ECAC Hockey Notebook

Whether Rensselaer finally turns its program around this season is a big question.

The Engineers, in their fourth year under coach Seth Appert, are 1-2-1 after four games, including an impressive 3-1 home win over national power New Hampshire.

RPI went all the way to Alaska last weekend and finished 0-1-1, losing 3-0 to Alaska Anchorage and tying Alaska 1-1.

But Ed Weaver of the Troy Record sees this weekend's home series against Atlantic Hockey schools Sacred Heart and American International as must-win games for the Engineers.

"Beating teams from the Atlantic Hockey conference is crucial to meet that goal (of improvement)," wrote Weaver this week. "Winning these two games, and downing Army on homeice next weekend, and scoring at least 13-15 goals in the process, is virutally mandatory for the Engineers, who've won just a total of 31 games the past three seasons - 28 during the regular season."

Bobcats Undefeated

Expectations were not high for Quinnipiac this season, but nobody has told the players.

The Bobcats made their way into the national rankings this week after a 3-2 overtime win over Bentley Saturday in the team's home opener.

Sophomore Scott Zurevinski scored the game-winner 29 seconds into the extra period on a rebound.

Quinnipiac opened the season with two road wins at then No. 17 Ohio State.

"(Bentley) just outworked us," Bobcats coach Rand Pecknold told the Quinnipiac Chronicle. "We stole a win tonight. I thought our energy level was terrible tonight. I thought Bentley was the better team. I thought they played hard and competed, and I thought our guys just did not prepare well for the game tonight."

Players of the Week

Player of the Week:Matt Beca (Clarkson). Beca scored three goals last week, including the game-winner in overtime in Friday's 4-3 win over Niagara.

Rookie of the Week:Kyle Flanagan (SLU). Flanagan scored two goals with two assists in SLU's 4-3 win over Niagara. He also had the game-winner in that contest.

Goaltender of the Week:Robby Moss (SLU). Moss made 42 saves in a 3-1 win over RIT on Friday and stopped 21 of 24 shots in the game against Niagara.

ECAC in the Polls

Cornell, which has yet to officially start its season, remains the top-rated conference team in the U.S. College Hockey Online poll at No. 5 this week.

Yale is No. 8 and Princeton is No. 10. Neither of those teams have played yet, either. Quinnipiac, which has opened 3-0, is the No. 20 team this week.

Union and SLU received votes in this week's poll.

Last Week's Scores

Friday

Alaska Anchorage 3, RPI 0

St. Lawrence 3, RIT 1

Clarkson 4, Niagara 3 (OT)

Colgate 1, Nebraska-Omaha 1 (OT)

Union 3, St. Cloud State 3 (OT)

Saturday

Quinnipiac 3, Bentley 2 (OT)

St. Cloud State 3, Union 1

St. Lawrence 4, Niagara 3

Nebraska-Omaha 4, Colgate 1

Clarkson 5, RIT 3

RPI 1, Alaska 1 (OT)

This Weekend's Games

Friday

Colgate at UMass.-Lowell, 7 p.m.

McGill at Harvard (ex), 7 p.m.

Sacred Heart at RPI, 7 p.m.

American Int'l at Union, 7 p.m.

Windsor at Cornell (ex), 7 p.m.

Morrisville at Princeton (ex), 7 p.m.

Saturday

St. Lawrence at Clarkson (NC), 7 p.m.

McGill at Dartmouth (ex), 7 p.m.

American Int'l at RPI, 7 p.m.

Sacred Heart at Union, 7 p.m.

U.S. Under-18 at Cornell (ex), 7 p.m.

Sunday

Windsor at Princeton (ex), 2 p.m.

U.S. Under-18 at Colgate (ex), 7 p.m.

NOTE: There will be no blog post Friday because Clarkson only has one game this weekend.