Weekend Preview: Back To The Grind

ALBANY, N.Y. - With the holiday season now behind them all 12 ECAC Hockey women's teams resume play this weekend. The race for the final stretch of the season will begin this weekend with only eight points separating the top six spots in the league standings. All 12 ECAC Hockey teams will begin to make their mark with a total of eight league games, five non-league showdowns, and one exhibition contest on tap.

Clarkson/St. Lawrence at No. 7/7 Northeastern/No. 4/4 Boston College
*The Golden Knights closed out the 2001 calendar year as one of the hottest teams in the nation winning five straight games and eight of their last nine.
*Clarkson boasts the top penalty-kill in the nation at 90.6% (77-85).
*After coming off an extended holiday break, the Saints are 6-4-0 in their first two games of a new calendar year in the last five seasons.
*The Saints are 0-5-0 against nationally ranked opponents and 1-3-1 against Hockey East, its lone win coming Oct. 8 against Connecticut.
*Northeastern is on a four-game unbeaten streak (3-0-1) and stands at 13-4-1 overall. The Huskies are atop the Hockey East standings with an 8-2-1 league mark. Northeastern is 8-1 at home.
*Boston College owns a 13-5-1 record. The Eagles are right behind Northeastern in the Hockey East standings at 7-2-1 in conference play.

Colgate/No. 3/3 Cornell at Rensselaer/Union
*Colgate leads the all-time series against Rensselaer 8-6-5 since the teams first met in the 1997-98 season. This will be the 10th meeting in Troy, N.Y., with the Engineers holding a 5-2-2 advantage at home.
*The Raiders’ rookies have scored 14 of the team’s 41 goals and collected 14 of Colgate’s 72 assists. Leading the way are Melissa Kueber and Miriam Drubel, recording 22 points between the two of them from 13 goals and nine assists.
*Rensselaer, which was picked to finish eighth above Colgate in the ECAC Hockey preseason poll, is led by sophomore Jordan Smelker and seniors Alisa Harrison and Jill Vandegrift. Smelker has a team-high 16 points from six goals and 10 assists while Harrison has 14 points from seven goals and seven assists, and Vandegrift has five goals and six assists for 11 points.
*Big Red forwards Brianne Jenner and Rebecca Johnston are third and fourth in the nation, respectively in points per game (2.30 and 2.20), with freshman Jillian Saulnier not far behind in ninth (2.08). Saulnier, who had topped that category nationally for the first three weeks for Cornell's season, still leads the country in goals per game (1.17) and points per game among freshmen. Jenner is tops in the nation at assists per game (1.70), while Lauriane Rougeau and Laura Fortino are Nos. 1 and 5 in points per game for defensemen (1.20 and 1.00, respectively).
*Union is led by freshman Bryanne Panchuk who has eight points from four goals and four assists. She is followed by six other players who each have seven points. On top of that list are sophomore Stefanie Thomson and freshman Christine Valente.

Dartmouth/No. 8/10 Harvard at Quinnipiac/Princeton
*The second period has been Harvard’s best in terms of goal differential this season as 19 of Harvard’s 48 team goals have come in the middle stanza, making it the Crimson’s most productive period.
*Harvard boasts a 6-1-0 record on the road this season and is 7-1-0 in games played during the week.
*The Big Green have been almost unbeatable away from Thompson Arena this season. Dartmouth is 5-1-1 on the road, including unbeaten in its last six games and a five-game winning streak.
*The Bobcats' current seven game winning streak, dating back to Tuesday, Nov. 22 against Boston College, is now the longest winning streak in program history.
*Quinnipiac is 10-2-1 when it outshoots its opponent this season.
*Sophomore Sally Butler leads the Tigers in scoring with nine goals and seven assists for 16 points. Denna Laing has a team-best eight assists to go along with six goals for 14 points.
*Harvard leads Princeton in the all-time series, 38-28-4, while the Tigers have a 36-29-4 edge in the series with the Big Green.

Brown at Connecticut
*The Bears have already doubled their point total from last season. Brown boasts wins over Union, Providence and Yale, while picking up ties at Quinnipiac, at Maine (twice), Rensselaer and at Colgate.
*UConn has put together an 0-3-2 record against ECAC Hockey foes this season, including a 3-3 opening night tie against RPI and a 3-3 tie at Clarkson. The Huskies losses came 1-0 against RPI, 4-1 at Clarkson and 9-1 versus Harvard.

At Yale, McGill (Ex.)
*Three Bulldogs players -- senior forward Aleca Hughes, freshman forward Stephanie Mock and sophomore forward Jackie Raines -- are tied for the team lead in points with seven. Raines, who led Yale in points last year with 19, has scored four of her five goals this year on the power-play.
*McGill has played a series of exhibition games against NCAA teams this year, beating St. Lawrence and Vermont, tying UConn, and losing to Boston College, Dartmouth, Harvard, Providence and Syracuse.

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