The ECAC received a needed boost of credibility last season. Its champion, St. Lawrence, made it all the way to the Frozen Four before bowing out to Boston College. Led by sophomore center Brandon Dietrich and freshman goalie, Derek Gustafson, the Saints were emerging as a clear powerhouse in the conference, raising the stock of the whole league.

Well, there must be some law guaranteeing complete and absolute parity (some would call it mediocrity) in the ECAC, because as soon as clear castes appeared, they got knocked down to size. Dietrich is now toiling in the New York Rangers system. Gustafson is now experiencing the joy of netminding for Jacques Lemaire's neutral zone trap in Minnesota. St. Lawrence still has enough talent to be near the top of the table, but that claim can be made for almost anyone in the conference.

The top story entering the season is the return of Vermont. The Catamounts had their season canceled on Jan. 14 in light of the hazing scandal that drew national attention and rocked the college hockey community. Vermont will have a difficult time reestablishing credibility, but the Burlington, VT community has rallied around the team and season ticket sales have actually increased for the always-packed Gutterson Field House.

Harvard will reacquaint itself with the Catamounts next Saturday at Bright.

Here's a look at each team in the conference in our predicted order of finish:

No. 16 Cornell

Harvard's top hockey rival should field a strong entry this year. Cornell (16-14-2, 10-9-1, 4th) swept the Crimson in the first round of the playoffs last year with its superior team size and strength. Led by the 6'1, 205-pound McRae twins, the Big Red has big players who know how to get the puck to the net. With his recruiting class this year, Head Coach Mike Shafer has added smaller, finesse players like Ryan Vesche and Jason Kuczmanski to complement his veterans.

The Big Red has a very deep roster and should pose a balanced attack that wears an opponent out and frustrates them with no one clear superstar to focus on. The only question mark for the team is in goal, where there is no clear No. 1 between Matt Underhill, Ian Burt and Chris Gartman. Underhill and Burt platooned last year, but neither really impressed so Gartman will get a chance to compete for starter minutes.

St. Lawrence

Alright, so things won't be so bad in Canton, N.Y. this year. The Saints (27-8-1, 16-3-2, 1st) will still score a ton of goals, led by seniors Erik Anderson (14g, 25a) and Al Fyfe (17, 18). Coach Joe Marsh will have the team play an up-tempo, attack-oriented system, which will contrast sharply to the defensive style that most of the conference plays.

Though losing Dietrich's 41 points will hurt, the real unknown will be how St. Lawrence deals with Gustafson's defection. Senior Jeremy Symington will take over between the pipes. He was once a highly touted player, but got lost in the shadows of Gustafson and Eric Heffler, Jr. He'll need to raise his game.

Colgate

Another team dealing with the loss of a superstar forward, the Red Raiders (24-9-2, 14-4-2, 2nd) will be powered by seniors Darryl Campbell (20, 25), Sean Nolan (19, 18) and Kevin Johns (10, 18). Still, none of them come close to Hobey candidate Andy McDonald (24, 38), who graduated last year. The seniors will have to assume more of the offensive burden.

Colgate may find itself at times in a bit of a shootout as, aside from senior Cory Murphy (10, 18), it has a very inexperienced defense that could strain goalie Jason LeFevre. But it shouldn't pose too much of a problem in conference play.

Harvard

Please see preview, p. S-1.

No. 14 Rensselaer

RPI (22-13-2, 11-9-1, 3rd) turned some heads in its first game, knocking off Boston University, 5-4. It received a strong performances from the keys to its team, sophomore Mark Cavosie (12, 16) and junior Matt Murley (9, 29). Of the once mighty Engineer offense these two are the only stars left. RPI lost five of its seven leading scorers, including Brad Tapper (31, 20) who jumped to the NHL.

The Engineers' big hole is in goal. It graduated a four-year duo of Joel Laing and Scott Prekaski. Laing was a Hobey candidate last year with a 1.82 GAA. Coach Dan Fridgen will try and replicate the formula with rookies Nathan Marsters and Kevin Kurk.

Clarkson

The Golden Knights (17-15-3, 9-8-3 t-4th) have become notorious for starting off slowly the past couple of seasons and this year should be no different, except they should not be able to recover enough to get home ice.

Clarkson should be fine on defense led by First Team All-ECAC Kent Huskins (2, 14), but will have to search the ranks to find goal scorers. It lost top-sniper Eric Cole (20, 10) to the NHL along and some valuable supporting cast. In goal, the Golden Knights have a fine keeper in Shawn Grant, but if he falters at all look for Head Coach Mark Morris to start holding tryouts for the position in Potsdam, N.Y. All this means Clarkson will again take a while to find its stride if the immense talent there doesn't appear to fully recover.

