Three Greater Boston hockey teams and three Ivy League clubs are sure to get berths in the Eastern College Athletic Conference Tournament which begins March 8, but Harvard won't be one of them.
In the three-year history of the post-season tournament that determines the Eastern hockey champion, the Crimson each time has been selected as one of the eight teams to compete, and it won the tourney two years ago.
But while hockey in the East has improved tremendously this year, Harvard has been weakened by graduation losses, and simply doesn't have the record to be given a tourney berth.
The other three Boston area powers--Boston College, Boston University, and Northeastern--are sure to be chosen to battle for the Eastern championship. Brown, Cornell, and Dartmouth are the Ivy schools that will get tourney berths.
This year's B.U. and B.C. teams are very likely the best two ever to play Eastern college hockey. Both should reach the ECAC finals, provided they're not seeded so that they meet in the semi-finals.
If both Boston teams do reach the finals, they'll set off plenty of fireworks for the local fans at Boston Arena in the championship game. All three of their past games together this year have been beautifully played 5-4 thrillers, with B.C. winning two of them.
But B.U. should win the ECAC championship in an upset. The Terriers completely out-hustled the Eagles to win the most recent contest, last Tuesday, and will be out to avenge their loss in the finals of the Beanpot Tournament. The score of the ECAC final championship game, of course, will be 5-4, and it will probably be decided in overtime. It is sure to be the best Eastern college hockey game of the season.
The eight teams that participate in the tournament will be chosen some time next week--probably after all teams close their regular seasons a week from tomorrow--by a seeding committee composed of athletic directors of several hockey schools.
The committee will choose almost exclusively on the basis of the games that the 15 teams considered best in the East have played against one another. B.C. and B.U. lead with 15-3 records against these so-called Division I schools, while Harvard is in twelfth place at 5-13.
The four teams which the committee considers the best in the East will get the first four seeds and will host the other four schools on Tuesday, March 9. The semi-finals and finals will then be played the following Friday and Saturday at Boston Arena.
Since B.U. beat Clarkson last night, B.C. probably will have to top the Golden Knights tonight to edge out B.U. for the top seed. Although the Boston, schools have identical records, the Eagles would be seeded over the Terriers because they have won two of their three games with them.
Brown and Clarkson have the inside track in the race for the next two seeds and the resulting home-ice advantage in the first round of the tourney. But both teams could fall off before the season ends--Brown must still meet Cornell and Providence, and Clarkson is at B.C. tonight.
Providence vs. R.P.I.
Cornell, Dartmouth, and Northeastern can hardly miss getting three of the last four berths, though not necessarily in that order. Providence is fighting R.P.I. for the final tourney slot.
Providence and St. Lawrence, last year's ECAC champion and runner-up, have both been big disappointments this season.
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