One Takeaway From Each ECAC Team Heading Into Conference Play

Travel partners, historic matchups, and surprising upsets…ECAC Hockey conference play has arrived! This afternoon, 230 days after Cornell defeated Colgate to win its fifth ECAC title, the Raiders will face off against Dartmouth at 3 p.m. to kick-off the 2025-2026 conference season. Later tonight, the other 10 teams will also drop the puck to begin their ECAC slates. 

But before the fun begins, let’s take a moment to look back on the 12 teams non-conference play. With some squads playing eight games, and others only two, it’s difficult to rank the start of  each team’s season. Instead, here is one takeaway from each team heading into conference play…

The Non-Ivies

Colgate (3-3): Expect Streaky Goaltending
Entering this season, Colgate was asked to answer questions on both sides of the ice. On offense, the loss of Kristýna Kaltounková and her 26 goals meant the team needed to find goals elsewhere on the roster. On defense, the loss of Hanna Murphy meant that a new netminder (or netminders) was needed. While the offense has been okay thanks to Emma Pais and others, the goaltending has been a work in progress.

The issue for head coach Stefan Decosse is that because Murphy was so reliable a season ago, her 33 starts meant that the other Colgate goaltenders didn’t have many chances to gain experience. Add in the fact that all three rostered goaltenders this season are underclassmen, and it’s easy to see why the early season goaltending might be inconsistent. 

So far, sophomore Farah Walker has taken the majority of the starts in net. In her four games she has mostly looked solid, allowing one goal to Boston University and two to Maine, but also was pulled after giving up eight goals on 31 shots against Ohio State. 

Freshman Brooke Davis leads Walker in save percentage .910–.876, but gave up three goals on eighteen shots to BU in the first of her two starts. 

Both Walker and Brooks are solid options for Decosse, but until they get more experience Colgate will be vulnerable.

St. Lawrence (2-5-1): Scoring Might be a Problem 

A lot has gone wrong for the Saints so far this season. St. Lawrence has been outscored 16-11, outshot 260–219 and has dropped out of the top-15 in the nation after starting the year ranked ninth. The biggest problem for St. Lawrence is the team’s offense. After scoring 2.5 goals per game last season, this year’s squad is averaging just 1.4— including a pair of two goal weekends. 

The lack of offense isn’t necessarily coming from a lack of chances, with St. Lawrence failing to win 3 games in which it outshot its opponent. Instead, finishing is largely to blame. This shouldn’t come as too big of a surprise considering that the Saints lost nine double-digit point scorers in the offseason. If St. Lawrence wants to regain its form in ECAC play, a few players will need to figure out how to put the puck in the back of the net.

Clarkson (3-3): This Team is Inconsistent

Another team that has had a streaky start to its season, the Golden Knights have split every weekend so far this season. The inconsistency is difficult to explain, but it probably has to do with the loss of star defenders Haley Winn and Nicole Gosling — who powered Clarkson offensively from the blueline — and an 11 player class of 2029. 

Since the team is so different from game to game it’s difficult to come up with major takeaways, so I’ll go with two smaller ones. First, a positive. Rookies Manon le Scodan — two goals and three assists — and Sara Manness have been excellent to start their Clarkson careers. Manness, who is playing alongside her sister Kate, currently leads ECAC freshman in assists (7) and points (8). 

Now, the negative. The Golden Knights have allowed four goals on 20 power plays for a .800 penalty kill percentage, ninth worst in Division I. This comes after having the 15th best penalty kill in the nation last season, the drop-off likely a direct result of losing Winn and Gosling.

Union (4-2-2): The Offense is Legit

Possibly the biggest brightspot for ECAC Hockey thus far has been the Garnet Chargers. After needing 10 games to pick up four wins last season, Union is off to a 4-2-2 start and looks like a team that could finish with a conference winning percentage of .500 or above for the second time in program history. 

While Monja Wagner, Emma Rhéaume, and the rest of Union’s defense has been solid, it’s the offense that has taken a big step up from the 2024-2025 season. Last year, the Garnet Chargers finished 10th in the ECAC in offense averaging 1.9 goals per game. So far this season, Union is finding the back of the net 2.5 times per contest.

What’s caused this change? How about Quinn Dunkle quickly tallying six points after notching just four last season, or freshman Megan Duplantie scoring a pair of goals in two different games. In fact, Duplantie’s two-score games have turned a loss into a tie (2-2 vs. Merrimack) and a tie into a win (7-5 vs. St. Anselm).

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (1-6): The Goal Scoring Fears Have Been Realized

While Union’s offense has taken a step forward, its travel partner’s goal scoring has slipped. The Engineers have scored more than a goal in just two games and managed only a single goal in a weekend series against Holy Cross. Charlotte Wensley is doing her part with four goals, but she needs help. The sophomore is currently the only RPI skater with multiple goals this season.  

A projected lack of goal scoring is why RPI finished last in the pre-season coaches poll, and until the Troy squad shows it has more than a single consistent scorer it’s tough to see the Engineers finding success in conference play.  

