League Action to Start This Weekend for ECACHL Women
ALBANY, N.Y.-- With a mix of non-conference or exhibition games under just about everyone's belts, the ECAC Hockey League is ready to start up conference action this weekend as Quinnipiac and Yale and Clarkson and Union officially kick off the race to the 2006 title.
The Bobcats and Bulldogs will meet on Friday night in the first league contest of the season, and it marks QU's inaugural ECAC Hockey League game. The game is also part of the Nutmeg Classic that features competition between Quinnipiac, Yale and Connecticut. Yale has won the last two meetings vs. Quinnipiac.
The Golden Knights will face the Skating Dutchwomen in Schenectady on Saturday and Sunday in the first league games of the year. The two teams have met just four times, and Clarkson has won each of those games. In preparing for the opening weekend of league play, Clarkson faced Wayne State twice last weekend and came home with a win and a tie, while Union enjoyed an off weekend.
Also prepping for this weekend's action were Dartmouth, Harvard, Princeton and Yale, who faced their first outside competition in exhibitions or scrimmages. Quinnipiac played three NCAA games last week and earned its first-ever victory over northeastern in the process, while Colgate tied and lost to Providence. St. Lawrence also saw ice time, playing in an exhibition game.
Clarkson enjoyed a shutout to open its trip to the state of Michigan last week. Goaltender of the Week, Kira Hurley recorded her second blanking of the season and ninth of her career with the 2-0 win. For the weekend, she stopped 30 of the 31 shots she faced to lead the Golden Knights to their three-point weekend.
Quinnipiac picked up its first win over Northeastern in nine tries last week with the help of Hayley McMeekin, who was picked as the league's Rookie of the Week. She had a goal and an assist in the overtime victory over the Huskies - including a helper on the game winner. She followed that up with a goal and an assist in the weekend series at North Dakota, giving her four points for the week.
The Colgate Raiders also saw NCAA action last week and fell twice to Providence.
For the nation's No. 1 team, last week was a chance to face some solid competition from up North, as St. Lawrence downed McGill 4-1 in an exhibition contest. Sabrina Harbec was named Player of the Week, as she scored two of the team's goals, including the game winner. Other exhibition games had Dartmouth and Yale also playing McGill. The Bulldogs also scrimmaged Princeton over the weekend.
Along with the Yale-Quinnipiac and Clarkson-Union games this weekend, several other contests are taking place. Brown will play New Hampshire in a home-and-home series; Colgate will entertain Wayne State twice, while Harvard plays host to Robert Morris; St. .Lawrence travels to Mercyhurst for two; Princeton is in the Nichols School tournament and will take on Boston College and Vermont; Dartmouth will play Boston University; Cornell has two exhibitions-at York and at Toronto.
