While there was a little bit of uncertainty concerning the ECACHL tournament semifinalists, the top four seeds are on their way to Albany this weekend to battle for the conference championship. With No. 2 seed Harvard and No. 3 seed Colgate sweeping their respective opponents, No. 4 Vermont had a more difficult time, going to a third and decisive game against Dartmouth.
No. 2 Harvard 2, No. 7 St. Lawrence 0
In the teams’ first game in Boston, a stellar 33-save peformance from senior Crimson goaltender Dov Grumet-Morris gave Harvard a 2-0 win. Grumet-Morris, who has the nation’s best save percentage at .952, was boosted by Charlie Johnson’s power play goal at 16:44 in the second period.
While the Crimson only managed 16 shots on the day, Jon Pelle made one of his count, when he scored off a pass from Mike Taylor to give Harvard a two goal lead.
In game two, the game was scoreless until Harvard scored two in the second period. After Brendan Bernakevitch drew first blood at 5:32, Kevin Du scored on the power play later in the period, doubling Harvard’s lead.
On a St. Lawrence power play in the third, Mike Zbringer scored off assists from T.J. Trevelyan and Stace Page to cut the deficit to one. However, Harvard’s Tyler Magura replied five minutes later with a shorthanded goal, which proved to be the winning mark.
St. Lawrence put a second goal on the board late in the period, but the game ended 3-2 in favor of Harvard.
No. 3 Colgate 2, No. 6 Brown 0
Colgate put on two convincing performances last weekend at Starr Rink to defeat Brown. In the first game, while the Bears’ Brian McNary scored the opener during a second period power play, the Raiders responded with scores by Adam Mitchell and Jon Smyth.
In the third period, the Raiders scored twice on the power play, with Mike Campaner and Dustin Gillanders notching a goal apiece for a 4-1 win. In total, Colgate was 3-for-7 with the extra man, while the Raiders’ defense limited Brown to just 12 shots on goal.
In the second encounter, Colgate continued its strong form, shutting out Brown, 3-0. The Raiders recieved second period goals from Anthony Masotto and Tyler Burton and recieved a third from Dave Thomas later in the game. Colgate goaltender Steve Silverthorn made 19 saves in the win. They will face Harvard on Friday.
No. 4 Vermont 2, No. 5 Dartmouth 1
Vermont came back from a game down to defeat Dartmouth last weekend. In the teams’ first game, the Catamounts opened up the scoring with a goal on the power play from Andy Corran, before Dartmouth’s Nick Johnson replied later in the first period.
After trading goals in the second period, Green player Lee Stempniak scored the game-winning tally in the third at 10:37, giving Dartmouth a 3-2 win.
In game two, the Catamounts started the game strongly with two first period goals by Baron Becker and Jeff Corey. However, Dartmouth clawed back into the game, bringing the deficit back to one with a David Jones goal. In the third period, Nick Johnson found the back of the net at 12:02.
His goal sent the game into overtime, where Chris Myers became the hero, scoring off assists from Mark Lutz and Ryan Gunderson giving Vermont a 3-2 win.
Game three would also be a close affair. Vermont scored first on a 5-on-3 power play in the opening period, when Jaime Sifers found the back of the net. The game would stay scoreless until the third, when Dartmouth’s Eric Przepiorka scored at and the 2:10 mark.
However, on a power play four minutes later, Lutz scored the game winning goal at 6:02, as Vermont won the game, 2-1, and will now face Cornell on Friday.
Archived article by Brian Tsao
Sun Assistant Sports Editor