As Jeremy mentioned, THN picks Clarkson to win the title, in a bit of a
surprising move (and in a bit of a surprising way -- see below).
 
THN ECAC preview:
 
Predicted order of finish:
 
1.   Clarkson (21-11-3 last year)
2.   Cornell (16-10-3)
3.   RPI (20-14)
4.   Colgate (31-6-1)
5.   St. Lawrence (13-15-4)
6.   Harvard (13-14-1)
7.   Vermont (9-20-2)
8.   Princeton (12-14-1)
9.   Yale (8-20-1)
10.  Brown (10-16-3)
11.  Dartmouth (4-18-4)
12.  Army (10-16-4)
 
Four reasons why the Golden Knights will win:
 
1.   Dave Tretowicz.  Clarkson head coach Mark Morris says of the senior
     defenseman, "He does so much on the ice that you don't even notice."
     One of the premier players in the country, Tretowicz could make a run
     at the Hobey Baker Award with a good year.
2.   Tretowicz isn't the only blue liner; the Golden Knights have a solid
     defense.  Last season, Clarkson played strong defensively with
     converted forwards.  This year, with players in their proper positions,
     they should be that much better.
3.   Clarkson has great balance on offense, with nine of last year's top ten
     scorers returning.  Senior left winger Mike Casselman led the way in
     1989-90 with 43 points.
4.   Walker Arena, with its undersized surface and seating virtually on top
     of the ice, gives Clarkson a tremendous home-ice advantage, especially
     with the boisterous Clarkson fans. {and, yes, the band. -- Bill}  The
     51-year-old arena is slated to be replaced next season with a new
     multi-purpose building, and sentimental Walker faithful should give the
     Golden Knights even greater home support and make it that much tougher
     on the opposition.  In addition, the arena still has what former
     Cornell goalie Ken Dryden frequently refers to as "that damn bell",
     above the visiting team's net (for two of the periods), which rings
     incessantly every time Clarkson scores (and also during most stoppages
     of play).
 
Top MVP Candidates:
 
1.   Joe Juneau, C, RPI.  Juneau has led the Engineers in scoring the last
     three years, and in 1989-90, he was second in the nation with a 2.06
     points-per-game average.
2.   Peter Ciavaglia, C, Harvard.  A quick skater with soft hands and great
     on-ice awareness.
3.   Dan Ratushny, D, Cornell.  Strong and mobile on defense, Ratushny also
     is a threat on offense.
4.   John LeClair, C, Vermont.  Could be a surprise if he stays healthy for
     the entire season.
5.   Dave Tretowicz, D, Clarkson.
 
Most underrated players:
 
1.   Ricker Love, C, Vermont.  Even though he was out for seven games with a
     knee injury, Love was the Catamounts' second-leading scorer.
2.   Bruce Coles, RW, RPI.  His main duty the last two seasons has been to
     protect Joe Juneau, but he prospered on offense himself last year with
     28 goals and 24 assists.
3.   Marc Dupere, RW, Colgate.  One of the top snipers in the ECAC and an
     excellent penalty-killer, though he always seems to be in the shadow of
     Colgate's other great forwards.  {It is about TIME this guy got some
     ink!  He's one of the most dangerous forwards around, especially on
     special teams. -- Bill}
 
Best goalies:
 
1.   Jim Crozier, Cornell.  Emerged from teammate Corrie D'Alessio's shadow
     last season to post stellar numbers of his own, leading Cornell into
     the playoffs.  Of the ECAC's returning goalies, Crozier had the best
     GAA last year.
2.   Les Kuntar, St. Lawrence.  An excellent standup goaltender.
3.   Allain Roy, Harvard.  The athletic Roy is probably the better of
     Harvard's two returning goalies, although Chuckie Hughes gets the
     publicity.
 
Best Defensemen:
 
1.   Dave Tretowicz, Clarkson.
2.   Dan Ratushny, Cornell.
3.   Steve Poapst, Colgate.  Led the Red Raiders with a plus-25 rating last
     season.  A strong penalty-killer.
 
Watch these freshmen:
 
1.   Clayton Fahey, RW, Colgate.  Scored 109 points in 57 games in the
     British Columbia Junior Tier II league.
2.   Craig Conroy, C, Clarkson.  A gifted scorer from Lake Placid.
3.   Sean McCann, D, Harvard.  One of the top Canadian high school players
     last year.
 
New Faces:
 
1.   Long-time Harvard assistant coach Ron Tomassoni takes over the Crimson
     head coaching job from Bill Cleary, who is now the Harvard athletic
     director.  In addition, former Harvard forward and 1989 Hobey Baker
     winner Lane MacDonald is now an assistant coach under Tomassoni.
2.   Ben Smith debuts as a head coach this season for the Big Green of
     Dartmouth.  Smith previously was an assistant under two of the best
     coaches around, for Yale's Tim Taylor (1976-1981) and Boston
     University's Jack Parker (1982-1990).
 
Other notes:
 
Will they rename it Lappin University?  Continuing a tradition started by
their older brothers Pete and Tim, Chris and Mike Lappin will play for St.
Lawrence this season.  Both Chris and Mike began their collegiate careers at
Boston University but transferred to St. Lawrence in 1989 and sat out the
required year.
When Janne Kekalainen unexpectedly left the Clarkson team eight games into
the season last year to return to his native Finland, he sent his roommate
to the hockey office with a note telling head coach Mark Morris of his
departure.  It took a while for Morris to believe it:  "I thought someone
was playing a joke on me."
Finally, while THN did choose Clarkson for the league title, they did so in
one of the most backhanded ways I've ever seen.  Here's a quote from the
article:
 
     Sometimes, you have to pick pre-season favorites with your heart,
     not your head.
 
     The smart money in the Eastern College Athletic Conference says go
     with Cornell.
 
     [stuff about liking Cornell's defense, goaltending, and high
     number of senior and junior players deleted]
 
     Maybe the smart money is right.  Maybe Cornell will be the best
     team in the ECAC.
 
     But Clarkson will win the league title.
 
     Clarkson couldn't beat improving Princeton last year, but the
     Golden Knights did beat Colgate and Boston College, both Final
     Four teams.
 
     Teams without proven goaltenders are always suspect, and no team
     should be able to recover from the loss of a goalie like John
     Fletcher.  But... Mark Morris [said] "No one has seen our goalies
     yet"....
 
     So, for all the wrong reasons, Clarkson is our pick to triumph in
     the ECAC.
 
Is that a ringing endorsement or what?  Particularly strange is the part
where they say, "Maybe Cornell will be the best team in the ECAC.  But
Clarkson will win the league title."  Come again?  Prognosticating is not an
exact science (it's not even a science at all), but I don't follow the logic
of calling one team "maybe the best" and then picking another team ("BUT"
another team!) to win it all.  This whole mess tends to obscure the fact
that Clarkson DOES have a solid chance to win the ECAC, although I still
give Cornell a bit of an edge.  Sounds to me like THN is trying to cover
their buns a little by picking Clarkson and at the same time backing away
from them.  Oh well, it's only the preseason...
 
Bill Fenwick
Cornell '86
LET'S GO RED!!
 
"BARNEY's gonna cry too, after I get through breaking every bone in his body!
 Throw your voice at ME, will ya?!"
"Now-now-now don't get mad, Fred."
"Who's mad?  I just want to congratulate you on being such a good ventrilo-
 quist.  I JUST WANNA SHAKE YOUR THROAT!!"
-- "The Flintstones"