ANALYSIS: St. Lawrence shouldn’t be very good, and, from a pure talent perspective, isn’t. But the Saints have pulled off four major upsets—against Michigan St., Maine and Miami twice—in just eight games, earning them early-season potential sleeper consideration. Whether they can be consistent for the rest of the season is a wholly separate question, though. The answer will rest heavily on the shoulders of netminder Mike McKenna, who has been solid in goal thus far this year.

UNION

2003-2004 record: 15-6-5, 8-11-3 ECAC (8th)

ANALYSIS: Fortunately, Union should return eight of its top nine and 18 of its top 19 scorers. The bad news? Well, those scorers aren’t all that good and haven’t gotten much better in the off-season. Former Harvard assistant Nate Leaman had the Dutchmen moving in the right direction last year, but still lacks the talent to make a meaningful jump in the standings. Freshman Justin Mrazek might assume full control in goal after his first two appearances—just three goals in nearly two full games, both losses.

VERMONT

2003-2004 record: 9-22-4, 7-14-1 ECAC (11th)

ANALYSIS: UVM has a long way to go before it’ll be good enough to contend in either the ECAC or Hockey East, its future home, but a crop of young stars should have coach Kevin Sneddon ’92 beaming. Freshman goaltender Joe Fallon was electric in net last weekend, recording 69 saves to earn a win and a tie against then-No. 1 Minnesota-Duluth. He must continue his string of impressive performances, else the Catamounts, weak offensively, shouldn’t expect similar results in the future.

YALE

2003-2004 record: 12-19-0, 10-12-0 ECAC (7th)

ANALYSIS: Yale’s defense was absolutely wretched last year, allowing Harvard to score six unanswered goals to earn a come-from-behind road win, 7-5. The Bulldogs should count on similar great moments in Eli history this year. Neither their offense nor their defense is much improved, and nearly every other ECAC program has either improved defensively or stayed relatively consistent. Yale may score several goals a game this year, but will be rivalling its football team in points allowed.

THE CRIMSON PROJECTS...