Albany, NY (Sept. 23, 2004) – The ECAC Hockey
League's women's coaches have cast their preseason ballots and they are
predicting a tight race again this season. Dartmouth earned the top spot in
the preseason poll with 94 votes, but has Harvard and Brown close on its heels. Union was picked to finish
last, giving first year head coach Tim Gerrish and his team some motivation
heading into the season.
“We are hoping to do better than what the poll indicates,” stated
Gerrish. “This is perhaps the best
league in hockey so we have a hard job ahead of us. But we want to be in this league so we are
going to have to show people we can be better than what the polls say.”
Dartmouth picked up five
first-place votes by the coaches and finished the voting with 94 total points.
Harvard claimed two No. 1 picks to earn the second-place spot with 88 points
and St. Lawrence is one point back with 87 and two first-place nods. Brown (76
points) and Princeton (63 points) round out the top five in fourth
and fifth place, respectively.
Union finished behind Vermont who finished eight
points in back of Clarkson. The
Dutchwomen will open their season on October 16th at Clarkson.
2004-05 ECACHL Preseason Coaches Poll
1. Dartmouth (5)
— 94
2. Harvard (4) — 88
3. SLU (2) — 87
4. Brown — 76
5. Princeton —
63
6. Yale — 55
7. Colgate — 46
8. Cornell — 33
9. Clarkson — 30
10. Vermont —
22
11.
Union – 11