I found Keith's "what if" posting interesting.  I'm glad that the sole
Clarkson loss to Ohio State isn't that much of a factor in the state of
the ECAC's teams rankings.  That scenario only showed a .6 increase in
the average rating.  Looking at what two of the better two ECAC teams
(Clarkson and SLU) who have played non-league games we see the following.
SLU lost to BC and UNH in their non-league Div. 1 games and beat North-
eastern twice and UMass-Lowell.  Clarkson lost to Northeastern and Ohio
State while beating BC, UMass-Lowell, UNH and Army.  Besides the fact that
the ECAC (and HE) schedules are only half done, one needs to examine the
fact that the non-Ivy teams in the ECAC are the ones directly responsible
for the non-league record because of the Ivy game limit.  Union, RPI,
Vermont (and Colgate) are having mediocre seasons while Clarkson and SLU
haven't performed well in these games.  However, when all is done and said,
the only way to rate a team is based upon past performance.
 
Now for predictions: the BIG game in the ECAC this weekend is the match-up
between Clarkson and St. Lawrence at Appleton Arena.  The other three top
five teams in the league have a game on Clarkson and St. Lawrence.  A win
Saturday night will move that team into a three way tie with Yale and
Harvard with 19 pts.  A loss will mean sole possession of fourth place with
17 pts, one point ahead of Cornell.  Now, I'm not going to make any
prediction as to score or even winner.  It'll be a great game no matter
what.  The outcome will go along way to deciding the final standings.
Clarkson defenseman Ed Henrich is questionable with a strained knee. other-
wise, both squads are healthy.  The rivalry is quite fierce and it isn't
too often that one of the teams can sweep the series.
 
Mike Zak
Clarkson '87, '91,...