ECACHL Women Open Season Over Weekend
ALBANY, N.Y. -- Five women's teams in the ECAC Hockey League have seen playing time so far in the first weeks of the 2006-07 season. Rensselaer, Clarkson and Quinnipiac have had their official openers this past weekend, while Colgate and St. Lawrence have played exhibition contests.
Clarkson started off the season with a bang, taking two games from Vermont, including a 9-0 shutout for returning Goaltender of the Year Kira Hurley on Friday night. Quinnipiac opened up with one of the toughest opponents out there, facing the defending national champion Wisconsin Badgers. Karrah Stephen netted the Bobcats' lone goal of the weekend, a short-handed marker, with assists going to Kristin Emerick, Hayley McMeekin.
Colgate's two exhibition games helped get the rust out from the offseason, with the Raiders scoring 14 goals on the weekend. Eight different players scored in the 11-1 game on Friday, with Katie Stewart, Kara Leene and Lisa Dodd netting two goals each.
St. Lawrence officially started the season off for the league on Sept. 22, when it had the first game of the year, an exhibition vs. McGill. Defenseman Annie Guay (1g, 1a) and forward Alison Domenico (2a) led the Saints in the 3-all tie.
Union joins the mix this coming week with exhibition games, while Brown, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, Princeton and Yale open practice.
TEAM NOTES
Brown: Brown opens its season with an exhibition contest on October 14 ... Nine rookies will be on this year's roster ... Forward Hayley Moore returns for her junior season after leading the Bears in scoring last year with 43 points.
Clarkson: Eight players scored goals and 15 Knights recorded at least one point in the sweep of Vermont ... Sophomore Marie-Jo Gaudet and senior Melissa Marshall led the Knights with six points each over the weekend ... Freshmen Britney Selina (2-1) and Genevieve Lavoie (0-3) led the Clarkson rookies with three points each.
Colgate: Colgate won two exhibition games over the weekend, defeating the Bluewater Jr. Hawks 11-1 and Durham 3-1 ... The Raiders will begin the regular season with a two-game set at Niagara on Friday, Oct. 6 and Saturday, Oct. 7. The two teams are tied 4-4 in the all-time series as they've split every series since 2000 ... Colgate has a 3-6 record in season openers.
Cornell: Cornell opens the 2006-07 season on October 20 when it plays Niagara at home ... Doug Derraugh lost the interim tag during the offseason and was named head coach of the Big Red in June ... Eight freshmen join the Cornell ranks this season.
Dartmouth: Mark Hudak enters his fourth season as Dartmouth's head coach, holding a 63-29-6 overall record ... This years team boasts four Olympians who played for their respective countries in the 2006 Winter Olympics: Canada - Katie Weatherston, Gillian Apps and Cherie Piper; United States - Sarah Parsons.
Harvard: Julie Chu and Jennifer Sifers will serve as co-captains this year ... Sixteen letterwinners return to the Crimson lineup including Olympians Caitlin Cahow, Sarah Vaillancourt and Chu ... Harvard's first action of the year is an exhibition contest on Oct. 21 vs. McGill.
Princeton: Princeton returns two first-team All-ECACHL selections from last season, seniors Laura Watt and Kim Pearce ... Princeton will welcome back junior Liz Keady for the 2006-07 season. Keady took last season off to train with the U.S. National Team and was one of the final cuts for the 2006 Olympic team.
Quinnipiac: Friday's season opener at Wisconsin marked the first time ever that any Quinnipiac program opened up against the reigning NCAA National Champions and the preseason No. 1 nationally ranked team in the country ... The Bobcats held the Badgers to just 18 shots on goal in Friday's contest. The only team to hold the Badgers to under 18 shots last season was Frozen Four participant New Hampshire on Nov. 27, 2005.
Rensselaer: Sophomore Jamie-Lynn Stewart scored Rensselaer's lone goal in Friday's opener against Boston College ... Friday's game marked the earliest season opener for either ice hockey team at Rensselaer ... The Engineers are now 5-3-0 at the Division I level in one goal games. Last season, RPI went 5-2-0 as an independent ... Friday night's loss is just the second by the Engineers at the Houston Field House dating back to the 2005-06 season.
St. Lawrence: The Saints will open the regular season this weekend with a pair of games against the Wayne State Warriors at Appleton Arena ... Last year, the Scarlet and Brown compiled an 18-3 record at home for an .857 win percentage ... Friday afternoon's game against the Warriors marks the return of former ECACHL Rookie of the Year Chelsea Grills, who missed last season due to injury.
Union: The Dutchwomen are in action this weekend as they host Brock University in a pair of exhibition games ... Union returns its four top scorers from last season in Elise Nichols (5-8-13), Suzy Pocock (6-3-9), Linnea Edwardson (5-1-6), and Maeve Kehoe (3-3-6) ... The Dutchwomen's 25-player roster includes seven seniors, five juniors, eight sophomores and five freshmen.
Yale: Sophomore defenseman Helen Resor returns to Yale after spending last season with Team USA ... Ten of Yale's top 11 scorers from last season return, including leading scorer Crysti Howser (12-14-26) ... Yale's freshman class includes Olympian Denise Soesilo. Soesilo, a forward, who helped Germany to its best finish ever at the Olympics -- fifth.
