ALBANY, N.Y. -- Defending ECAC Hockey regular-season and tournament champion Yale has been picked to finish first in the 11th annual ECAC Hockey Writers and Broadcasters Association (ECACHWBA) Preseason Poll, conducted by Schenectady Daily Gazette sportswriter Ken Schott.
 
The Bulldogs received 15 of 25 first-place votes and earned 278 points. It is the first time the Bulldogs have been picked first. Their previous highest finish was in 2003, when they were picked fifth.
 
Cornell came in second with 272 points, and it received seven first-place votes.
 
The six-point difference is the closest finish since 2001, when Clarkson edged Dartmouth by two points, 223-221.
 
Princeton came in third with 253 points along with two first-place votes. Next is Harvard with one first-place vote and 224 points.
 
The rest of the poll has Dartmouth in fifth (183 points), Union in sixth (143), St. Lawrence in seventh (134), Clarkson in eighth (125), Colgate in ninth (106), RPI in 10th (102), Quinnipiac in 11th (90) and Brown in 12th (35).
 
Heading the ECACHWBA All-Conference Team are forwards David McIntyre of Colgate, Riley Nash of Cornell and Mark Arcobello of Yale; defensemen Alex Biega of Harvard and Brendon Nash of Cornell; and goaltender Zane Kalemba of Princeton.
 
McIntyre received 20 votes, Riley Nash had 19 and Arcobello 18. Biega got 18 votes, and Brendon Nash had nine. Kalemba received 18 votes.

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