Around the leagues:
ECAC East: The Middlebury Panthers, three-time defending national
champions, opened the season 1-2. Was the dynasty over? Not to worry.
The Panthers have gone 14-0-1 to climb to the top of the ECAC East and
NCAA D-III Eastern Poll. In their last eight games, Middlebury has
allowed a grand total of just four goals....Back in early January, you
read here that Bowdoin was the best 1-7-1 team in the nation. Since
then the Polar Bears have won 8 in a row and squeaked into tenth place
in the most recent NCAA poll....Congrats to Middlebury's Bill Beaney
and Salem's Bill O'Neill. Both coaches won their 300th game last week.
ECAC West: RIT finally fell from the top spot in the NCAA Eastern
Poll, a ranking they had held for the entire season. RIT has still not
lost to a D-III program, but are just 5-2-5 in their last twelve games
after starting the season 8-0....Niagara needs just a single point in
their last two conference games to clinch the regular season title and
most likely host the ECAC West championships....RIT's Peter
Bournazakis is the favorite to win the rookie-of-the-year award. The
freshman from Toronto, Ontario leads all scorers in the ECAC West with
nine goals and eleven assists in just seven conference games.
Bournazakis has 47 total points on the season.
SUNYAC: Geneseo broke away from the pack last weekend on the basis of
an overtime win over Oswego and a Plattsburgh loss to Fredonia. The
Ice Knights now lead both teams by two points with five league games
left. This weekend will go a long way in deciding things as Geneseo
hosts Plattsburgh and fourth place Potsdam....Geneseo has
mathematically clinched one of the six playoff spots.
NCHA: St. Norbert has clinched home ice throughout the playoffs.
UW-River Falls, UW-Stevens Point and UW-Superior will also host first
round playoff series in two weeks...UW-Stout's Graham Lomen had a game
to write home about last week against St. Scholastica. With the game
tied 4-4, Lomen scored his third goal of the game with just 11 seconds
to play to win the game for the Devils. The junior from Apple Valley,
Minn. was named NCHA play-of-the-week.
MIAC: St. John's has opened a seven point lead in the standings with
just three weeks left in the regular season. While the Johnnies appear
to be on their way to a regular season title, the remaining three
playoff positions are still up for grabs. St. Thomas (17 points), St.
Mary's (14), Augsburg (13), Gustavis (11) and Concordia (11) are all
in the running....St. Thomas and St. John's meet in two weeks, while
St. Mary's and Augsburg will battle this coming weekend.
ECAC N/C/S: More off-ice controversy last week as Villanova has
suspended their program indefinitely. Injuries and defections forced
the team to drop out of the Q-Cup Tournament with less than 24 hours
notice, and then to forfeit a weekend series with Wentworth. Nova was
the only D-I school in the ECAC regional leagues electing not to join
the MAAC next season. Instead, the Wildcats planned to drop to club
status for 1998-99. Villanova was 0-9, 1-15 before suspending operations.
Independents: Quinnipiac had to scramble to find a replacement for
Villanova in their Q-Cup tournament. Fortunately, Iona was doing
anything last Wednesday and filled in for the Wildcats...Quinnipiac
beat Iona 6-2 and then Fairfield 7-4 to win the championship. All four
Q-Cup teams (Quinnipiac, Iona, Fairfield, Holy Cross) will join the
MAAC next season.
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