On Jul 27, 14:41, Richard Hungerford wrote:
>OK - so it's hot - let's see who I have neglected today!
 
All right, you asked for it :-)
 
>Men:
>1st team:
>G:  Neil Little (Rensselaer 94)
 
Without question, the best ECAC goaltender I've seen in the last ten years,
although it was really only for one season, was Colgate's Dave Gagnon.  Not a
whole lot to talk about his first two years (I think he was riding the bench
behind Wayne Cowley for some of that time), but his junior season was one hell
of a highlight show.  That was 1989-90, the year Colgate made it to the NCAA
finals, and Gagnon was a huge part of the reason why.  Anybody who saw him all
but put the rest of the Red Raiders on his back and carry them through the
quarterfinal series against a tough Lake Superior team and the semifinal against
BU (all low-scoring one-goal games) could not have helped but be impressed.
(I guess some pro scouts were, as Gagnon turned pro as a free agent after the
NCAA's)  Colgate did have a number of solid two-way players that year, which
helped, but Gagnon was called upon to stand on his head several times in the
post-season, and he did so.
 
Second-best of the decade, although again it was only for one season, was
Cornell's Parris Duffus, who carried a not-very-talented Big Red team that had
been decimated by graduation to within one period of the ECAC championship back
in '92.  Duffus was almost unbelievably consistent that year, having only one
really bad game (against Union toward the end of the regular season).
 
Other goalies from the decade that I might or might not rank ahead of Little:
 Clarkson's Chris Rogles and Dan Murphy, Harvard's Allain Roy, and Vermont's
Christian Soucy and Tim Thomas.  Probably Brown's Chris Harvey as well.  I don't
know what Harvey's career GAA and save percentage were; they probably weren't
all that great.  But this guy, after a decent freshman season, spent two years
behind one of the worst teams in college hockey history, culminating in the
Bears' infamous 1-25 record of 88-89.  To be able to survive that mess (during
which the Brown defense consisted mainly of somebody yelling, "Hey Chris --
puck's a'comin'!") and post the stats he did during his senior year, which were
good enough to make him second-team All-ECAC... well, that's the kind of per-
severance and dedication I'd like to see in my team's netminders.  It was nice
that Harvey was able to participate in the Bears' rebuilding effort after those
two nightmarish seasons.  Harvey, BTW, still holds the ECAC record for career
saves, probably by a pretty wide margin, and a reporter once commented on his
career:  "Harvey should be a shoo-in for a job with Firestone -- he's certainly
seen enough rubber to qualify."
 
Anyway...
 
>2nd team:
>G:  Les Kuntar (St. Lawrence 90?)
 
Kuntar was a '91 grad.
 
>D:  Sean O'Brien (Princeton 94)
>    Kevin Sneddon (Harvard 92)
 
Cornell's Dan Ratushny has got to be on this team somewhere.  I'm not sure
whether I'd put him ahead of first-teamers Mueller and McCann, but he should be
at least a second-teamer.  A big, tough, physical presence on the ice who was
also a pretty good sniper in the other team's end.  It's no coincidence that a
hugely talented 1990-91 Cornell team dropped like a rock toward the end of the
season when Ratushny missed four or five games with a bad wrist.
 
>    Joe Nieuwendyk (Cornell 87?)
 
Newie turned pro after his junior year, which was the 1986-87 season.  Dunno if
that qualifies him to be included in this decade's team... if it does, based on
career performance I'd put him ahead of first-teamer Andre Faust.  But maybe I'm
biased :-)
 
 
 
--
Disclaimer -- Unless otherwise noted, all opinions expressed above are
              strictly those of:
 
Bill Fenwick
Cornell '86 and '95
LET'S GO RED!!                                                  DJF  5/27/94
"They're multi-purpose.  Not only do they put the clips on, they also take
 them off."
-- Defense contractor, explaining why his company charged the Pentagon $1,000
   for a pair of pliers (from "The 776 Stupidest Things Ever Said")
 
HOCKEY-L is for discussion of college ice hockey;  send information to
[log in to unmask], The College Hockey Information List.