Non-Sports: Blog Related Difficulties

For whatever reason, the sidebar on our blog was disappearing on the front page of the blog- well, not disappearing, but relocating to the very bottom of the page. This was, as they say, problematic, because that's where we keep, among other things, our upcoming schedule of broadcasts- something I'm sure you want to see and something we'd certainly like you to be aware of.

So we've switched over to a new template for the time being, although that's caused a whole new set of problems, including having to reset all of the colors on the blog to make this look like a blog for Harvard and not Columbia, and causing our WHRB Sports Blog image to be very off-centered. The colors thing is a relatively easy fix, the header image being off-centered has not been so far, but hopefully will be resolved soon.

Just wanted to let our loyal readers know that we are
a) working on it
b) hopeful you keep with us as the blog gets its facelift, even if it means the blog changes colors while you are on it
c) very interested in your feedback- if there's a problem with the colors for you, let us know so we can keep the blog readable.

Thanks all,
WHRB Sports

Breaking Down the ECAC: Week 2

A full weekend of ECAC play has passed by, so it's time for another edition of WHRB's weekly power rankings. Same format as last time- this weekend's results, a key player, and what games are ahead. Then after that, we'll have our three stars and our three games to watch.

Power Rankings
1. #3 Cornell (3-0, 2-0) Last Week: 4th
Last Week- Two convincing home wins for the Big Red bring them to the top of the power rankings in week two. On Friday night, Cornell knocked off the Dartmouth Big Green 5-1, never giving the Hanover crew a sniff at victory. Then on Saturday night, Cornell trailed their biggest rival, Harvard, 3-1 in the second period, before rattling off five straight goals, including four in the third period, to win a 6-3 game in convincing fashion.
Key Player- Blake Gallagher had three goals and an assist on the weekend for the Big Red.
Up Next- Cornell will be looking to get a win against the only team that consistently had their number last year, as they face the Yale Bulldogs on Friday night in New Haven. Then, on Saturday night, it's Cornell's fourth straight Ivy, as they take on Brown in Providence.

2. #20 Quinnipiac (6-1, 2-0) Last Week: 2nd
Last week- Two weekends ago, the Bobcats had their one blemish on the schedule with a loss to Robert Morris, but they are back to their winning ways after a series sweep of the North Country teams in Connecticut. On Friday, the Bobcats skated away with a 4-2 win over Clarkson, and then added a 5-2 win over St. Lawrence on Saturday.
Key Player- Mike Atkinson thrived when his team was down a man, netting a hat trick for the Bobcats against Clarkson with two shorthanded goals and an empty netter.
Up Next- Quinnipiac welcomes the Harvard Crimson to the TD Banknorth Sports Center for a NESN-televised game that starts at 7:30 PM. Then on Saturday night, they take on the Dartmouth Big Green.

3. (ARV) RPI (6-3-1, 2-0) Last Week: 9th
Last week- RPI started off their ECAC campaign with their seventh annual Black Friday game, and they were looking to remain undefeated on the occasion. It seemed like it would be difficult to do that with the league favorites Yale coming into the building, but the 'Tute had no trouble at all, winning 5-2. The next night, RPI suffered no letdown after the big win, beating Brown 3-1.
Key Player- Chase Polacek had five points for RPI (3 G, 2 A) in the weekend series, including the game winner against Brown. This is Polacek's second straight week as the Key Player for RPI.
Up Next- RPI has the always difficult North Country trip this weekend, starting at Clarkson on Friday night before facing St. Lawrence on Saturday night.

4. Colgate (4-2-3, 2-0) Last Week: 8th
Last week- Colgate was able to get two wins at Starr Rink this weekend, but neither win was exactly pretty. On Friday night, Colgate was down 3-0 to the Harvard Crimson and Alex Evin had been chased from the net, showing how bad the Raiders can be at their worst, but a four goal third period saw them skate away with a 5-4 win, showing how good they could be at their best. Then the Raiders had a back and forth battle with a hungry Dartmouth team, and were able to gain a slim lead and hang on to it at the end.
Key Player- David McIntyre had two goals and two assists for the Raiders on the weekend.
Up Next- The Raiders will be looking to get their first win on the road as they face the Brown Bears on Friday night and then Yale on Saturday night.

