Top Four Teams Advance to ECACHL Championship Weekend
ALBANY, N.Y. -- Just four women's teams remain in the ECAC Hockey League playoff hunt, as the top four seeds advanced through the quarterfinals this past weekend. No. 1 St. Lawrence swept it series with No. 8 Yale; No. 2 Princeton won both its games vs. No. 7 Colgate; No. 3 Brown claimed two victories over No. 6 Dartmouth; and No. 4 Harvard prevailed in three games vs. No. 5 Clarkson. The top four teams will now converge on SLU's Appleton Arena in Canton, N.Y., with the semifinals on Saturday and the championship final taking place Sunday.
This weekend's championship tilt will be televised on Time Warner Cable in the Syracuse and NY Capital District viewing areas as well as on CN8/Comcast (Mid-Atlantic/New England areas). Randy Sieminski will provide the play-by-play, while Lorenda Prier will take care of the color commentary.
St. Lawrence earned its way to the championship round by handing Yale 6-3 and 6-2 defeats. Emilie Berlinguette led the way with five points on four goals and an assist in the series -- which also led the league for the weekend. Two of her goals were game winners in each contest. Despite the outcome, Yale's Sarah Love and Shivon Zilis had gutsy performances, as they combined for 89 saves in the two games.
Princeton also advanced after sweeping its opponent, downing Colgate 3-0 and 5-4. Christine Foster accounted for all three Tiger goals in the win, while Roxanne Gaudiel received credit for the shutout after making 11 saves. Saturday's clinching game was a little tighter, with the Raiders giving it all they had. After opening the scoring, Colgate found itself down 4-1 and rallied to tie it up at 4-all. However, exactly 12 minutes after Kara Leene evened it up, Sarah Butsch netted the game winner -- with less than two minutes to go in regulation. The shots were more balanced in this game, with Gaudiel making 20 stops and Colgate's Brook Wheeler making 28.
The Brown-Dartmouth series also went just two games, with the Bears claiming the quarterfinals 4-2 and 3-0. On Saturday, Brown came out and took a 3-0 lead with a power-play marker, short-handed tally and an even strength score. The third goal, scored by Rylee Olewinski at 5:32 in the second period, proved to be the game winner. Game two saw the Bears score once in each period, with Margaret Ramsay scoring twice and Hayley Moore once. Nicole Stock made 18 saves in earning the shutout.
One series -- Clarkson at Harvard -- went to three games, as the two narrowly edged each other in games one and two. Harvard came out and earned a 1-0 victory in game 1, before the Golden Knights rallied to win game 2, 2-1 in overtime. Game three was the deciding factor, and it took double overtime to get there, as the Crimson prevailed 2-1, earning its eighth straight ECACHL semifinal appearance. Jennifer Sifers was the hero in the two Harvard victories, netting the winners in each game. Katie Morrison had the winning goal for Clarkson in game two. Senior goaltender Ali Boe earned Friday's shutout.
This weekend's semifinal matchups have SLU and Harvard meeting in game one at 1 p.m. and Brown and Princeton facing off in game two at 4 p.m. The winners of the semifinals will meet in Sunday's 2 p.m. championship final. The 2006 ECACHL Champion will receive an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
Looking ahead at the semifinals . . .
St. Lawrence will be looking to make its second championship final and will make a run for it on home ice. It won't be an easy task however, as it needs to get through an old nemesis -- Harvard -- in order to advance to the title game. Earlier this year, the Saints took three of the four points, as the two teams skated to an early-season 2-2 tie and then SLU won 3-0 back in February. It was SLU's first win over the Crimson in 14 games. St. Lawrence has beaten Harvard just once in consecutive tries, and that was the first two times the teams ever met, back in 1998. If the Saints are to reach the ECACHL final, though, they will have to defeat their arch-rival one more time.
Princeton comes into Saturday's semifinal matchup vs. Brown on a nine-game unbeaten streak, which is the longest in the nation. The all-time series between the Tigers and Bears is even across the board, as each has won 29 games and they've tied once. Even this season, each team won a game by one goal, with each winning at home. The two teams have faced each other in the playoffs just twice, meeting in the 2004 quarterfinals, with Brown prevailing, 2-1 and 3-2. Keaton Zucker, now a senior, netted the winner in the 2-1 victory, while Margaret Ramsey scored the first of three straight Brown goals in the 3-2 win.
For complete information on the ECAC Hockey League, its 11 teams and this year's championship tournament, log online at http://www.ecachockeyleague.com/.
