How about some unsupported preseason commentary.
 
Bill Fenwick posted this:
 
>At today's ECAC Media Day, this year's coaches' poll was announced.
 
>1.  Clarkson (6)        138
>2.  St. Lawrence (2)    125
>3.  Rensselaer (1)      108
>4.  Colgate (1)         107
>5.  Harvard              95
>6.  Cornell              88
>7.  Yale                 77
>8.  Vermont              61
>9.  Dartmouth            43
>10. Brown                40
>11. Princeton            35
>12. Union                19
>
 
First look at how last season finished:
 
 1 Clarkson        36  22 18- 4- 0 .818  91- 48   37 25-11- 1 .689 133-102
 2 St. Lawrence    33  22 15- 4- 3 .750  80- 47   39 23-13- 3 .628 136-101
 3 Rensselaer      28  22 13- 7- 2 .636  89- 62   37 23-12- 2 .649 147-110
 4 Princeton       27  22 13- 8- 1 .614  69- 62   34 20-12- 2 .618 116-106
 5 Colgate         26  22 12- 8- 2 .591  66- 56   35 19-12- 4 .600 109- 87
   Yale            26  22 11- 7- 4 .591  65- 56   31 13-14- 4 .484  86- 94
 7 Cornell         21  22  9-10- 3 .477  67- 63   31 12-15- 4 .452  96- 97
 8 Harvard         18  22  8-12- 2 .409  64- 87   32 14-16- 2 .469  94-115
 9 Vermont         16  22  7-13- 2 .364  53- 67   33 13-18- 2 .424  86-104
10 Brown           15  22  5-12- 5 .341  56- 72   31  9-16- 6 .387  87- 97
11 Dartmouth       14  22  6-14- 2 .318  60- 79   29 10-17- 2 .379  90-109
12 Union            4  22  1-19- 2 .091  32- 93   32  3-26- 3 .141  52-132
 
Then rank the teams for next season based on this analysis:
 
Clarkson (unchanged) lost some important players but we all think that they
will just restock.  Clarkson's recruits do not look that great but they
always seem to find the sleeper recruits.
 
SLU (unchanged) lost their two top scorers and had a soft recruiting year
but a lot of young players that will improve return.
 
RPI (unchanged) lost a lot of fire power but have a lot returning.  Their
recruits look better than Clarkson's or SLU's but not as good as they have
been getting the last couple of seasons.
 
Princeton (way down to the bottom 4) huge graduation losses and a mediocre
recruiting year.
 
Colgate (up a bit) did not loose many key players--returning players and
the so-so recruiting class should replace them.
 
Yale (down a bit) graduation loss of great goaltender Alex Westlund but an
ok recruiting year.
 
Cornell (up a bit) leaders Burgoyne and Knopp graduated but a very good
recruiting year--better than last years good crop.
 
Harvard (up 3 places) looses Storey, Adams & Millar, a lot of good players
return, a good recruiting year and a new coach for a team that
underachieved.
 
Vermont (up one to 8) since Princeton moves to the bottom 4 someone has to
move up.  They actually had a better recruiting class than they usually
have but not a home ice type class.
 
Brown (unchanged) tradition dictates bottom 4.  The new coach has improved
the quality and style of play but the recruiting does not look much better
than it was.
 
Dartmouth (up two) tradition dictates bottom 4.  The second impressive
recruiting class in a row and both looked like a contenders recruits--the
new coach is really changing the talent situation--a team to watch.
 
Union (unchanged) tradition dictates bottom 4.  Recruiting has actually
improved last year and this year under the new coach but no one is paying
any attention.
 
I might rank the league a bit different but I can understand the coaches
ranking.  They seem to rely heavily on last years finish and the returning
players which is reasonable.
 
--Steve
 
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