Dartmouth Claims Regular Season Title
ALBANY, N.Y. -- Dartmouth swept its ECAC Hockey League opponents over the weekend and in doing so, captured the regular season title for the third time in program history. With one weekend left in league play, the rest of the women's teams are jockeying for position in the standings, which will also determine the playoff field. Brown and Yale also swept their weekend opponents and are still alive for the playoffs. Princeton and St. Lawrence each picked up a win and tied each other for three key points, while Clarkson, Colgate and Harvard split their weekend games.
With one weekend to go, only the top spot has been determined. St. Lawrence and Harvard are both guaranteed to host a quarterfinal series, while Colgate and Princeton will battle for the No. 4 seed and home ice. Yale and Clarkson have earned their way into the playoffs with guaranteed top-eight finishes in the standings, while the final spot will go to either Rensselaer or Brown. The Bears will be in and the Engineers out if and only if Brown wins both remaining games and Rensselaer drops both.
Dartmouth's two wins came on the road at Colgate and Cornell. Katie Weatherston helped her Big Green capture its first league title since the 2001-02 season with three goals over the weekend.
Colgate rebounded from its loss to the Big Green with a 3-1 win over Harvard. It was the Raiders first win over the Crimson in program history. Freshman Marissa Dombovy scored the eventual game-winning goal. Friday's game vs. the Big Green was Colgate's 200th Division I game.
Brown's Nicole Stock earned Goaltender of the Week honors by claming three wins last week, including the league sweep of Union and Rensselaer. The sophomore allowed just two goals on 72 shots, posting a 0.66 goals against average for the week. Savannah Smith was stellar on offense, with eight points over the three games, including two goals and two assists against Union.
Kristin Savard took Player of the Week honors after posting seven points in Yale's two weekend victories. The senior forward had five assists against Union, which marked the first five-assist performance by a Bulldog since Nov. 2002. Classmate Sheila Zingler also posted solid numbers, including a natural hat trick in the third period vs. Union.
Princeton kept its hopes for home ice alive with a win over Clarkson and a tie with St. Lawrence. Melanie Wallace was named Rookie of the Week after scoring four points including the Tigers' game-winning goal vs. the Golden Knights and the tying goal vs. the Saints.
St. Lawrence's win came against Quinnipiac on Saturday, while Harvard claimed its weekend victory on Saturday at Cornell.
ECACHL Player of the Week
KRISTIN SAVARD -- Yale
Sr., Forward * Framingham, Mass.
Savard had seven points in her final weekend of play at Ingalls
Rink. That included a five-assist game on Saturday. She was +7 for
the two games and now has nine points in her last three games.
ECACHL Goalie of the Week
NICOLE STOCK -- Brown
So., Goaltender * Buffalo Grove, Ill.
Stock started three games in four days, allowing two goals on 72
shots. She posted a 0.66 GAA and a 972 save percentage for the
week.
ECACHL Rookie of the Week
MELANIE WALLACE -- Princeton
Fr., Forward * London, Ont.
Wallace had four points over the weekend, as she scored the GWG in
Princeton's win vs. Clarkson and the game-tying goal vs. SLU
POSSIBLE FINISHES
(Note that these are possible SEEDS, not necessarily places in the standings)
Dartmouth 1
St. Lawrence 2-3
Harvard 2-4
Colgate 3-5
Princeton 4-6
Yale 5-7
Clarkson 6-8
Rensselaer 7-9
Brown 8-10
Quinnipiac 9-10
Cornell 11
Union 12
TEAM NOTES
Brown: The Bears won all three games last week for a season-high three-game winning streak ... With the slimmest of playoff hopes still alive, Brown needs to beat Dartmouth and Harvard on the road this weekend and have RPI lose at home to Clarkson and St. Lawrence to get in ... Junior Hayley Moore extended her point streak to 14 games, scoring eight points on two goals and six assists in three games ... Sophomore forward Savannah Smith has 10 points in her last four games. She had four points in 23 games prior this season, and had just 10 points all season as a freshman.
Clarkson: The Golden Knights, in their third year in the ECACHL, clinched their third straight playoff berth with Sunday's 4-2 win over Quinnipiac ... Clarkson's 12-member senior class closed out their final home stand at Cheel Arena with the playoff-clinching victory ... Senior Ashley Shaidle, who is the Knights' all-time leading scorer, tallied twice in Sunday's win and now has 95 career points (50-45) through 134 games ... Three freshmen lead the Green and Gold in scoring, paced by Genevieve Lavoie's 32 points (20-12) .