Quinnipiac (8-0): Kahlen Lamarche is Special

The Bobcats have had the best start to the season in ECAC Hockey, and one of the best starts in the nation. While Quinnipiac has yet to allow more than three goals in a game, the attention generated by the team’s strong early play has (rightly) fallen on Kahlen Lamarche. 

It’s a cliche, but so far the juniors numbers look straight out of a video game. 12 goals, seven assists, and an impressive 25.5% shooting percentage have Lamarche looking like an early contender for Forward or even Player of the Year.

The Ivies

With the Ivy League only starting play last weekend, it’s a bit difficult to jump to early conclusions about each team. Still, a lack of evidence, material, or logic has never stopped a good hot take…

Cornell (2-0): Any Player on Any Night is Back

Last season, Cornell relied on players up and down its roster to contribute offensively, instead of a single dominant goal scorer or a top forward line. Through its first weekend of play, the Red seem to be using that strategy again. 

Sarah MacEachern, Nora Curtis, Shannon Pearson and Beatrice Perron-Roy each found the back of the net against Boston College in Cornell’s opening weekend, despite the group only having a single collegiate goal between them entering this season. Sure, this stat is helped by the fact that Curtis and Pearson are freshman and MacEachern missed two of her first three years with injuries, but contributions from less experienced players will be needed throughout the year for a team who lost 12 players in the offseason.  

Princeton (0-2): Adjusting to Post-Paul Life Will be Hard

Despite losing 2024-2025 leading goal scorer Sarah Paul to Minnesota in the offseason, Tiger fans are hoping that the team can replace her scoring and make a push for a top-four finish in the ECAC Hockey regular season standings. However, the first weekend of the season serves as a reminder of how difficult replacing Paul will be. 

While Princeton fired 82 shots against Tia Chan and Connecticut, the Tigers managed just a single goal and were swept by the Huskies. The Mackenzie Alexander and Issy Wunder led offense still looks loaded on paper, but the first games of the season showed that scoring could be a problem.

Brown (2-0): Who Needs Experience?

In Brown’s season opener, a Monique Lyons goal 1:04 into the third period gave the Bears a one goal lead over then-No. 13 Boston University. Despite a Terrier push, Brown was able to hold BU to just three third period shots en route to picking up a ranked win to start its season. The next day, the Bears dominated the first 55 minutes of action against Merrimack, but frustratingly could not score. Finally, on the Bears 38th shot of the game, Margot Norehad found the back of the net.

Generally, it’s assumed that more experienced teams do better in close games. Players who have been through the frustrations of dominating an opponent but being unable to score, or who have played in the stressful final minutes of a game while holding onto a one-goal lead should be better prepared when those situations rise again.

However, a lack of experience didn’t hurt Brown in its opening weekend. While the team played in plenty of close games in past seasons, this year’s Providence squad features 15 underclassmen and just four seniors. So, picking up early season close wins with players in new or expanded roles is a big confidence booster heading into ECAC play. 

Yale (2-0):  Maybe Losing Dukaric Won’t be a Big Issue

It’s difficult to glean much from a pair of games against Robert Morris, but a key positive from Yale’s opening weekend sweep was its goaltending play. Coming into this season, one of the biggest question marks for the Bulldogs was how the team would respond to losing Pia Dukaric and her .926 save percentage. 

So far, so good. Anna Phillips made 24 saves in a shutout win a night after Naomi Baechler stopped 26 shots in 5-2 victory. While both Phillips and Baechler are underclassmen with little collegiate experience, if the duo looks this good early in the season it’s easy to start to imagine how good Yale’s goaltending situation could be once they both get a full season behind them. 

Harvard (2-0): The Rebuild is Working

Last season, Harvard won two games. The Crimson have already matched that total. While St. Michaels and New Hampshire aren’t particularly great teams, starting off the season 2-0 is huge for a program that has a combined 7-48-4 record in its past two seasons.

Harvard’s Saturday afternoon win over UNH was its first road win since Jan 31, 2024, and its 6-0 thumping of St. Michaels is the largest margin of victory in the Laura Bellamy era. While Harvard probably won’t finish in the top half of the ECAC Hockey standings, the team already looks like a more difficult matchup than last year’s squad. 

Dartmouth (0-2): Jiahui Zhan Could be Special 

Like most Ivy League teams, the first weekend of the season was a bit “scrambly” for Dartmouth according to head coach Maura Crowell. Still, despite the pair of losses, Dartmouth looked solid for stretches against Holy Cross — including an impressive third period on Friday in which the Big Green outshot the Crusaders 11-1. 

Dartmouth’s best performance of the weekend came from Saturday’s goaltender Jiahui Zhan. In the sophomore's second collegiate start, Zhan faced 40 shots and made 38 saves. While Dartmouth’s offense couldn’t solve Holy Cross, the Beijing native gave the Big Green a chance to win.

ECAC Hockey’s conference slate begins Oct. 24 and all conference matchups are streamed live on ESPN+.