With no clear-cut favorite and extreme balance throughout the league, any number of teams could rise to the top of the ECAC this season.

“The quality of talent with each of the teams in the ECAC continues to improve with each passing year,” said Harvard Coach Mark Mazzoleni. “Any number of teams are capable of obtaining home ice for the play-offs and winning the regular season championship.”

Here is an in-depthlook around the ECAC, beginning with the six teams already in action this season.

Clarkson

The Golden Knights have been one of the most successful teams in recent ECAC memory, placing no lower than fourth in every season since 1988-89

and winning five league titles over that span, including two in the past three years. As defending champion, Clarkson is the team to beat until someone proves otherwise.

But it’s not as if the Golden Knights will have to rely on past success, as Coach Mark Morris returns several key contributors from last season’s team, including forwards Matt Poapst (17 goals, 18 assists for 35 points last season), David Evans (12-19-31), Rob McFeeters and Kevin O’Flaherty.

Even with the loss of First Team All-ECAC defenseman Kent Huskins, the Golden Knight blue line should be solid, with all-league netminder Mike Walsh—and his microscopic 1.86 goals against average last season— returning between the pipes. Clarkson is already 1-2-1 this season and hosted archrival St. Lawrence on Saturday to begin ECAC play.

Colgate

After an NCAA tournament appearance in 1999, narrowly missing the playoffs last season was a bitter pill to swallow for the Colgate faithful. Coach Don Vaughan hopes to see his team playing at a top level again this winter, though, and the Raiders’ performance in two close losses to nationally-ranked Nebraska-Omaha had some thinking that was a reasonable expectation.

However, Colgate (0-4-0) endured a rough trip to the University of Minnesota the very next weekend, dropping 8-0 and 9-0 decisions to the Golden Gophers at Mariucci Arena. A question mark looms large for the Raiders in net, where junior Jason Lefevre, sophomore Dave Cann, and freshman Steve Silverthorn are competing for playing time. Lefevre and Cann split time against UNO, each starting a game and allowing five goals. The duo then struggled through the team’s stint in Minnesota, which led to appearances by Silverthorn in both games.

At this point, Silverthorn has the best GAA among the goaltending corps at 6.00 goals per game. Junior Scooter Smith, Colgate’s leading returning scorer, currently leads the team in scoring with two goals and an assist.

The Raiders hosted Iona of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) in a non-conference tilt on Saturday.

Rensselaer

While it has become somewhat of a cliché in the sports world to say that a given team is “returning everybody,” that statement can very nearly be applied in a literal sense to the Engineers.