Colgate: Colgate earned its first win over Harvard in program history, recording a 3-1 victory. The win came on Colgate's Senior Day ... Colgate played in its 200th Division I game on Friday, Feb. 9 against Dartmouth. The Raiders are closing in on their 300th game all-time, and are scheduled to hit the mark on Feb. 24 during the playoffs ... The Raiders can earn anywhere from the No. 3 seed to the No. 5 seed in the ECACHL tournament. Colgate has never earned higher than a seven seed since joining the conference in 2001-02 ... Colgate's game at Princeton on Friday is the USCHO.com Game of the Week.
Cornell: The Big Red played its final home games of the season last weekend in Lynah Rink ... Goalie Sarah McConnachie played in net for the second time this season when she took over for fellow senior Beth Baronick in Saturday's game against Dartmouth. Baronick made 38 saves to total 50 saves on the weekend ... Brittany Forgues scored the Big Red's lone goal of the weekend with linemates Caeleigh Beerworth and Brianne Schmidt picking up the assists.
Dartmouth: The Big Green clinched the regular season ECACHL title over the weekend with wins over Colgate and Cornell, and the team will now ready itself for the post season for the 16th consecutive year. ... Freshman Sarah Parsons will aid her squad, as she is currently on a six-game point streak. The newbie also currently leads the team with 43 points on 12 goals and 31 assists.
Harvard: Julie Chu was held without a point in the Crimson's 3-1 loss to Colgate, ending her streak at 26 straight games with at least one point ... Harvard has clinched home ice for the first round of the ECACHL tournament. It will be the sixth straight season in which the Crimson hosts a first-round series ... Harvard scored a season-high six PPGs in the Crimson's 9-1 win against Cornell. The Crimson was 6-for-10 on the power play.
Princeton: Princeton posted its second three-point weekend against Clarkson and St. Lawrence this season. Princeton earned a win and a tie against each opponent ... The Tigers moved within a point of fourth-place. gaining a point on Colgate ... Marykate Oakley had three assists over the weekend and now has points in eight straight games ... Oakley was one of four Tigers with points in both games over the weekend. Melanie Wallace had four points, Oakley and Kim Pearce had three, and Katherine Dineen had two.
Quinnipiac: Hayley McMeekin and Ashley Jaffray both matched school records over the weekend. McMeekin had her 15th assist of the season and Jaffray played in her 131st career game. McMeekin is also three goals and two points shy of establishing single season school records in those two categories ... Nicolette Leone set a career high for assists in a season when she had a helper at SLU ... Quinnipiac's 2.60 goals per game in ECACHL contests this season betters the inaugural campaign's 1.35 goals per game a year ago.
Rensselaer: Rensselaer closes out its inaugural ECACHL regular season schedule with home games against Clarkson and St. Lawrence this coming weekend ... The Engineers defeated Clarkson in January by a score of 4-3 behind a goal and an assist from team-points leader Whitney Naslund ... Junior Brooke Thompson is now tied for 19th in the nation in power play goals after scoring her seventh against the Bulldogs on Friday.
St. Lawrence: St. Lawrence clinched home ice advantage in the ECACHL quarterfinals with a 3-3 tie with Princeton on Sunday afternoon ... Sunday's game against the Tigers was also "Senior Day," as the Saints honored their six seniors, including Crystal Connors, Elisabeth Pahler, Abbie Bullard, Casey Hughes, and Kaitlin Branon.
Union: Union held the lead against Yale Saturday afternoon, marking the fourth time this season the Dutchwomen have led a league game ... Mandy Hanson made 75 saves over the weekend ... Lauren Muske registered her sixth assist of the season at Yale ... The Dutchwomen wrap up the regular season this weekend at home against St. Lawrence and Clarkson... Union will honor its first class to play all four years at the DI level Saturday vs. Clarkson.
Yale: The Bulldogs are one win shy of tying the school record, 16, after sweeping RPI and Union ... Yale now has 89 goals on the season, breaking the school record of 87 set in 1984-85 ... The members of the senior class accounted for 12 points, including a hat trick from Sheila Zingler and a five-assist effort from Kristin Savard, in their final game at Ingalls Rink Saturday ... Savard, a finalist for the Hockey Humanitarian Award, will receive her finalist trophy in a ceremony at Ingalls Rink Feb. 19 during the Yale-Dartmouth men's hockey game on ESPNU ... Zingler and Crysti Howser both have 34 points on the season, and both have 27 points during Yale's 10-3-2 run since winter break.
