ECAC Hockey Notebook

Conference play began last weekend with Harvard's 5-3 road win at Dartmouth. For the other 10 teams in the league it starts this weekend with a full state of games.

Here's a report on some teams heading into the start of conference play:

Yale Looks to Repeat

The Bulldogs start conference play ranked sixth in the nation and return most of the players who played key roles in winning both the regular-season and conference tournaments last season.

"I think we expect more from ourselves and hold ourselves to a higher standard this year," forward Denny Kearney told the Yale Daily News. "We had a great year last year, and hopefully we can do at least as well, if not better, this year."

Said Bulldogs coach Keith Allain to the school paper, "We're excited about the hockey season. I think that we have something to prove - we just have to get it going."

RPI Dealing With Injuries

The Engineers start conference play with a 4-3-1 overall record, but will be missing leading scorer Tyler Helfrich for a second straight weekend as well as sophomore Josh Rabbani.

Rabbani has a shoulder injury and Helfrich is recovering from an ankle injury.

"I don't anticipate (Helfrich) playing," Engineers coach Seth Appert told the Troy Record. "I think if this were the national tournament, I think he could play, I think we could probably gut him through a weekend. But an ankle is one of those things that, if we're too aggressive with this, it could be affecting him all season and we can't have that."

Leaman Benches Players

Union coach Nate Leaman announced after Wednesday's practice that Stephane Boileau and Brian Yanovitch were not going to play Friday in the Dutchmen's contest at home against Brown.

The duo is being punished for penalties taken in RPI's offensive zone during Saturday's 4-3 overtime loss. Yanovitch was given a boarding penalty 1 minute, 9 seconds into the second period and Boileau was given a hooking penalty with 4:37 left in the third period. Both penalties led to power-play goals by RPI.

"(The penalties) were unnecessary," Leaman told the Schenectady Daily Gazette. "We're hurting ourselves. We did it against Maine in game one. Unfortunately, we're still learning that aspect. The bottom line is I'm sitting Yanovitch, and I'm sitting Boileau. They both took penalties that hurt our team. Unfortunately, it's gotten to that point. We just have to make sure that the message gets sent that we can't take penalties like that and expect to win."

Big Red Win Squeaker

Once again Niagara put a scare into an ECAC Hockey team last weekend, but the Purple Eagles came up short again, losing 3-2 to Cornell in overtime.

"It was frustrating, no question, when you generate that many good quality scoring chances," Cornell coach Mike Schafer told the Cornell Daily Sun. "The power play moved it around, we took our shots, but some nights you just have to keep persevering."

Weekly Awards

Player of the Week: Alex Killorn, Harvard: Scored Harvard's first two goals and assisted on the third to help the Crimson recover from a 3-1 deficit and pick up a 5-3 win over Dartmouth.

Rookie of the Week: Peter Child, SLU: Not only did he score his first career goal, he picked up a hat trick in the same contest as SLU beat Sacred Heart 6-3 on Friday.

Goalie of the Week: Ryan Rondeau, Yale: Stopped 40 of 42 shots in a 5-2 nonconference win over Princeton. Both Princeton goals came on power plays.

In the Polls

The conference has three teams in this week's U.S. College Hockey Online national poll. Cornell is No. 5, Yale is No. 6 and Princeton is No. 14.

Last Week's Scores

Friday

Princeton 1, Brown 0 (OT) (NC)

Harvard 5, Dartmouth 3

RPI 4, Union 3 (OT) (NC)

Cornell 3, Niagara 2 (OT)

Quinnipiac 5, Robert Morris 0

Minnesota-Duluth 4, Clarkson 1

St. Lawrence 6, Sacred Heart 3

Colgate 4, Army 4 (OT)

Yale 8, Ontario IT 0 (ex)

Saturday

St. Lawrence 3, Sacred Heart 3 (OT)

Army 2, RPI 1

Yale 5, Princeton 2 (NC)

Robert Morris 8, Quinnipiac 5

Minnesota-Duluth 4, Clarkson 2

Colgate 4, Niagara 2

Brown 6, Ontario IT 1 (ex)

This Weekend's Schedule

Friday

St. Lawrence at Princeton, 7 p.m.

Clarkson at Quinnipiac, 7 p.m.

Harvard at Colgate, 7 p.m.

Dartmouth at Cornell, 7 p.m.

Yale at RPI, 7 p.m.

Brown at Union, 7:30 p.m.

Saturday

St. Lawrence at Quinnipiac, 4 p.m.

Clarkson at Princeton, 4 p.m.

Dartmouth at Colgate, 4 p.m.

Harvard at Cornell, 7 p.m.

Brown at RPI, 7 p.m.

Yale at Union, 7 p.m.