Quarterfinal Matchups and Predictions

First the other 3 matchups. I'll post about our series later.

#12 Brown at #1 Yale
Mike Clemente carried Brown through the Crimson last week...only to earn a trip to the Whale this weekend. From my view, the two teams are exact opposites: Brown plays a slow, grinding game, and will rely heavily on Clemente if they expect to win. Yale hockey is incredibly fast-paced and skilled. From what I've seen this year, I have not been particularly impressed with any of their goaltenders. I expect Yales forwards to (literally) skate circles around the Brown defense. While it would be a nice Cinderella story, I don't think Brown is going to repeat their performance of last week. Yale is just too fast. Clemente faced 86 shots last weekend. If the games are even close, you can expect Yale to break 100. Speed and skill vs a hot goalie, no defense, and minimal offense; Yale wins.

#8 Union at #3 Princeton
Princeton ended the season with losses to now-eliminated Harvard and Dartmouth. They will be playing in front of their home crowd and looking to redeem themselves. They will come out of the gate flying. UC is coming off of their first-ever playoff series win, and will be hoping to ride that momentum. The tigers were nearly flawless in ECAC play in the last months of '08. The beginning of '09 has been one of inconsistency for them however, going only 7-7 in league play, including big losses to Union, and other weak team RPI. If I were to predict an upset, this is where I would pick it. Dutchmen in 3.

#7 Quinnipiac at #4 St Lawrence
The Saints have been monstrous at home this season. Since '09 started, they've scored 5 or more 4 times in their own rink (6, 5, 8, and 7). Add to that a 6-1 win in Providence, and they look like a high-scoring machine. Q is vastly improved with the return of center Brendan Wong from injury, but they are still the only team that needed 3 games to get to this point. After struggling at home against Colgate, I find it hard to believe that they will travel to St. Lawrence and put together 2 wins. The Saints will march to Albany with a sweep, outscoring Q at least 10-4 over the weekend.