5. (ARV) St. Lawrence (5-3-1, 1-1) Last Week: 7th
Last Week- St. Lawrence opened up their ECAC season strongly, earning a 5-2 win at Hobey Baker Arena against the Princeton Tigers, but on Saturday night, they lost to Quinnipiac by the same score line.
Key Player- Alex Curran was one of three Saints players to earn a goal and an assist this weekend.
Up Next- St. Lawrence have their league home opening weekend as they start off Friday night hosting Union, before playing RPI on Saturday.

6. Union (3-3-3, 0-0-2) Last Week: 10th
Last Week- Union had two identical score lines this weekend as they hosted Brown and Yale this past weekend in the ECAC Home Opener for the Dutchmen. Both games ended in 3-3 ties. On Friday, it was Union that needed to battle back to earn the tie, then on Saturday, the Dutchmen had a lead by a last second goal evened things up with the Bulldogs.
Key Player- Mike Schreiber tallied two goals and an assist on the weekend for the Dutchmen.
Up Next- Union will be seeking their first conference win of the season as they travel to the North Country to face St. Lawrence on Friday and Clarkson on Saturday.

After the jump, we'll see how far last week's number one and number three teams have fallen, give our three stars of the week, and give our three games to watch.

Ivy League Champs to take on local foe in NCAA Playoffs

The women's soccer team, which claimed an outright Ivy League title on Saturday night with a 2-1 victory at Columbia, also earned the league's automatic berth into the Women's NCAA National Championship tournament. After the jump, we'll have the matchup, a look at some past results, and the rest of the bracket.

Top Shelf online from this past weekend

As we posted at the beginning of the season, "Top Shelf" will be posted online after it airs on WHRB during the first intermission of every game, and so now the first two episodes of the regular season are online and available for streaming on the Top Shelf website or as a free download from the iTunes store. In this week's episode, hear Alex Biega, Kyle Richter, and guest Ian Tallett discuss Halloween costumes, road trips, and the win against Dartmouth.

View From the Booth- Harvard Drops a Tough One to Biggest Rival

Coming off a tough loss on Friday night in Hamilton, the Crimson responded well through two periods against fierce rival the Cornell Big Red, who were ranked #5 in the country at the time. But another tough third period left the Crimson on the losing end of things once again. Now we present our five thoughts on the game after the jump.

Reminder: Sportstalk Today at 1PM

Another Sunday afternoon means it is time for another Crimson Sportstalk on 95.3 FM and WHRB.

We'll have recaps of all the week's action with our Harvard Headlines, including a look at the women's soccer game that gave them the outright Ivy League Title, and the women's hockey team, which earned its 500th win in program history this weekend.

Scott Reed will stop by to talk with us and give us a season preview of the men's basketball season which gets underway next week. We'll also have an interview with Coach Tommy Amaker.

Scott will also be there to talk with us about the Harvard-Columbia football game, and give us a look ahead to next week's de facto championship game versus Penn.

And Tom Brennan will be there as well to talk about the men's hockey team's weekend at Colgate and Cornell.

It can all be heard live on 95.3 FM and online at WHRB.org starrting at 1PM.

View From the Booth: Can the Crimson bounce back tonight against Cornell?

Harvard led Colgate 4-1 after two periods, but the Raiders roared back with four straight goals in the third frame to take the win 5-4 at Starr Rink. Now the Crimson skate into Lynah Rink, where last night Cornell dumped Dartmouth 5-1 with four power play goals. Get our five thoughts on this weekend thus far for the Crimson after the jump.

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