USCHO: stay at 4th
INCH: stay at 3rd
USA Today/USAHM: stay at 4th
TCHB: stay at 3rd
PWR: tied for 6th with UNO
RPI: 4th
KRACH: 6th
This weekend the Dutchmen will host Colgate in the ECAC Quarterfinals. Last night the Raiders beat RPI at HFH in overtime in the decisive third game. This was the second year in a row that the Engineers were bounced from the first round of the playoffs. Last season they lost to 11th-seed Brown in three games.
You can read Jeffrey Haff's (Daily Gazette) observations from last night by clicking here.
I watched the post-game interviews with Seth Appert and Chase Polacek on YNN last night, and they were visibly upset. Even though I hate RPI (like most Union students and fans), I feel a little bad for Polacek and am a bit disappointed. Polacek is one of the best players I've seen in the ECAC in my four years, and he deserved to go out on a better note. He's probably my pick for the ECAC MVP. I was also looking forward to Union and RPI meeting up again one more time whether that were in the ECAC Final Four or the NCAA Tournament. The Engineers had a great season until they fell apart in the past few weeks. But, Polacek and York can only do so much. Besides those two stars and a few others, there really wasn't too much after that.
I admit that even a part of me last night wanted to see RPI win so we could play St. Lawrence instead of Colgate. I just feel SLU is a less dangerous team than the Raiders despite their upset of Princeton on the road (something I don't think anyone predicted).
Anyways, all of our focus is now on Colgate. The Raiders seem to have hit their stride at the right time and have now proven that they can travel to the Capital District and win two games by close scores. Union has won both meetings with Colgate this season and have an outstanding record at home, but it's still very difficult to beat a team four times in one season. I still have the utmost confidence in our guys to win two games at Messa Rink.
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