7. SLU

The Saints had their fair share of troubles last season--both on and off the ice.

St. Lawrence's ECAC preliminary round loss to Harvard epitomized its disappointing 5-12-5 league record. In addition, goal-tender Clint Owen missed the first half of the season for violating team rules and has now decided to forego his final year of eligibility after signing a professional contract.

Junior netminder Eric Heffler should be able to step right in, but the loss of Owen creates a depth problem in net.

Offensively, towering 6'5" Joe Prpic graduated, leaving Paul DiFracesco, Bob Prier and Derek McGrath to carry the offensive burden. Last year, DiFracesco was fourth in league scoring with 14 goals and 18 assists.

8. Vermont

Ou vont-ils les garcons francais?

That is the question the Burlington faithful is dealing with these days. The loss of Eric Perrin and Martin St. Louis (The French Connection) as well as goaltender and Hobey Baker finalist Tim Thomas--all All-Americans--has decimated the Vermont offense.

It sure didn't help that long-time assistant coach, Roger Grillo, also departed the Catamounts in favor of the head coaching position at Brown.

The loss of St. Louis and Perrin ends an era of Vermont domination. The speedy Frenchmen were unarguably the most feared two some on the ice. Gilligan is just hoping that players such as Stephan Piche (33 points) and Martin Wilde can step up and lead a promising crew of freshmen.

Thomas' presence in the net is irreplaceable, but the defensive void is much greater. Of the four returning defensemen, for instance, only Simon Tremblay and Jason Reid have had significant playing time. The other two, Alex Roomet and Brad Hamel have played only one game between the two of them.

It appears Vermont has entered a rebuilding period.

9. Yale

Return is the name of the game for Coach Tim Taylor and his Yale Buildings.

With 13 of its top 14 scorers back, including the top eight point-getters, Yale should improve on last year's 10th place ECAC finish. By the end of last year. Yale was showing signs of improvement as it defeated Colgate in a 1-0 thriller in the preliminary Tuesday night game of last season's ECAC Tournament. The Bulldogs couldn't find a way past quarterfinal opponent Clarkson, but it had indeed shown some hope.