St. Lawrence Claims Regular Season Crown
Playoffs begin this Friday
ALBANY, N.Y. -- The final weekend of the women's regular season in the ECAC Hockey League has wrapped up and teams are now gearing up for the playoffs. St. Lawrence claimed the season crown and is the No. 1 seed heading into the opening quarterfinals. The Saints swept their games this past weekend to earn the top spot, while Princeton claimed the No. 2 position with two weekend wins of its own. Brown claimed the No. 3 seed, while Harvard went down to the wire and battled to earn the No. 4 seed.
The quarterfinal matchups will take place at the home arenas of the higher seeded teams and are best-of-three series. The Saints, Tigers, Bears and Crimson will play host to Yale, Colgate, Dartmouth and Clarkson, respectively, this weekend. The winners will advance to the championship round, March 11-12, with the semifinals taking place March 11 and the championship game March 12. The championship round will take place at the home arena of the highest remaining seed, with that site being announced March 5.
St. Lawrence wrapped up a share of the season title on Friday night with a 3-0 win vs. Harvard and earned it outright with a 5-1 victory the next day against Dartmouth. Meghan Guckian earned the shutout vs. the Crimson, making 19 saves. It was her fourth shutout of the season and eighth of her career. Marianna Locke was one of SLU's leaders offensively, netting a goal and three assists over the two games, which earned her Rookie of the Week honors. Sabrina Harbec also provided offensive power with two goals vs. Harvard and two assists vs. the Big Green. It is the Saints' second regular season crown in the past three years.
Harvard needed a win to claim the No. 4 seed and home ice for the playoffs, and it did it in exciting fashion Saturday afternoon at Clarkson. The Crimson came from behind, scoring with less than 30 seconds to go in the third to tie it up and then netting the winner with just one second left in overtime. It was a heart-breaker for the Golden Knights, who were knocked from the top four and into the No. 5 seed position. Jennifer Raimondi scored the tying goal and the winner for the Crimson. The result sets up an immediate re-match between the two schools, as Clarkson travels to Harvard for this weekend's quarterfinals.
Dartmouth split its two games over the weekend, starting off with a 6-2 win vs. Clarkson before dropping Saturday's game to the Saints. Caroline Ethier led the way vs. the Golden Knights with two goals and an assist in the victory. Her first goal of the game proved to be the game winner. Yale also opened the weekend with a win, earning a 3-0 victory over neighbor Quinnipiac. Sarah Love had 21 saves in the blanking to extend her own school record to 12 career shutouts.
Princeton finished second in the standings, just two points behind SLU, and earned its final points of the regular season with wins over Brown and Yale. Roxanne Gaudiel, the Goaltender of the Week, backstopped Princeton to its third-straight league weekend sweep with 32 saves over the two games. Her 20-save shutout vs. Yale was her third blanking of the season. Heather Jackson was the force on offense for the Tigers vs. the Bulldogs, scoring two goals.
Colgate closed out the regular season with wins over Union. Allison Paiano had six points over the two wins, scoring four goals and picking up two assists. Friday night saw her earn her first career hat trick, with one of the goals being a short-handed game winner. Her other goals came on the power play and at even strength. Sam Hunt also picked up five points in the games and is now in the Colgate record books. The five points gave the rookie 31 points for the year, which makes her the Raiders' top scoring freshman in the program's Division I history.
Keaton Zucker helped her Brown Bears earn home ice, as the senior leader stepped up and had a hand in all five of the team's goals this past weekend. The Bears had one point on the weekend with a tie vs. Quinnipiac, but it got the job done, as the team claimed the No. 3 seed. Zucker earned Player of the Week honors for her three-goal, two-assist weekend, which also made her a member of the 100-point club. She now has 102 career points on 42 goals and 60 assists over 124 games played. Quinnipiac rookie Antoinette Maldonado scored two of the Bobcats' goals in the tie.
Cornell closed out its season with non-league games against nationally ranked Mercyhurst. The Big Red fell the first day, but ended on a high note, tying the Lakers 2-2 on Sunday. Freshman Emma Chipman scored a goal in each game to finish the year.
Quinnipiac and Union also finished their 2005-06 campaigns over the weekend.
There's plenty of playoff action taking place this weekend. For complete information on the ECAC Hockey League, its 11 teams and this year's championship tournament, log online at http://www.ecachockeyleague.com/.
