Here we go again is right -- I enjoy reading Jayson Moy -- but I think the summer has melted his memory <G>! He is hardly the only one -- there are a bunch of people making predictions that aren't even sure who are on the teams. I am not about to make predictions this early, and by and large, it's impossible to do at any time, but let's get some things straight. I cannot in good conscience pick Vermont for first again -- not after being the Bandwagon driver at the start of last year and getting burned. They should be good, but who knows. And yes, Tim Thomas is back. And Luiz said Perrin and St. Louis are tremendous defensive liabilities -- I disagree big time -- this is an opinion, obviously, but those guys are used to kill penalties and they scare the heck out of PP units because of their SHG capabilities, which in itself is worth it. As for Clarkson -- they have some decent people coming back, as usual, but they lost four of the most talented players in the league. Everyone seems to be forgetting that. And Mark Morris has done less with more than any team I've seen. I don't see St. Lawrence making a leap, but I love Joe Marsh, so maybe. Brown will slip big time, I think. - But I thought that last year, too. All of these doomsayers for Princeton think last year was a fluke, so here we go again having to defend the Tigers (Hello, Geoff Howell). At the start of last year, I would have thought Princeton would be in great shape this year, not losing too much. But the way their seniors played in the second half of last season, the losses will hurt big time -- they've also lost senior J.P. O'Connor for academic reasons. But, indeed they have a very talented senior class this year, and very strong sophomore group, and their best recruiting year ever. They also have Jim Konte in goal, who from the Maine tournament on was every bit as good as Thomas. Who said Princeton is still tired from last year? That's about the silliest thing said yet. As for Dartmouth, all those guys who "showed something toward the end" were seniors -- they're gone. Those seniors went nuts down the stretch and Dartmouth made a run -- they're not good again. Yale can't be worse. I like Colgate, especially because of Don Vaughn, but Princeton owned them the last two years. (5-0). Whomever picked Princeton 10th -- all I can say is, anything can happen, but I'm willing to bet a whole lot that that won't happen. 5th is more likely, 6th or 7th is reasonable. There's no ECAC team close to BU or Maine, but after that, I'll take my chances with any other ECAC team -- just like last year. Princeton vs. BU in Badger Classic. Adam Wodon Strat-O-Matic home page -- http://pages.prodigy.com/NY/strat/ HOCKEY-L is for discussion of college ice hockey; send information to [log in to unmask], The College Hockey Information List.