Still A Lot to Sort Out in ECACHL Women's Race
ALBANY, N.Y. -- Three teams swept their opponents this past weekend, and as a result, there was some movement in the ECAC Hockey League women's standings. St. Lawrence kept its top spot in the standings with its two wins, while Princeton moved out of a two-way tie for third into sole possession of second with its victories. Yale also swept, and in doing so moved up one spot on the list.
Those sweeps also finalized the top eight teams in the league for the playoffs, with Quinnipiac, Cornell and Union missing out on this year's postseason action. While we know those eight teams, there is still a lot we don't know, as six of those squads can still finish first and six can finish eighth. The top eight teams advance to the women's league playoffs.
St. Lawrence earned its wins on the road, taking games at Cornell and Colgate. The Saints started off with a 4-1 win vs. the Raiders, with four different players scoring. The next day, Alison Domenico and Sabrina Harbec each scored twice in SLU's 5-1 win over Cornell.
North Country travel partner Clarkson split its games, downing Cornell before being shutout by Colgate. Amanda Dittmer netted the winner in the 2-1 contest with the Big Red. Saturday's game gave Colgate's Brook Wheeler her sixth career shutout, as she stopped 22 shots to earn it. She also had 38 stops (her fourth straight 30+ save performance) against St. Lawrence the night before. Her 60 save weekend and blanking, earned her Goaltender of the Week honors. While Wheeler was backstopping the Raiders to victory, Elin Brown (game winner) and Allison Paiano provided the scoring.
Princeton's two victories came at home, as the Tigers had convincing showings over Harvard and Dartmouth. The weekend started with a 6-1 win over the Crimson and was followed by a 7-2 win over the Big Green. Marykate Oakley led her Princeton squad with four points, including three goals, to earn the sweep and Player of the Week honors. Two of her goals came against Harvard and she also had an assist, and her third tally of the weekend came against Dartmouth. The Princeton defense, backstopped by Roxanne Gaudiel, held the Crimson to just 15 shots on goal, while the Big Green had 26 shots, with 25 of them stopped by Gaudiel and Rebecca Allen (40 minutes of action).
Harvard rebounded the next day with a 3-0 win over Quinnipiac with Ali Boe earning the shutout. The Big Green played the Bobcats at the start of the weekend and tied at 2-all. QU's Antoinette Maldonado led in the tie, scoring a goal and picking up an assist.
Crysti Howser earned her second Rookie of the Week honors this season after picking up seven points on three goals and four assists in Yale's sweep of Union. The Bulldogs are now unbeaten in their last six games (4-0-2), tying a school record. She had two goals, one short-handed on Friday and then had a goal and three assists Saturday. Teammate Jenna Spring also had a strong weekend, with four points on three goals and an assist. Maeve Kehoe scored Union's lone goal of the weekend.
Harvard started last week's action with a semifinal win over Boston University in the 28th annual Beanpot Tournament. The game went to over time, with Sarah Wilson netting the winner at 0:46 in the extra stanza.
This week's action starts this evening (Feb. 14) with a league contest and a Beanpot game. First, Yale travels to Brown for a 7 p.m. ECACHL game, while Harvard plays host to Boston College in the championship game of the Beanpot, starting at 8.
This weekend has St. Lawrence and Clarkson at Brown and Yale, while Cornell and Colgate go to Harvard and Dartmouth. Princeton will play two at Union, and Quinnipiac has a non-league series at Rensselaer on Saturday and Sunday.
