Opponents and other news and results 2026-2027

[sezenack]

A lot of you have liked my yearly ECAC preview over the years, so here is this year's! Really like Cornell's roster this year but have questions in net. If Rousseau performs, they'll be a damn good team. Also included a full model explanation since that's been asked here in the past. Didn't see a predictions thread so posting it here.

https://www.rpifieldhouse.com/p/ecac-preview-2026-27

[stereax]

A lot of you have liked my yearly ECAC preview over the years, so here is this year's! Really like Cornell's roster this year but have questions in net. If Rousseau performs, they'll be a damn good team. Also included a full model explanation since that's been asked here in the past. Didn't see a predictions thread so posting it here.

https://www.rpifieldhouse.com/p/ecac-preview-2026-27

For the newcomers, Ivan Zadvernyuk is transferring from Brown, and he is the replacement for Castagna at center. He had 22 points in 30 games for Brown last year and is a skilled center with great size. He should fill that void as the second line center behind Walsh, although his penchant for taking really dumb penalties could get him in trouble with such a disciplined program.

Oh boy... how many times will I call him a crimebag this year...

[stereax]

The two backups who are returning are Justin Katz and Erick Roest, and both have not seen a single minute of NCAA action. If Rousseau falters, there is no backup plan. A counterargument is that you could argue that Cournoyer wasn't even that good when you factor in the quality of Cornell's defense. Despite a 0.915 SV%, he only had 1.02 goals saved above expected, which was 51st in the country. If Rousseau can give them even average goaltending, he likely will have pretty solid numbers, and that should be good enough with the quality of the defense.

The goaltending question mark is what keeps Cornell below Dartmouth in the rankings even though they are quite close. If Rousseau can be that guy for them, they could surpass Dartmouth to get 2nd. Overall, he will determine their ceiling. The model likes Cornell so much that if he gives them good goaltending, they could be a darkhorse national championship contender. As it stands right now though, they're rated a tournament lock with the talent and defense they have as long as he's not disastrous. Can they be more than that? It'll be something to watch.

Shit if we're actually a chip contender...

[ugarte]

not getting ahead of myself but that's always a nice thing to hear someone say

[stereax]

not getting ahead of myself but that's always a nice thing to hear someone say

oh no for sure but it's SO nice to hear someone say it

[stereax]

Some ASU players call for Powers to be suspended pending review of the Mayich situation. Katie Strang article.

[stereax]

Some ASU players call for Powers to be suspended pending review of the Mayich situation. Katie Strang article.

KTAR has published the letter.

[George64]

Arizona State hockey players speak out

[Dafatone]

Some ASU players call for Powers to be suspended pending review of the Mayich situation. Katie Strang article.

I will again say that not enough people will go to prison for this.

[The Rancor]

Yeah, Coach and probably most of the staff needs to be suspended, probably fired. Yeesh. Bad situation all around.

[BearLover]

A lot of you have liked my yearly ECAC preview over the years, so here is this year's! Really like Cornell's roster this year but have questions in net. If Rousseau performs, they'll be a damn good team. Also included a full model explanation since that's been asked here in the past. Didn't see a predictions thread so posting it here.

https://www.rpifieldhouse.com/p/ecac-preview-2026-27

Thank you for your great write-up every year and all the effort you put into it. I will always take a math-based model like yours over vibes-based rankings by voters who have barely watched any of the teams.

I have a couple of quibbles:
1. Is it really fair to call Cornell a "tournament lock" when we are so uncertain in net? I think all of us here are bullish on the team with the exception of the major question mark in goal, but calling them a lock seems like a stretch. Being a tournament lock is a high bar that I think only Quinnipiac (and maybe Dartmouth) meets among ECAC teams.
2. I question the general methodology of weighting past season counting stats so heavily. It seems you end up overrating players/teams who were lucky the prior season and vice versa. For example, as I understand it, your model assumes Ethan Wyttenbach, Hayden Stavroff, and Caton Ryan will score more goals/points next season than they did this past season. That strikes me as quite unlikely, as (without checking) I'd assume each was very lucky last season. When your model so heavily weights past performance, you're probably going to understate fluctuation in the rankings from year to year because the good teams will project as good again and the bad teams as bad again, even if a lot of their success (or lack thereof) the prior season was luck. To "fix" this you'd probably need to factor in things like puck possession and shooting percentage stats to measure how good a team/player is beyond points/goals scored/allowed.

[Chris '03]

Some ASU players call for Powers to be suspended pending review of the Mayich situation. Katie Strang article.

KTAR has published the letter.

Link without the pitstop on x: https://ktar.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/2026-09-28-Hockey-Team-Members-Letter-to-ASU-President-Michael-M.-Crow.pdf

[Trotsky]

We're an ECAC Tournament lock.

[sezenack]

A lot of you have liked my yearly ECAC preview over the years, so here is this year's! Really like Cornell's roster this year but have questions in net. If Rousseau performs, they'll be a damn good team. Also included a full model explanation since that's been asked here in the past. Didn't see a predictions thread so posting it here.

https://www.rpifieldhouse.com/p/ecac-preview-2026-27

Thank you for your great write-up every year and all the effort you put into it. I will always take a math-based model like yours over vibes-based rankings by voters who have barely watched any of the teams.

I have a couple of quibbles:
1. Is it really fair to call Cornell a "tournament lock" when we are so uncertain in net? I think all of us here are bullish on the team with the exception of the major question mark in goal, but calling them a lock seems like a stretch. Being a tournament lock is a high bar that I think only Quinnipiac (and maybe Dartmouth) meets among ECAC teams.
2. I question the general methodology of weighting past season counting stats so heavily. It seems you end up overrating players/teams who were lucky the prior season and vice versa. For example, as I understand it, your model assumes Ethan Wyttenbach, Hayden Stavroff, and Caton Ryan will score more goals/points next season than they did this past season. That strikes me as quite unlikely, as (without checking) I'd assume each was very lucky last season. When your model so heavily weights past performance, you're probably going to understate fluctuation in the rankings from year to year because the good teams will project as good again and the bad teams as bad again, even if a lot of their success (or lack thereof) the prior season was luck. To "fix" this you'd probably need to factor in things like puck possession and shooting percentage stats to measure how good a team/player is beyond points/goals scored/allowed.

Those are fair quibbles I'd say and I don't necessarily disagree!
1) The model thinks Cornell's defensive quality is so high that unless they're a total disaster in net, their goal differential is projected to put them in the "tournament lock" range. Things would have to go majorly wrong for them to miss the tournament, either tons of players not performing offensively or goaltending below like an .890 SV%. I think both of those are pretty unlikely even though Rousseau has questions.
2) I agree, and if I were making an updated or new model, I'd have some sort of regression baked in. Even without doing that though, the model has proven to be highly accurate. My guess is that it tends to even out because some players will be lucky this year that weren't last year and vice versa.

[stereax]

As per Adam and Mike, ASU admin and AD have been meeting with ASU players today in various forms. Players practiced today without coaches.