The St. Lawrence University women's ice hockey team has been ranked fifth in ECAC Hockey heading into the 2010-11 season according to the conference's coaches.

The Saints, who finished seventh in the league last year, had 77 votes, only two shy of Quinnipiac University, which came in at No. 4.  Cornell University is considered the favorite to repeat as ECAC Hockey champions, earning 121 votes including 11 first place ballots to earn the No. 1 slot ahead of Clarkson University and Harvard.

"Being ranked fifth is right where I had us picked for the pre-season as the league gets better and better each year," said St. Lawrence head coach Chris Wells, who is entering his third season at the helm for the Scarlet and Brown.  "Now with a mini-Olympic team in Ithaca, a perennial power-house in Harvard and a phenomenal recruiting class at Clarkson, gaining home-ice advantage in ECAC Hockey is going to be a great accomplishment."

Princeton University followed St. Lawrence at No. 6 in the pre-season poll, followed by Rensselaer and Dartmouth at No.'s 7 and 8.  Colgate, Yale, Brown and Union rounded out slots No. 9-12.

St. Lawrence lost several key players to graduation, including Patty Kazmaier Top-10 finalist Britni Smith at the blue line.  However, Coach Wells is confident in his returning corps of veterans, including assistant captains Kirsten Roach, Karell Emard and Jamie Goldsmith, as well as the incoming first-year class to fill the voids left and be effective when the puck drops on the 2010-11 campaign.

"The leadership from the captains has been great this fall and created a great work-ethic around the team," said Coach Wells.  "Meanwhile, Coach MacDougall has developed a solid program to compliment the players that are here."

The Saints' coaching staff added a recruiting class of six players, including a pair of forwards, three defenseman and a goaltender.  Joining the mix offensively will be Rylee Smith (5'5, Hagersville, ON) and Dallas Boyd (5'6, Hamilton, ON), while Dayle Wilkinson (5'5, Stouffville, ON), Bailey Habscheid (5'5, Wymark, SK) and Mel Desrochers (5'4, Welland, ON) will help solidify the play at the blue line.  Finally, Caitlyn Lahonen (5'10, Warman, SK) adds a talented goaltender to the team's roster.

"The new players will have a good opportunity to step in and gain a lot of experience this season," added Coach Wells.  "Coach Wisner has done another outstanding job bringing in students that represent what St. Lawrence is all about."

St. Lawrence will face a difficult schedule in 2010-11, including a grueling portion of the schedule in the month of October. 

"We'll be able to find out a lot about our team with the caliber of schedule we have in October," said Coach Wells.  "We have four games against NCAA Tournament teams from 2010 along with the defending Hockey East champion Providence College and the next team in, Connecticut."

The Saints will open the regular season against the Friars and Huskies on October 9 and 10 before having a non-conference home-and-home series with archrival Clarkson on the 15th and 16th.  St. Lawrence will also see Hockey East powerhouses Boston University and New Hampshire on the road before starting ECAC Hockey play on the 29th and 30th of October when they host Rensselaer and Union.

The Scarlet and Brown will play their annual exhibition game against McGill University on Friday, October 1 during Family Weekend.  The puck will drop on the Saints and Martlets at 7:00pm at Appleton Arena.