It was all but official coming into this past weekend that the nationally-ranked No. 4 Quinnipiac women’s ice hockey team had first place in the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) locked up. Princeton and Colgate both had 27 points, tied for third, while Clarkson sat in second with 29.

On the women’s side in the ECAC, only the top eight teams make the conference tournament and all eight play in the quarterfinal round. Whereas on the men’s side, all 12 teams make the tournament and the top four get a first round bye. Then, the top four teams play the winners of the teams seeded 5-12 in the semifinal round.

So for Quinnipiac, it was a matter of defeating or tying a winless Union Dutchwomen squad on Friday to officially clinch the ECAC Regular Season Championship title. Yale came into the weekend holding the final playoff spot with 19 points. Right behind them was Cornell with 18 points, and just ahead was Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) and St. Lawrence, both with 20 points.

Quinnipiac put an exclamation point on the claiming of its first regular season title with a 9-0 thrashing of Union. Around the league, Clarkson defeated Dartmouth 7-0 to hang onto second place. Princeton’s tie with RPI moved them up one point into third over Colgate, who lost to Harvard. RPI earned a point from the tie but St. Lawrence tied Yale, so all three teams gained a point. Cornell’s win put them in a tie for the last playoff spot with Yale.

In their last game of the regular season, Quinnipiac defeated RPI 4-0. The “Nicole-Cubed” line did their share of work: Nicole Kosta tallied three assists, Nicole Brown notched one goal and one assist, and Nicole Connery grabbed a goal and two assists. The loss left RPI with 21 points and a possible end to the season.

In a game where no goal was scored even strength, Yale made Clarkson sweat by taking a 2-2 deadlock down to the final minute of the third period. Rhyen McGill scored a power-play goal with 25 seconds remaining in regulation, propelling Clarkson to victory and leaving Yale at 20 points.

Harvard, already locked for a playoff spot, was also in a tight competition with Cornell who took a 2-1 lead late into the third. With Harvard tying the game late to force overtime, Cornell grabbed a point to reach 21 points on the season, tying them for a brief moment with RPI in the standings. With St. Lawrence winning 3-0 against Brown, they leapt into sixth place and ended Yale’s season.

And let’s not forget about the nail-biter in Ithaca. Cornell defeated Harvard on a goal just 47 seconds into overtime. The goal came from senior Jess Brown, making a dramatic exit for her and her fellow seniors in their final game at Lynah Rink. Finishing seventh, Cornell will not have game on home ice in the postseason.

At the end of all of the intense action this weekend, let’s sum it up:

• RPI takes the final playoff spot and will be right back in Hamden on Friday to take on Quinnipiac.
• Cornell takes seventh and will go to second place Clarkson, where they won the ECAC Championship two years ago (over Clarkson) and was the ECAC runner-up last year (losing to Harvard).
• St. Lawrence (6) will take on Princeton (3).
• Harvard (5) will visit Colgate (4).

Quinnipiac could have an interesting matchup this weekend. Quinnipiac tied RPI 0-0 back on Jan. 8 and outshot RPI 40-15. Saturday, they unleashed 52 shots on RPI’s goaltender Lovisa Selander and won 4-0. And those were four earned goals, certainly not any fault of Selander. If her team can find a way to halt the lethal first line of Cianfarano, Samoskevich and Woods and the Nicole-Cubed line, it could make for a close series.

The same can be said about Harvard. Harvard was a powerhouse during the 2014-15 season and for the first half of this season. After winter break, Harvard’s defense struggled and their offensive production lulled. Goaltending from Emerance Maschmeyer is the only element of Harvard’s game that’s remained consistent.

It’s a bit surprising to see these difficulties from a team coming off a Frozen Four appearance. Harvard dropped out of the USCHO Poll and were replaced by the team they’re traveling to play in the first round, Colgate. Colgate was not projected to make the national rankings this season and the team has proven themselves to be tough opponent. But, Harvard won both meetings in the regular season.

St. Lawrence is taking on a tough Princeton team that is slowly progressing with each passing season. St. Lawrence and Princeton split their regular season matchups with St. Lawrence defeating Princeton in their first meeting and losing in overtime in their second meeting two weeks ago. Similarly to the St. Lawrence men’s ice hockey team, Chris Wells’ squad on the women’s side always has a knack for being a pest to other opponents, no matter where they stand in the conference. It’s not too far-fetched to think this series will need all three games to decide a winner.

Clarkson and Cornell is also an intriguing matchup. Clarkson shut out Cornell 4-0 on home ice in December but tied them on the road 2-2 on Jan. 22. Clarkson is similar to Quinnipiac in that they have a strong team all around. Cornell’s defense seems to let its guard down a bit after the first period, getting outscored by opponents in the second period 29-16 and 30-23 in the third. Clarkson has played dominantly this season so don’t be surprised if they sweep this series.

Those are just my thoughts on the final standings and subsequent outcome that determined the ECAC Tournament matchups on the women’s side. The action begins on Friday.

Those are the matchups for the ECAC Quarterfinals as well as some of my thoughts based on what I’ve seen from those teams this season. All of the action begins on Friday. Stay updated with QBSN’s coverage of Quinnipiac’s series against RPI right here and also on Twitter, @QBSN.