAC quarterfinals. The Harvard-Cornell tete-a-tete aside, three other mouth-watering matchups begin today, with spots at Lake Placid and dreams of NCAA tournament bids on the line.

For in the ECAC, only one team has locked up an NCAA bid going into this weekend--that would be Harvard. Even with a major collapse at home against eight-seeded Cornell (and we're talking one of Roman Empire proportions, here), the Crimson would almost surely be in without any trouble.

But no other team has that luxury. Clarkson, RPI and Brown are all very much on the national bubble--and given by NCAA's history of shortchanging teams from the East come tourney-time, upset losses this weekend would no doubt ruin their chances.

"I think across the country the ECAC gets an unfair reputation," Harvard Coach Ronn Tomassoni said. "Our league is just as good as any other league, and I think if you looked at it and analyzed it over the last, say, eight years, you'd find that the ECAC has done quite well when it comes down to national competition."

But should one of the under-dogs-Vermont, Union or Colgate-go on a sudden four-game victory binge, they would be assured a spot in the NCAA mix, league reputation or not, for the ECAC tournament winner gets an automatic national bid.

So with all of that tension on the line, we present you with a guide to the other three best-of-three ECAC quarterfinal matchups of this weekend:

#2 Clarkson (17-8-5, 13-5-4 ECAC) vs. #7 Colgate (13-15-2, 10-10-2 ECAC): "A Cheel-ing Thought."

Defending tournament champion Clarkson is riding high, as it always seems to do come February and March, and Colgate will have to get its act together quickly to avoid a little slip-sliding away.

After a 2-4-2 start, Clarkson began to right itself, and since a 3-2 loss to Maine of January 14, the Golden Knights have gone 11-2-2.

Included in that stretch are decisive 3-1 and 5-1 wins over the Red Raiders, and Colgate, which flirted with the top four until a disastrous 2-7 finish to the season, will be hardpressed to come up with some instant defense.

Senior Bruce Gardiner (17-19-36) did finish fourth for the Raiders in the ECAC scoring chase, but when your top goalie (junior Jason Gates) finishes the season with a 4.17 GAA and lets in every sixth shot, you've got a problem, and Coach Don Vaughan knows it only all too well.

Especially against these Golden Kinghts. Nine NHL draftees litter their roster, and two of them--captain Craig Conroy (15-23-35) and junior Brian Mueller (11-24-35)--finished in the top five in league points.

Jason Currie lends Clarkson's strong goaltending, and even if players like Conroy are prone to getting a little out of hand (witness his 10 minute misconduct penalty last weekend against the Crimson for challenging the Harvard bench to a fight--"Don't know what he was thinking," Harvard's own Steve Martins said), Coach Mark Morris knows how to push all the right postseason buttons.

And unless Colgate rediscovers its pre-January form (read: e.g. an upset win over Harvard), this series could be over quicker than you can say "New Kids On The Block."

(Neither Morris for Vaughan could be reached for comment.)

#3 RPI (18-8-4, ECAC) vs. #6 Union (14-9-4, 10-9-3 ECAC): Looking to Double-Dutch".

It was supposed to be another building year for the Skating Dutchmen, still in only their third year up from Division III play--but lo and behold, Coach Bruce Delventhal has made Union the hottest team in the ECAC's at just the right time of year.

Since a 5-4 covertime loss to Clarkson on February 4, the Dutchmen have gone 7-0-2--even Harvard has lost more recently. For a team that had never before even escaped the ECAC cellar, Delventhal is overjoyed at his season to date.

"I really feel blessed just to be here," he said. "We feed good about just being involved at this point of the season, and the kids feel very positive with what we've been able to accomplish. We're going to have fun this weekend."

RPI Coach Buddy Powers is not so sanguine. His Engineers were consensus preseason picks to win the regular season conference crown, but an increasingly inconsistent, frustrating season was capped by a futile road trip to Brown and Harvard two weekends ago: no points from two games.

After wins over Cornell and Colgate last weekend, Powers said he feels that momentum may be back somewhat on his side. "It was a long way back from the Harvard-Brown weekend, but I feel we bounced back pretty well," he said.

"We played in a playoff-type atmosphere against Colgate, and that's good type of game to play going into the postseason."

True, and the overall talent balance favors RPI. Neil Little is one of the country's premier goalies, and the Union duo of Mike Gallant (Friday) and Luigi Villa (Saturday) might be hard-pressed to stop them.

And even with a long season behind them, freshmen and freshmen, and Union dresses 11 of them every night; compared with an experienced Engineer crops headed by senior captain Ron Pasco, the Dutchmen's youth shall surely tell.

Or will it? Could a local rivalry-in-waiting develop from a hard-fought series this weekend? Don't be too surprised if this matchup is reprised on Sunday.

#4 Brown (13-10-4, 12-7-3 ECAC) vs. #5 Vermont (14-10-6, 10-6-6 ECAC): "Meehan My Shadow."

Another case of "hot" and "not-so-hot," as the stumbling Brown Bears ready themselves for the Catamounts of Vermont, winners of three in row. The Cats, in fact, came into last weekend hoping to slide into fourth place and home ice berth, but RPI moved up instead of back, denying Vermont a shot at a Gutterson Fieldhouse advantage.

"We were hoping to see RPI have some trouble," Coach Mike Gilligan admitted. "But we're still playing well, and we're not too concerned about not having home ice."

What may concern Vermont fans is last Saturday's injury to ace goalie Tim Thomas. He had to leave the Yale win with a groin injury, and although he should be back in time to face the Bears, he may not be at 100 percent.

Of course, if Brown's Geoff Finch (his .906 save pct. is the league's second-best) has anything to say about it, that won't matter. In 125 minutes against the Cats, Finch let in only three goals, and Gilligan has concerns about his team's ability to score.

"Although we've been getting balanced scoring from all our kids, we haven't been getting very much of it of late, and that may be a problem with a kid like Finch in the nets," Gilligan said.

"We'd like to think that there's a little more than Geoff Finch on this team to worry about," retorted Brown Coach Bob Gaude.

The Bears have an experienced bunch of blue-liners, headed by senior Mark Shaughnessy, although Gaudet admitted the need to "muster up a little more offense" after last weekend's losses at Clarkson and St. Lawrence. But with the Bears finally healthy after a string of late-season bumps and bruises, Gaudet has to like his team's chances. Remember--Brown snaked from the #4 seed in last year's tournament all the way to the finals, knocking off Harvard en route to an NCAA berth.

"We hope we can get some momentum going," Gaudet said. "The first game is so important."

And whoever wins it should be in the driver's seat for the rest of the series.