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| The Princeton Tigers hosted #15 Quinnipiac Sunday afternoon. I watched the game on ESPN3. Below are my thoughts from the Tigers 1-0 loss to the Bobcats. Photo courtesy of Princeton University. |
College Hockey Game Watch:
It's been a while, but I am back with another Hockey 101 entry. This entry is going to focus on the College Game, or, what I have learned from watching a college hockey game this morning.
Santa brought our family an Apple TV and with it, capability to watch ESPN 3 on our tv. So, in flipping through the replay options, I saw that there was a college hockey game between #15 Quinnipiac and Princeton at Princeton. I have watched some NHL games, but not a college game. So, I started watching.
First off, I noticed that the game was a ECAC conference game. There are six men's Division 1 hockey conferences, of which, the ECAC is one of them. The conferences are: 1. ECAC; 2. Atlantic Hockey; 3. Hockey East; 4. Big Ten Hockey; 5. NCHC Hockey; and 6. WCHA Hockey
Since I watched a contest between two schools from the ECAC, I will have my breakdown of that conference. Though I live in Big Ten country, I imagine later this winter, I will have a chance to explore that conference more.
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ECAC Hockey
Brief History:
Started in 1961 - after a dispute between the New England and New York schools. It was formed with no fewer than 28 teams competing in the league's first three years. In it's first game as a member of the ECAC, Providence crushed Rutgers 20-0 which still is a ECAC record.
March 10, 1962 - St. Lawrence upsets Clarkson in the first ECAC championship game 5-2.
1964 - The ECAC splits in two with the Ivy League teams and strong D1 schools remaining in the ECAC pairing the conference to 15 schools.
March 18, 1967 - Cornell becomes the first ECAC program to win a national title. Cornell beats Boston U 4-1 in Syracuse, NY.
March 25, 1975 - The Ivy League approves freshman eligibility in hockey on a three-year trial basis.
November 3, 1981 - The ECAC adopts a new tournament format for the 1982-83 season. 8 teams will make the first round of the tourney and the quarterfinals will be played at the higher seed.
July 11, 1983 - The AD's at Boston College, Boston U, New Hampshire, Northeastern and Providence agree to form a new hockey conference which will begin play in the 1984-85 season. Maine also joins — Hockey East Conference is formed.
October 9, 1989 - The ECAC expands the conference tournament to 10 teams.
October 17, 1989 - The ECAC and the New England Sports Network (NESN), reach an agreement on a 2-year package to have seven ECAC-Hockey East regular season games and the ECAC championship on the Regional Sports Network.
November 23, 1990 - Army leaves the ECAC.
January 28, 1991 - Union joins the ECAC bringing conference memebership to 12 teams.
July 17, 1992 - The ECAC moves their tournament to the 1980 Olympic Arena in Lake Placid, NY ending a 31-year stay in Boston.
June, 18 2002 - The ECAC moves their tournament to Albany NY, from Lake Placid, NY.
December 18, 2003 - Vermont announces it will leave the ECAC for Hockey East.
August 24, 2004 - Quinnipiac will join the ECAC in teh 2005-06 season to replace Vermont and keep the league at 12 teams.
September 29, 2009 - The ECAC moves their tournament to Atlantic City, NJ from Albany, NY becoming the fifth home of the postseason tournament.
August 12, 2012 - ECAC Hockey announces that it has moved the postseason tournament to the 1980 Rink - Herb Brooks Arena, Lake Placid NY for a three-year team begining in 2014.
December 17, 2012 - For the first time in league history, seven ECAC programs earn spots in the national polls in a given week.
April 12, 2014 - Union wins the National Championship.
Conference Schools: Quinnipiac, Harvard, Clarkson, Yale, St. Lawrence, Rensselaer, Colgate, Dartmouth, Union, Cornell, Brown, Princeton.
Conference Leader As of Monday, December 29 — Quinnipiac 8-2
Conference Celler-Dweller as of Monday, December 29 — Brown (1-7) and Princeton (1-9)
Trophies (2) —
1. William J. Cleary Cup - Regular Season Champion - named after former Harvard AD William J. 'Bill' Cleary.
2. Scotty M. Whitelaw Cup - ECAC Tournament Champion - named after retiring ECAC Commissioner Robert M. "Scotty" Whitelaw in 1989.
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The Princeton Quinnipiac game was just the 22nd time the two schools had met with Quinnipiac holding an 11-9-1 record. Princeton came in 2-10-1 and having a hard time scoring goals. Quinnipiac was 11-5-1.
The Tigers played good defense the whole game. The teams were scoreless after the first two periods. Princeton missed a scoring chance late in the second period and in the opening minutes of the third period.
Quinnipiac scored the games only goal in the third period to capture the 1-0 game. Quinnipiac had 25 shots on goal to Princeton's 21 and the game lasted 2 hours and 10 minutes Quinnipiac has held Princeton scoreless in four of their last five games.
