Cornell Expected To Finish Second in ECAC

Preseason media poll, with first-place votes in parentheses.

1.  YALE (15) 278
2.  CORNELL (7) 272
3.  PRINCETON (2) 253
4.  HARVARD (1) 224
5.  DARTMOUTH 183
6.  UNION 143
7.  ST. LAWRENCE 134
8.  CLARKSON 125
9.  COLGATE 106
10. RENNSELAER 102
11. QUINNIPIAC 90
12. BROWN 35

Also:

Heading the ECACHWBA All-Conference Team are forwards David McIntyre of Colgate, Riley Nash of Cornell and Mark Arcobello of Yale; defensemen Alex Biega of Harvard and Brendon Nash of Cornell; and goaltender Zane Kalemba of Princeton.

Some quick thoughts: The ECAC writers are breaking a bit from the national experts (USCHO and CHN), who have placed Cornell well ahead of Yale in the national rankings. Yale received 8 more first-place votes than did Cornell, but the small 6-point differential means that many of the voters who didn't choose Yale to finish 1st placed them 3rd or lower. Yale, Cornell, and Princeton were the big three in the league last year, so it's not surprising to see them bunched at the top again. As someone pointed out on eLynah, it's also interesting that the top five teams are Ivies.

Cornell will be tested early, since we have to play the preseason #1, #3, #4, and #5 in the first four weekends of the season.