Around the ECAC: Harvard Stays on Top By a Point

Despite Harvard's crushing 5-3 defeat at Vermont Saturday night, the Crimson (6-4-1, 5-3-1 ECAC) still remains atop the ECAC standings with a one-point lead over the Catamounts (7-4-0, 5-0-0).

However, the Crimson has played four more conference games than second-place Vermont, who has gone undefeated so far this season within the conference.

In the last weekend of ECAC hockey action before the winter break and the various year-end tournaments, the teams tied for second-place in the conference, Vermont and Princeton, gained ground on the Crimson.

Princeton 3, Union 2

The Union Skating Dutchmen (6-4-2, 3-2-1), ranked 11th in the national polls, have finally fallen back into the pack with three consecutive defeats after starting off the season with their best start in their 10-year Division-I history at 5-1-1.

On Friday night, Union continued its decline, suffering its first ECAC setback of the season, 3-2, at Princeton (5-4-3, 4-4-2).

The Tigers shot out to an early 2-0 lead in the first period and never trailed in the contest. Senior forward Chris Coronet tallied his ninth goal of the season just 43 seconds into the game, as he took a great transition feed to the net past Union goaltender Brandon Snee. Junior forward Brad Parson added to the Tigers' total five minutes later.

However, the Dutchmen struck back quickly, as Jason Ralph scored in the tenth minute of the first period for Union and Seamus Galligan added the equalizer early in the second period to knot the game at 2-2.

But just minutes later, after a penalty put the Dutchmen a man down, Princeton's senior captain Kirk Lamb deflected a shot off of a Union defensemen and into Snee's net for the game-winning goal.

Princeton's junior goaltender Dave Stathos made 21 saves to record his third win of the season.

RPI 6, Princeton 2

The Tigers were unable to complete the weekend sweep and gain first place in the ECAC on Saturday, falling 6-2 to RPI (8-3-1, 3-2-1) in Princeton, NJ.

Following an early goal by Princeton sophomore George Parros 31 seconds into the game, RPI shelled Princeton's Stathos for four unanswered goals in the rest of the first period to coast to a victory at Baker Arena. After gaining the 2-1 lead, the Engineers' Mikael Hammarstrom scored the eventual game winner off of a Princeton turnover with a snap shot past Stathos.

Though Stathos was replaced by sophomore Nate Homeland to begin the second period, the damage was already irreparable for the Tigers, as the three-goal cushion was more than enough to secure the Engineer victory.

Rensselaer's Nathan Masters had a spectacular performance in the crease for the Engineers, stopping 37-of-39 shots from the Tigers and earning his sixth victory of the season.

RPI 5, Yale 4

The Engineers began their weekend sweep Friday night with a thrilling 5-4 comeback win over Yale (6-6-0, 4-6-0) in New Haven, CT.

After jumping out to a 3-1 lead by the middle of the second period, the Elis gave up three consecutive power-play goals in the third period to the Engineers, punctuated by a Nathan Graham goal 11:16 into the period to give RPI a 4-3 lead.

The Bulldogs fought back though, as junior winger Jason Noe one-timed a shot past Masters to tie the score at four. However, RPI's Matt Murley finished off the high-scoring third period with his second goal of the night with 1:06 left in the game to seal the victory for the Engineers.

Yale 4, Union 3

The Bulldogs finished off the weekend on a high note Saturday after salvaging a split with a 4-3 win over slumping Union.

Yale captain Ben Stafford scored early for the Elis, knocking in the Bulldog's first goal just 24 seconds after the opening faceoff. Union battled back to take a 2-1 lead after Galligan tipped the puck past Yale goaltender Dan Lombard late in the first period.

In this seesawing game, Yale and Union exchanged early third-period goals before Yale sophomore Nick Deschenes notched his second goal of the game to tie the contest at three. Senior Adam Sauve scored the game-winning goal for the Bulldogs, re-directing a shot past Union goaltender Brandon Snee.

Snee's 35 saves were not enough to prevent the Dutchmen from their third consecutive loss.

Michigan 5, St. Lawrence 1

Michigan 6, St. Lawrence 2

The Michigan Wolverines (13-3-3, 7-3-1 CCHA) swept a twin bill over the weekend against visiting St. Lawrence (3-7-3, 2-1-2) in these non-conference bouts.

Michigan 6, St. Lawrence 2

The third-ranked Wolverines, riding a five-game unbeaten streak heading into the weekend, buried the Saints Friday night en route to a 5-1 victory with a trio of third-period goals. John Shouneyia scored on a breakaway at the 1:59 mark to begin the onslaught and Craig Murray finished it off for the Wolverines with an unassisted goal following a Saints turnover deep in the defensive zone.

Michigan provided an encore performance Saturday night for the home crowd at Yost Arena, as the Wolverines once again exploded for three consecutive goals, this time in the second period, in their 6-2 victory. Andy Hilbert scored two goals for the Wolverines, including one tally off of a two-on-one play past the Saint goaltender Sean Coakley to put Michigan up 4-1.

For St. Lawrence, junior center Russ Bartlett scored all three goals over the weekend for the Saints. After playing five ranked teams in its first 13 games, the Saints finish off their non-conference schedule at the RPI Invitational over the holidays.

Northeastern 3, Dartmouth 2

Northeastern (6-6-3, 2-4-3 Hockey East) had to rally from a 2-1 deficit against Dartmouth (2-6-0, 1-3-0) to avoid a mild upset at Hanover, NH.

After the two teams traded first-period goals, Big Green junior forward Gary Hunter fired a slap shot through traffic past Huskie goaltender Mike Gilhooly at the 17:50 mark in the second to give Dartmouth a short-lived lead.

An unlikely hero stepped up for the

Huskies in the third period, as freshman winger Eric Ortlip scored his first two collegiate goals 17 seconds apart to give Northeastern the victory, snapping a six game winless streak.

Gilhooly finished the game with 35 saves for the Huskies.

Dartmouth continues its season Friday against Merrimack in the last game for an ECAC team before the holidays.

UMass-Lowell 7, Colgate 2

Colgate (3-10-2, 2-4-0) started off poorly Saturday night with four early penalties, which UMass-Lowell (6-7-2, 1-6-2 Hockey East) capitalized on with two power-play goals to defeat the Red Raiders 7-2 at Tsongas Arena in Lowell.

After Colgate senior Sean Nolan closed the gap to 2-1, Lowell scored the next four goals to build an insurmountable lead. The River Hawks' Yorick Treille led the way with two goals, as Lowell recovered from a tough road-trip visit to fourth-ranked New Hampshire, where they skated to a scoreless overtime tie.

Penalties marred the game for both sides, as several shoving matches evolved into 138 combined penalty minutes in the game.