Weekly Release: Points Becoming Precious
ALBANY, N.Y. - Heading into the final month of regular-season
play, there is already a focus on the scramble for post-season
seeding positions. Teams vying for the top spots to earn home
ice are not overlooking any opponent. ECAC Hockey is still
maintaining a strong presence in the national spotlight with two
teams currently ranked in the national polls with St. Lawrence (No.
4/4) and Dartmouth (No. 9/9).
No. 4/4 St. Lawrence sits atop the ECAC Hockey standings leading
No. 9/9. Dartmouth by three points. The Saints are currently
riding a five-game winning streak. St. Lawrence picked-up
three league wins last week, as it bettered rival Clarkson 2-1 in a
mid-week clash and won two road weekend games in its visit to the
Capital District. The Saints held on for a dramatic 2-1 win
over their cross-town rival, Clarkson Wednesday night at Appleton
Arena. Senior forward Carson Duggan netted the game-winner
for the Saints midway thru the third period. St. Lawrence
finished with a 28-22 advantage in shots on goal, while each team
closed with a 1-for-3 mark on the power play. Net-minder
Brittony Chartier finished with 21 stops for the win, while Lauren
Dahm made 26 saves in a losing effort.
Four different players scored goals in Friday's 4-1 win at Union,
as the Saints moved into first place in the ECAC Hockey
standings. Senior goaltender Lundy Day had a stand-out
performance in net for Union finishing with 36 saves in the
loss.
A balanced attacked was the focus in the Saints' 5-3 win over
Rensselaer in Troy, Saturday afternoon. Five different Saints
scored goals using a 30-21 shot on goal advantage. Brittony
Chartier used a perfect six-save third period to improve to 17-5-3
on the year having made 18 saves in the game for St. Lawrence,
while Sonja van der Bliek closed with 25 saves in the contest, but
fell to 11-9-3. The visitors also had the only power play
goal in the game, going 1-for-4 with the extra skater to RPI's
0-for-4 mark.
Rensselaer came away with two points over the weekend as it topped
Clarkson Friday by a count a 2-1 behind a goal and assist each from
junior Allison Wright and rookie Alisa Harrison. Between the
pipes, Sonja van der Bliek stopped 28 of 29 shots, including 10 in
the first period and 11 in the second for RPI, while her
counterpart, Lauren Dahm recorded 24 saves in the
contest.
Clarkson would also earn two points over the weekend, as it blanked
Union by a 3-0 count Saturday. A three-goal outburst early in
the second period, including two by sophomore forward Melissa
Waldie and a 17-save effort from sophomore goaltender Eve
Grandmont-Berube proved all the Golden Knights needed.
Dutchwomen senior goaltender Lundy Day made 43 saves in the
loss.
Another hot ECAC Hockey team, Colgate won its sixth straight game
by scoring two shutout wins, a 5-0 blanking of Brown and a 3-0 win
over Yale. The Raiders outshot the Bears by a count of 50-18
and senior forward Sam Hunt picked-up two assists to break the
Colgate assist in the win over Brown. Sophomore goaltender
Lisa Plenderleith earned her first shutout of the season, while
senior Nicole Stock made her 2,491st save of her career passing the
Bears record of 2,490. Stock finished the night with 45 saves
to increase her career total to 2,497.
The following day was much more of the same as freshman goaltender
Kimberly Sass made 28 saves for her first career shutout and senior
forward Sam Hunt recorded three points as the Colgate beat Yale
3-0. Yale outshot the Raiders 28-21 in the game, but the
Raiders' defense held the Bulldogs scoreless. Colgate went
1-4 on the power-play, while the Bulldogs finished 0-5.
Travel partner Cornell earned a weekend road split in league play
as it was downed by Yale 3-1, Friday and came back to blank Brown
6-0, Saturday. Bulldogs forward Danielle Kozlowski netted the
game-winner in the third period and freshman Genny Ladiges made 25
stops for the win over the Big Red. On Saturday the Big Red
would bounce back as six different Cornell forwards scored, while
junior Jenny Niesluchowski made 18 saves en route to her second
shutout of the season in blanking the Bears. Freshman
Catherine White's game-winning goal for Cornell.
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