This has been quite a few months for the ECAC. This summer has seen many changes to the administration and coaching of the teams in this conference. Both the commissioner and the commisioner of ice hockey are leaving, with commisioner Clayton Chapman retiring and ice hockey commisioner and Joe Bretagna accepting a position as the commissioner of Hockey East. Joe Fanter, a former Director of Ice Hockey Sports Information at Colgate and administrator at Indiana University, will replace Bretagna. Clarkson's athletic director Bill O'Flaherty is leaving to direct player personnel for the Los Angeles Kings. Meanwhile, the coaching staff seems to have played musical chairs. In order to make it easy to follow, I have constructed a road map to show you all of the changes in the coaching staff:
In player news, five out of the 236 players picked in the NHL draft in mid-June are from the ECAC, including one recruit. Here is a recap of the rounds:
2nd Round
30. Philadelphia (from Toronto) -- Jean-Marc Pelletier, g, Cornell (ECAC)
3rd Round
120. Chicago -- Peter Gardiner, rw, RPI (ECAC)
6th Round
179. Pittsburgh -- Mark Moore, d, Harvard (ECAC)
8th Round
196. N.Y. Islanders -- Jeremy Symington, g, Petrolia (Jr. B)1997-98 St Lawrence (ECAC)
9th Round
226. Washington -- Matt Oikawa, rw, St. Lawrence (ECAC)
Jean-Marc Pelletier, who would have entered his junior year at Cornell, signed with the Flyers on July 9th. My sources have not yet verified if the other draftees have signed.
Other ECAC players who graduated this past May have signed with teams. Jean-Francois Houle signed a contract with the Montreal Canadiens, which his father, Ray-Jean, manages. Eric Perrin and Martin St. Louis, teammates since grade school, have continued to stay together with their singing as free agents for the Cleveland Lumberjacks (IHL).
NEXT ARTICLE: Nitpicking the Preseason Polls
The author's nickname in her sorority is Puck. Gee, I wonder why?
GO BACK TO THE COLUMNIST INDEX PAGE.