Congrats, we made it through the first full month of ECAC Hockey! It felt like the season took forever to really get going, and I fully blame the Ivy League teams. They didn’t start play until the second week in October — and then Yale waited another week after that!
Luckily, all 12 ECAC teams are now off and running, and we’re officially into conference play. November promises a lot of action, but first, let’s take a look back at October. I’ll walk you through some games and moments you may have missed, then give you a preview of what you should be watching this month.
Featured games
Princeton gets revenge on UConn
The Tigers opened their season with a bang, sweeping the weekend series against the team that kicked them out of the NCAA tournament last season. The first game was a solid 2-1 win for Princeton, but the second saw the Tigers stage an epic comeback.
Princeton chased for nearly all of this game. UConn took an early lead with two goals in the first period. The Tigers then evened the score in the second, but the Huskies scored two more in the middle frame and once again in the third. Facing a three-goal deficit, Princeton battled back to tie the game with only 49 seconds left in regulation. Then, in overtime, first-year Chloe Brinson sealed the win with her first collegiate goal in spectacular fashion.
Special teams were critical to Princeton’s recovery and eventual success. Of the six goals the Tigers scored, only one was at true even strength. Angelina DiGirolamo scored shorthanded to get Princeton on the board, followed by Caroline Averill’s power play goal in the second. The final two goals in regulation came with the goaltender pulled for an extra skater. Even Brinson’s game-winner was on the power play. On the other side, the Tigers killed off three of four UConn power plays, allowing only eight shots total while the Huskies had the player advantage.
Capital District chaos
Meanwhile, the month of October was bookended by two wild overtime wins for RPI and Union. The two Albany-area teams are not exactly the ECAC’s best, but they love to surprise you.
First, the Engineers opened the month by hosting Northeastern, ranked #5 at the time, on October 2. The game was scoreless through the first two periods. RPI struggled to generate offense, putting only 13 shots on the Huskies’ net through regulation. On the other end, Sadie Bellissimo kept the Engineers in the game, making 30 saves in just the first two periods. Northeastern finally broke the stalemate with a goal early in the third, but RPI responded with a power play tally by Kaylynn Fisher to tie things up.
When neither team scored again in regulation, it was time for some bonus hockey. Barbora Černá Prošková scored the winning goal in overtime for the Engineers, but it was really Bellissimo’s game. Any time Northeastern tried building momentum, she was able to halt it. To quote disappointed Husky fan and Hockey East beat writer Emma, “Sometimes you just get goalie’d.”
Later in the month, on October 30, Union made the trip to Ithaca to take on Cornell. What should have been an easy win for the Big Red, ranked #12 at the time, ended up being quite spooky on the day before Halloween. Cornell was up 2-0 by the end of the first period, but Union didn’t let them get that comfortable again. The Garnet Chargers had two power play goals in the second and a response for anything Cornell scored. By the end of regulation, the two teams were tied 4-4, with Maddie Leaney scoring in overtime to seal the win for Union.
Karianne Engelbert ended the game with a hat trick and a contribution on every goal Union tallied. Her five points tied a program record for single-game points. It was also the first time a Union player put up that many points on a ranked opponent. The offensive unit of forwards Karianne Engelbert, Maddie Leaney, and Jill Willis and defenders Lily Leckelt and Madison Macaulay has been crucial for the Garnet Chargers so far, with at least a point in every game. Underestimate Union at your own peril, especially if you’re a ranked team.
Player spotlight of the month
The ECAC picks its own players of the month: forward, defender, rookie, and goaltender. You can find those here. I have no complaints about their picks for September/October, but I want to do something a little different. In the player spotlight, I want to highlight an athlete doing something interesting that you might want to pay attention to. It might be someone who hit a milestone, or took a big step forward, or just has an interesting story.
For this first installment, I want to point the spotlight at Quinnipiac’s Avery Bairos. When I was making my way-too-early conference championship predictions, Bairos’ knack for coming in clutch despite her few goals scored in 2025-26 stuck out to me. I had a feeling she was poised for a breakout year, and so far, it looks like I was right. At the time of writing, Bairos is tied for first on the Bobcats in goals scored with eight in 12 games. She’s already doubled her goals from last season, which was four in 41 games. Getting more offensive production out of players like Bairos and Keara Parker spells good things for Quinnipiac, who will be looking to defend their ECAC championship title in March.
But back to Bairos, because her journey off the ice is just as interesting as her goalscoring. In January 2025, in the middle of Bairos’ freshman season, she noticed something in her right arm didn’t feel right. Conversations with the team trainers and a doctor led to an ultrasound screening, which revealed she had a blood clot. Her collarbone and a rib were compressing a vein, increasing the risk of life-threatening clotting. Bairos needed two surgeries: one to remove the clot and one to take out the part of her rib responsible for the compression. Her season was over, and the recovery process was long and arduous.