Yale

Putting 1999 Hobey candidate and two-time All-American Jeff Hamilton back in the mix is bound to do good things for Yale (9-16-5, 6-11-4 9th) this season. New Haven fans are touting Hamilton as the panacea for the Elis' scoring woes. And if teams don't zero in on the fact that he's also Yale's only quality sniper, he's likely to do just that.

But don't expect Hamilton to single-handedly work miracles. Deep teams will shut him down and take advantage of the Elis admittedly no-name defense this year. Yale's saving grace will be junior Dan Lombard, who got the nod in the ECAC quarterfinals against Colgate. Hamilton's antics may cause a few upsets, but the Elis should resign themselves to another short post-season without home ice.

Dartmouth

After a few seasons of immaturity, the Big Green (9-17-4, 8-10-3 8th) finally has some veteran experience to fall back on. For the first time in five seasons, Dartmouth successfully made it to the post-season, only to be knocked out by RPI in the first round. Despite the strides it's made over the past few seasons, expect the Big Green to bow out early in playoffs after another 8th place finish.

Dartmouth has no real big gunners capable of putting up the numbers. Unless its biggest scoring threats-- co-captain Mike Maturo (8,8) and Frank Nardella (8,12), who led the team in scoring last year-- improve upon last year's performances, it's likely that the Big Green will again suffer offensively.

This team has great potential for upset victories, but it's doubtful that it can sustain a winning record this season.

Princeton

The Tigers (10-16-4, 8-9-4 6th) will be looking for leadership after the loss of Princeton coaching legend "Toots" Cahoon to UMass. Former assistant Len Quesnelle inherits a Tigers bench that just barely missed clinching a home-ice berth last season.

While the rest of the ECAC breathes a collective sign of relief at the loss of resident goon Benoit Morin, the Tigers will sorely miss his offensive production and his physical presence, to put it nicely. Captain Kirk Lamb (8,20) is anticipated to take the helm, after leading the team in scoring last season. And without the experience of Darren Yopyk and Chris Barber on the blueline, the weight of the season will be resting on a large number of very young and inexperienced shoulders.

Junior goaltender Dave Stathos may have to improve on his 9-9-1 record and 2.85 GAA to accommodate his defenders. Expect the Tigers to take a few steps back this season, as they adjust to a new coaching staff and youth-heavy roster.

Vermont

After losing half its season to scandal, the Catamounts are "just happy to be alive," according to Head Coach Mike Gilligan. While Gilligan anticipates a reinvigorated Vermont squad finishing strongly enough in the ECAC to challenge for a chance at Lake Placid, the statistics just don't merit agreement--yet.

Though the loss of Kevin Karlander will hurt the rebounding team, the hard-working trio of Jim Gernander, Ryan Miller, and John Longo is sure to pick up the slack. And captain Andreas Moborg will use his trademark hard-nosed play to make up for lost time and reestablish his team as a formidable foe in the league. While the Catamounts are sure to be excited to be back on the schedule, their euphoria can only take them so far.

Union

Pure grit and determination will not be enough to carry the somewhat average core of Skating Dutchmen in to the postseason for the second straight year. Head Coach Kevin Sneddon '92 returns eight veteran seniors with "not a lot of talent but who come to play every day." What Union (8-24-1, 6-14-1 10th) lacks in skill, it makes up for it with leadership for the youngsters on the roster.

Still, the loss of defenseman Jeff Sproat and forward Ryan Campbell will hurt the already fledgling squad. The key to Union's game lies with netminder Brandon Snee, who garnered a record 56 saves against St. Lawrence in the quarterfinals last season. Union just doesn't have the depth or skill to make a run at post-season play this year.

Brown

Despite an exhilarating 5-4 overtime victory against the formidable Moncton squad, it is unlikely that Brown (6-19-3, 4-5-2 11th) will surpass Union in the rankings, never mind make a run at the playoffs. Brown's ten incoming freshmen will be integral to the Bears' strategy, as just about anything would be an improvement over the past two seasons.

It is a risky move to depend heavily on six incoming forwards to invigorate offensive production, especially considering that none have any Division I experience. But with no snipers ranked in the top 50 in the league, and a pitiful average of just over 2 goals per game, Head Coach Roger Grillo is grasping at straws. To add insult to injury, Brown's only saving grace, goaltender Scott Stirling, was lost to graduation. However, Brian Ecklund was stellar between the pipes in the 6-0 win over the Saints. Just don't count on a trend.