Will this be the year that Harvard is upset as the ECAC title-holder?

It all depends on how you look at it. When the Crimson writers sat down to think about how the ECAC would sort out, the result was a consensus for St. Lawrence, who finished third last season in the league. In fact, despite a checkered past against Dartmouth, the Saints’ only real competition could be Harvard—and even then there are many doubters. This challenge may soon become clearer as the two teams meet on Nov. 13 at Bright Hockey Center.

Harvard, if only for the sake of inertia, was chosen second. With big losses, a return to the top will be hard, but Dartmouth—the next strongest team—was hit just as hard and so there is no reason to doubt that the Crimson has a good shot to be in the top two in the ECAC when all is said and done.

In third place, Dartmouth finds itself in our rankings a step below Harvard and St. Lawrence, but still in a tier ahead of the lower levels.

Other highlights include a rise to the middle level by Clarkson, who posted impressive results in their first season in the league. Brown and Colgate will also probably suffer with the Golden Knights rise to the top and solid seasons from Princeton and Yale.

BROWN

The reason that Brown will struggle is the same reason why it could not stay at the top of the ECAC last season—it will not have Jessica Link ’05. Two years ago, she carried the team on her back and almost upended Harvard in the ECAC semifinals. But last season she was plagued by injuries and then graduated, leaving the Bears with a young, but talented, core. Look for them a year or two down the line and not immediately as growing pains will be the name of the game and Brown will probably finish about where it did last year.

CLARKSON

The Golden Knights have three positives to carry into this season from their opening ECAC campaign a year ago. They took the fewest penalties in the league last year, went to the playoffs, and graduated none of their players. The downside is that they still do not have a senior, experienced star to guide the team, but as their hard work and effort proved, that’s not all there is to developing a quality hockey program. Clarkson might be able to sneak in a few upsets in its second season, so keep your eye on the Golden Knights.

COLGATE

While expectations have been set pretty high for this year’s Colgate team by national media, the squad did lose both its top goal scorer and a former all-league goalie. The good news? The Raiders’ team depth was their strength last year and the improved Brook Wheeler, who posted a 1.76 goals against average, is back between the pipes. They have finished seventh in the ECAC for three straight years, but might be able to close the gap with the upper echelon teams. On the other hand, Colgate has already lost this year to a Division I newbie, RPI.

CORNELL

The Big Red is without coach Melody Davidson, skipper of the Canadian national team, and without much hope of moving up the ranks in the ECAC. Interim coach Doug Derraugh will have his hands full directing a squad whose top returning scorer, Brianne Schmidt, potted just nine goals last season and whose penalty kill allowed opponents to convert a full third of their power plays a year ago. Cornell can take solace, however, in the presence of hapless Union, which should separate the Big Red from the cellar.

DARTMOUTH

Like most of the top teams in the nation, the Dartmouth roster has been decimated by the combination of graduation and national team camps, which claimed standouts Cherie Piper, Gillian Apps, and top incoming freshman Sarah Parsons. Luckily for coach Mark Hudak, senior Tiffany Hagge returns to spearhead the country’s third-best scoring offense from last season. The team’s biggest question mark, as in years past, is goaltending, with historically inconsistent senior Kate Lane sure to be challenged by newcomer Carli Clemis.

PRINCETON

The Tigers have hovered for years on the cusp of the conference elite, and this season should be no different. Senior netminder Roxanne Gaudiel gives Princeton one of the country's best between the pipes—she posted a .926 save percentage and a 1.88 goals against average a year ago—and the chance to win low-scoring games. Juniors Kim Pearce and Laura Watt lead the offense, which struggled at times last season, ranking 13th nationally, but it returns eight of its nine top scorers from a year ago.

QUINNIPIAC

After going winless and finishing in last place in the four-team College Hockey Association last season, the Bobcats join the ECAC with low expectations and the chance to play spoiler. Quinnipiac has already logged some surprising results in this young season, knocking off Connecticut and Northeastern and tying Yale in its conference opener. Coach Michael Barrett brought in a strong recruiting class of young Canadians that should help the Bobcats improve its power play, worst in the nation last year.

ST. LAWRENCE

Coach Paul Flanagan has assembled a roster that appears perfectly primed to make noise in this Olympic year. The Saints, the preseason No. 1, avoided losing any players to national teams, with leading scorer Rebecca Russell the only notable departure from a year ago. Senior Emilie Berlinguette headlines the St. Lawrence attack, which also boasts a talented sophomore class that includes Sabrina Harbec and Annie Guay. The Saints have two very capable goalies in Jess Moffat and Meghan Guckian.

UNION

Let that sink in: zero wins and 20 losses in the ECAC last year. The Dutchwomen should again struggle to find conference wins, especially if a pair of 8-0 routs at the hands of middling Clarkson in the opening weekend are any indication. Union, which adds eight freshmen to the mix this season, is led by junior Elisa Nichols, who scored 14 goals in 2004-2005. Against Clarkson, the Dutchwomen tried out three different netminders and all struggled, so look for the goalie-by-committee policy to continue in the early going.

YALE

The Bulldogs were within a single goal of reaching the ECAC tournament finals last season, but it is difficult to see them duplicating that success this year. Gone are the squad’s top two defenders: Erin Duggan graduated and super freshman Helen Resor was added to the U.S. national team. Fortunately, the conference’s top goalie remains in senior Sarah Love. That being said, Yale, with juniors Jenna Spring and Kristin Savard leading the rush, should struggle to put points on the board.