The ECAC: Perplexing Postseason Possibilities

Are you ready for this?

The ECAC has been a confusing division all season long. With so much parity in the league, teams jumped up and down in the standings every week, and almost no one has been eliminated from a top finish.

Now as the season heads into its penultimate weekend, a little, very little, headway can finally be made in determining the cloudy playoff picture.

There are three distinct races to track in the league. The most basic is of course, qualifying for the playoffs. In the newly revamped ECAC system, 10 out of 12 teams enter the ECAC postseason tournament.

Those 10 teams also compete for home ice in the first round, which is awarded to the top five finishers. A low seed makes the road to the NCAA Tournament exceedingly difficult.

"Anytime you play at home its important," said Harvard Head Coach Ronn Tomassoni. "In a year like this with everything so close, it may not be as great an advantage."

Lastly, two teams--Yale and Clarkson--are competing for the divisional crown. In addition to the bragging rights and top seed, a first place finish carries an automatic NCAA bid.

This picture is clearest at the top.

Shockingly ranked No. 5 in the nation, Yale has surprised everyone with its outstanding play. Picked to finish tenth in the league in the coaches preseason poll, it has led the ECAC most of the way, garnering widespread support for Coach Tim Taylor as National Coach of the Year. The Bulldogs have already clinched home ice through the playoffs and need just five points to secure the ECAC crown.

"Yale has been a surprise," Tomassoni said. "Everybody was waiting for them to go south, but they deserve a lot of credit."

Second-place Clarkson poses the only legitimate challenge to Yale. The Golden Knights trail the Bulldogs by only four points and kept their championship hopes alive with a 6-3 win over Yale this past weekend. They need a point to clinch home ice and will have a chance to secure it against our own Crimson this Saturday.

After the top two teams, only Rensselaer has locked anything up--they are guaranteed a postseason berth, nothing more.

This leaves seven playoff spots and virtually three home ice slots still available.

Four teams control their own playoff destiny. Colgate needs one more point to guarantee a postseason position. Brown and Cornell need two to make the field of ten. Harvard has to sweep this weekend's games with St. Lawrence and Clarkson to ensure a trip to the playoffs.

Dartmouth, Princeton, and Vermont round out the teams currently in playoff position. St. Lawrence trails Vermont by two points, but will be hard-pressed to make up ground at Harvard and redhot Brown this weekend.

As for Union, it has six points, and one more Vermont point officially ends any playoff possibility in a nightmare of a season.

Now for the far more intriguing competition for home ice advantage.

RPI, in third place, has to consider itself a favorite for one of the remaining spots. The Engineers are hot, having dropped just three of their last 13 games and converted on 22 of its last 67 power plays for a whopping 32.8% clip. They hold at least a two point lead over any team not in the top five.

Brown has been even hotter than Rensselaer. The Bears have charged up the conference, losing just two of their last 11 games and outscoring the opposition 36-29 over that period. Currently tied for fifth with Cornell, Brown just dispatched the Big Red 5-1 last Friday and picked apart Colgate 6-2 the following day. Friday's game should be a good test for them as they host Clarkson.

Colgate and Cornell occupy the other top five positions. Both teams could easily be eclipsed as neither team has played exceptionally well.

The problem is more dire for slumping Colgate--currently in fourth place. The Red Raiders have won just one contest in its past six games and gave up six goals to both the Crimson and the Bears this weekend.

Cornell has been more consistent--they have split their past five weekends. The Big Red have been plagued by injuries and could only dress 17 skaters for Saturday's 3-2 win over the Crimson. Moreover, the team's saving grace, goal-tender Jason Elliot, had to leave Saturday's contest with an undisclosed injury. If he misses any length of time it could force the Big Red off of home ice.

Harvard, Dartmouth, and Princeton all are knocking on the door for home ice. Statistically, the Crimson have the best chance, trailing the two fifth place teams by a mere two points with 17. Dartmouth and Princeton are tied with 16 points.

"Everything is so close and tight, just a small gap separates the middle of the division," Tomassoni said.

However, each team has a very difficult game this weekend. Harvard hosts second-place Clarkson on Friday while Dartmouth treks down to New Haven. The next day, the Big Green goes further down 1-95 to Princeton. That last game will certainly eliminate one team from home ice contention.

Any of these teams will have to win at least three of its remaining games and more likely have to sweep to be seeded in the top half of the ECAC bracket.

There it is, the always mesmerizing playoff breakdown. If that was not convoluted enough, remember these seedings determine positioning in a tournament which determines which team earns the right to enter another tournament (with its own seeding) and attempt to unseat No. 1 North Dakota as national champions.

Got that?