When Bairos returned to the ice for her sophomore year, she was ready to get to work and prove that she was coming back stronger than she left. She scored her first collegiate goal roughly a year after she received that fateful diagnosis. In the conference tournament, she put the puck in the net in overtime to send Quinnipiac to the ECAC championship finals. One day later, she scored the game-winner to secure the conference title for the Bobcats. Bairos’ resilience is just as important to her play as her knack for scoring goals when it matters most.
Rapid fire
For this section, here are a few quick hits and notes on things you may have missed last month that didn’t get covered in any of the other sections. First, check in on the conference standings, scoring leaders, and goalie leaders.
Princeton went undefeated in conference play (4-0) and overall (6-0) through October. Every other team in the ECAC, and the entire NCAA, lost at least once. Plus, in five of six games, opponents did not score more than one goal on the Tigers.
Yale opened their season by winning the Icebreaker Tournament, held this year in Boston. The Bulldogs defeated Boston University 3-2 in the first game, then faced off against Minnesota State for the tournament championship. The game was 3-3 at the end of regulation and couldn’t be settled in overtime, but Yale ultimately won after a five-round shootout.
In addition to their conference honors, two ECAC players were nationally recognized by the Women’s Hockey Commissioners Association for the combined months of September and October. Jessie Pellerin from Clarkson was HCA National Co-Forward of the Month. At the time of writing, Pellerin leads the nation in goals with 11. Princeton’s Uma Corniea was HCA National Tri-Goalie of the Month.
Colgate might be headed for some roster turmoil, if they’re not there already. Currently, they have only 21 players rostered, with seven defenders, eleven forwards, and three goaltenders. Not to mention, team stalwarts Emma Pais and Avery Pickering are already in the transfer portal. It seems like they’ll be looking to take advantage of their new fifth year of eligibility and take their talents elsewhere.
Speaking of the transfer portal, expect to see a lot of Ivy League seniors on the list. All current players were granted up to five years of NCAA eligibility (assuming they entered college by age 19), but the Ivy League allows athletes to play only four seasons. Thus, if a player at an Ivy school wants to keep playing college hockey in their fifth year, they have to transfer out. There are already some notable names in the portal, like Princeton goaltender Uma Corniea and Yale forward Stephanie Stainton.
Five ECAC players are currently in Denmark for the 2026 IIHF Women’s World Championships. They’ll be away from their college teams for a few weeks as they represent their countries and hopefully bring home some hardware. They are:
- Linda Vocetková (F, Czechia, Colgate)
- Barbora Juříčková (F, Czechia, St. Lawrence)
- Aneta Šenková (G, Czechia, Clarkson)
- Sara Manness (F, Canada, Clarkson)
- Caroline Bjergstad (G, Denmark, RPI)
If you want to follow along, we’ll have full coverage and daily recaps of Worlds here at The Ice Garden.
The ECAC is continuing its broadcast partnership with SNY. The New York-area sports network, which carries New York Mets baseball games and other local college sports, will broadcast 13 women’s hockey games throughout the 2026-27 season. The full list of games is available here if you’re in the area and want to tune in.
What to watch
Series: Cornell vs. Colgate (Nov. 20-21)
My ECAC beat writer predecessor, Eli, would tell you this is the conference’s best rivalry. They’re two schools with C’s for logos and red as their main color — of course they hate each other! Last year, the Big Red and the Raiders split the regular-season series, with a home win for Colgate followed by an overtime win for Cornell in Ithaca. When they met again in the ECAC semifinals, Cornell swept the best-of-three series. Both teams look a bit different this year, but rivalries run deep. Does Colgate get their revenge, or does Cornell remain victorious? Either way, this one will have consequences for the league standings.
Game: Princeton vs. Minnesota (Nov. 27)
Forget the doorbusters, spend your Black Friday with this top-tier match. Princeton will be in Washington, D.C. for the D1 in DC tournament, where they’ll take on the Golden Gophers in the first of two games (the other is against Boston College on Saturday, Nov. 28). Minnesota and Princeton have both started the 2026-27 season very strong, sitting towards the top of their respective conferences.
This will be the first and only time these teams meet an opponent from the WCHA or ECAC in the regular season, so it’s a great chance to see how two of the best teams from the NCAA’s two best conferences stack up. When they meet in the playoffs, WCHA teams tend to beat ECAC teams, but the neutral-site tournament setting could shake things up. It’s likely to be a very interesting game, so I hope the camera setup is better than last year’s edition of this tournament.
Watch all ECAC Hockey games on ESPN+ in the US or ecachockey.tv internationally. Be sure to follow along with all of our NCAA coverage at The IX Hockey.
