First off, the current standings:
ECAC Women: standings => Dec 12 1994
ECAC League Overall
TEAM W L T PTS GF GA W L T PTS
Northeastern 5 0 2 12 35 12 6 1 4 16
UNH 5 1 0 10 61 9 9 3 1 19
Brown 5 0 0 10 45 12 8 0 1 17
Harvard 4 1 1 9 20 10 6 4 1 13
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Providence 4 0 0 8 43 5 5 4 2 12
Colby 3 1 1 6 17 11 6 2 1 12
Princeton 3 2 0 6 17 13 5 3 1 11
Dartmouth 2 0 1 5 8 2 6 0 2 14
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Cornell 1 4 0 2 12 33 3 4 0 6
St. Lawrence 0 2 0 0 8 10 0 2 0 0
RIT 0 4 0 0 4 15 0 4 0 0
Middlebury 0 2 0 0 3 17 2 2 0 4
Boston College 0 7 0 0 14 42 6 7 0 12
Yale 0 4 0 0 3 31 0 5 0 0
Bowdoin 0 3 0 0 3 45 1 3 0 2
With the first "half" of the season over I thought I would take a look at
how the ECAC Women's league is shaping up. I have seen all the top teams
play at least one game. So here are my assessments of who may win the
league title or play-off championship.
Brown:
I would say they are the best team I have seen, and clearly should win
one if not both events. PLUS: The Bears have skillful players and good
coaching. Boudreau, Gorton, Kellar, King, Solari and Woog are some of
the best talent in the league. Degidio-Murphy, McCurdy and Hill seem to
have formed a stunning partnership that has Brown skating by their
rivals. MINUS: The defense does not always look very secure. Only
playing two lines could generate fatigue or injuries. Overall, I expect
the blue line problems to be resolved, especially if netminder Witchger
continues to improve. The Brown Bears should win, and with style.
If Brown falters I believe one of the following four teams could step up
and earn victory:
UNH:
They have a large squad of players and good experience at all positions.
PLUS: Players like Camins, Dunn, Fisher, Neiley, Solimini, and Tatarouns
can play a very strong game and give any unprepared team fits. MINUS:
The Wildcats do not have much of an organized attack. Opportunism rarely
translates into an interesting team or many championships. I look for
UNH to be in the finals ready to grab anything that other teams let slip.
Northeastern:
The Huskies have a young team that is developing rapidly. PLUS: With
defenders Allan, Cheatham and Drews along with goalie Flatt, NU has one
of the more solid defenses in the league. The coaching is also a huge
positive, as Northeastern continues to be able to get the most out of its
players. MINUS: Goal scoring and team speed can be problems. If
leaders emerge the Huskies could go far. It is hard to say, but I expect
NU to be in the hunt all the way.
Princeton:
With the senior leadership and talent they have, the Tigers could step up
and win something. PLUS: Fukuda, Issel and Reece are skillful seniors
who along with Chernisky, Hill, Pfeiffer and Urbas could rise to the
occasion and rip many teams. MINUS: They do not appear to always be a
team who is focused on the game at hand. I can easily see Princeton
surprising a number of people in the play-offs and making it to the final.
Providence:
The Friars are the defending champs in both events. They are fast and
experienced. PLUS: Blahoski, Brophy, Carlson, Fine, Hanson, Mancuso,
Mills, O'Sullivan, Turcotte and Wheeler all can play. MINUS: The
coaching change has left PC with somewhat of a void. I do not see the
direction they had last year. The players may pull together, but I don't
know how far this team can go without the system they once had.
The one other team I have seen that could be there around play-off time
is Dartmouth. Big Green has much development to do, but with first-year
goalie Tueting holding the fort and Devens up front, they could provide
some heroics of their own.
It appears that Colby, Harvard, St. Lawrence and perhaps Cornell will
fight it out to make the play-off field of eight.
So much for predictions - let the games resume.
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good shooting
rhun
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