Engineers Headed to Semifinals, Face Cornell

Photo by Richard Scammell

TROY, N.Y. – For the second consecutive season, the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) women’s ice hockey team will be playing in the ECAC Hockey Women's Semifinals. The fifth-seeded Engineers face host and top-seeded Cornell University on Friday (7pm) at Lynah Rink in Ithaca, N.Y.

The winner of Friday’s game between the Engineers and Big Red will move on to Sunday’s ECAC Hockey championship game at 4pm. That game will take place at the venue of the highest remaining seed. Should Rensselaer claim victory, they would travel to either second-seeded Clarkson or third-seeded Harvard, depending on the outcome of that game, which will take place on Friday in Potsdam, N.Y. (7pm).

Playing in its fourth season in ECAC Hockey, Rensselaer made NCAA history last weekend, defeating Quinnipiac, 2-1, in what is now the longest college hockey game in NCAA history. Senior defenseman Laura Gersten (Queensbury, NY/Troy-Albany Ice Cats) scored the game-winning goal at 4:32 of the fifth overtime session to give the Engineers the victory and a 2-1 series win over the Bobcats.

Led by seventh-year head coach John Burke, who is the program’s all-time winningest coach (118-82-21), Rensselaer is 16-14-6 overall and finished with an 11-7-4 mark in ECAC Hockey. The team’s 16 wins are the second most for the Engineers since joining the Division I ranks, just three shy of the all-time mark set last season (19-14-4).

Senior winger Allison Wright (Oakville, ON/Oakville Ice) leads the team in scoring with 25 points (12 goals, 13 assists) through 36 games. In the series against the Bobcats, she added a goal and an assist to help pace the Engineers. Wright, who is currently a nominee to participate in the 2010 Frozen Four Skills Challenge in April, has recorded three power play goals and a shorthanded tally. She also ranks ninth among the conference leaders and first on the squad in game-winning goals with three.

Classmate and fellow winger Whitney Naslund (Bloomington, MN/Bloomington Jefferson) is second in scoring with 24 points (team-best 14 goals, 10 assists), while sophomore center Alisa Harrison (Vienna, VA/Washington Pride) rounds out the top three with 23 points (12 goals, 11 assists). Both have appeared in all 36 contests for the Engineers, who rank 11th nationally in scoring defense (2.00 goals allowed per game).

In goal, junior Sonja van der Bliek (Toronto, ON/Toronto Jr. Aeros) owns a 15-14-5 overall record. Stopping 98 of the 101 shots against Quinnipiac in three games last week, she lowered her goals against average to 1.76 and owns a .927 save percentage in 2115:56 minutes of action. She is now the all-time career record holder at RPI in six categories, including wins (42-31-11), games played (84), games started (83), minutes played (5161:36), saves (1922) and shutouts (16).

ECAC Hockey’s regular season champions for the first time in school history, Cornell is coming off a two-game quarterfinal series sweep of Colgate. The Big Red, who are ranked eighth-nationally, are 17-8-6 overall and posted a 14-2-6 record in ECAC Hockey this season.

Friday’s contest marks the Engineers’ third of the season against the Big Red. In the first meeting (Nov. 7), three different players tallied in each stanza to give Cornell a 3-1 victory in Troy. The Big Red claimed the regular season sweep over RPI on February 19 at Lynah Rink as Karlee Overguard broke a 1-1 tie at 9:25 of the third period to seal the victory.

In preparation the Engineers will hold a lift session (off-ice) from 4:15 till 5:00pm on Tuesday. RPI will practice on Wednesday from 4:15-5:30pm, while Thursday’s practice time is yet to be determined.