2005-2006 Archives

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SAINTS EARN WEEKEND SWEEP

IN CENTRAL NEW YORK

Feb. 11: The St. Lawrence University women’s hockey team protected their coveted ECACHL point lead with a dominating 5-1 performance over the Cornell Big Red in Ithaca, NY on Saturday afternoon. First year Alison Domenico and sophomore Sabrina Harbec each netted two goals in the victory.

St. Lawrence ( 24-3-2, 12-2-2) out shot Cornell by a count of 41-22, including a decisive 3 rd period count of 18-5. The Saints remained two points ahead of Princeton in the standings, as the Tigers defeated Dartmouth this afternoon.

The first period was played very even, with Cornell equaling the number of St. Lawrence shots, 10-10. However, it was the visitors who struck twice in the opening period in a span of 3:38 to take a 2-0 lead to the first intermission. Domenico got the Saints on the board with a power play goal at 15:17 of the opening period, with assists going to juniors Crystal Connors and Abbie Bullard. It was the rookie’s ninth goal of the season.

Harbec then scored her first of the afternoon and 19 th of the season at 18:55 of the first period as she slipped the puck past Cornell goalie Beth Baronick, giving the Saints a 2-0 lead. First year Marianna Locke was credited with her seventh assist of the season on the goal.

The Saints would extend their lead to 3-0 on Domenico’s second goal of the day a mere 24 seconds into the second period. Connors fed a pass to senior forward Emilie Berlinguette who slid the puck to the freshman for her tenth goal of the season. However, the Big Red kept themselves in the game when Brittany Forgues scored her 11 th goal of the season on the power play at the 13:01 mark. She took a pass from Emily Cabral and sent it past Saints’ senior goaltender Jessica Moffat to make the score 3-1 heading into the final period.

However, the Saints would squander any chance of a Cornell comeback in Lynah Rink with two goals in the third period to put the game well out of reach. Sophomore defenseman Annie Guay, who broke the single season multi-point games record with her 7 th of the season against Colgate on Friday, netted her second goal of the weekend on the power play at 10:39 of the final frame. After taking a pass from fellow defenseman Kerri Wallace, she fired a shot towards Baronick, who was unable to make the save. It was Guay’s sixth goal of the season.

Wallace would get her second assist of the period when she found Sabrina Harbec in the offensive zone on another Saints’ power play. Harbec took the pass and tallied her second goal of the game at 12:24 of the third period. It was her 20 th goal of the season, and Wallace’s 14 th assist of the 2005-2006 campaign.

Moffat finished with 21 saves on the night for St. Lawrence while Baronick closed with 36 saves on 41 shots. The Saints, who were ranked 3 rd in the nation on the power play entering the game, went 3-for-9 with a man advantage.

After the weekend sweep, the Saints will now set their sights on the second half of their four-game road trip: the Brown Bears and Yale Bulldogs. The Saints take on the Brown Bears on Friday, February 17 th at 7:00pm in what will be head coach Paul Flanagan’s 250 th game behind the St. Lawrence bench. Then, Saturday’s game against Yale is the USCHO.com Game of the Week.

SAINTS AVENGE LOSS,

TOP RAIDERS 4-1

Feb. 10: The No.3 St. Lawrence University women’s hockey team seems to be clicking on all cylinders at the right time, proven by an impressive 4-1 victory over the Colgate Raiders on Friday night at Starr Rink in Hamilton, NY. The Saints remained two points ahead of Princeton for the top spot in the ECACHL standings.

The Saints ( 23-3-2; 11-2-2) win avenged a 3-0 upset loss to Colgate ( 9-11-7; 6-6-3) on January 21 st at Appleton Arena when the Raiders scored three short-handed goals. However, Friday night was a different story and St. Lawrence used their special team play to notch the first goal of the game.

After a scoreless first period, the Saints were finally able to get the puck past Colgate netminder Brook Wheeler at 12:35 of the second period. With her team on the power play, sophomore defensemen Kerri Wallace squashed a Colgate attempt to clear the puck when she stretched to grab it at the blue line. She then snapped a cross-ice pass to defense-partner Annie Guay at the high slot. She fired a wrist shot towards Wheeler, but freshman Marianna Locke redirected the puck from the top of the crease, sending it between Wheeler’s pads for the opening goal.

Much like the Quinnipiac game from last weekend, the opening goal opened the floodgates for the Saints’ offense, which wasted very little time scoring two more goals in the second period. Guay would make it 2-0 at 16:04 of the second with some help from freshman forward Lisa Batchelor and senior center Emilie Berlinguette, who returned to the lineup after missing a game due to injury.

After the puck wound up on Guay’s stick at the blue line, she carried the puck into the Raiders’ zone where she wheeled a defender on the left boards and moved in on net. Although Wheeler seemed to be able to have the scoring chance under control, Guay beat her stick side with a low shot that made the score 2-0.

Just 2:21 later, Batchelor got into the goal-scoring with an unassisted goal at 18:25. She intercepted a pass in the Saints zone and, using her speed, separated herself from the Colgate skaters. She attacked Wheeler’s low-stick side again, beating the goalie to put the Saints up 3-0 heading into the final frame.

St. Lawrence used their momentum from the second period to give themselves an insurance goal a mere 54 seconds into the third period, as Berlinguette scored the Saints fourth goal, with assists going to Crystal Connors and Kate Michael. Connors picked up a Michael pass to the right of the net and fed it in front to her linemate Berlinguette. The senior, one of the all-time leading scorers in St. Lawrence history, fired it the upper left corner of the net to stretch the lead to 4-0 and seal the victory for the Saints.

Colgate dashed the hopes of a shutout for Meaghan Guckian at the 8:37 mark of the 3 rd period when freshman Sam Hunt sent a shot between the sophomore’s pads. However, Guckian improved to 10-1-2 on the season, stopping 25 shots in the victory. Wheeler stopped 38 shots in the loss.

The Saints, who now control their own destiny as they head towards the postseason, will look to pick up two more important points tomorrow afternoon against the Big Red of Cornell. The puck is set to drop at Lynah Rink in Ithaca, NY at 4:00pm.

SAINTS PREPARED FOR KEY

FOUR GAME ROAD TRIP

Feb. 8: The No. 3 St. Lawrence University women's hockey team will begin a key four game road trip on Friday night, as the Saints head to Hamilton, NY to take on the Colgate Raiders at 7:00pm.

The Raiders topped the Saints 3-0 at Appleton Arena on Saturday, Janurary 21st thanks to three short-handed goals. St. Lawrence looks for revenge on Colgate goalie Brook Wheeler, who made an astounding 51 saves in the upset last month. Saturday night, the Saints will look for the season sweep over the Cornell Big Red. Cornell has dropped the last fourteen to the Saints, but they'll be looking for an upset as they currently stand in 9th place in the ECACHL standings, one spot out of the playoffs.

The Saints currently stand alone at the top of the ECACHL standings with 22 points. However, Brown, Clarkson, and Princeton are all within two points of the coveted No. 1 seed and have hopes of hosting the ECACHL Tournament.

Next weekend, the Saints will continue their road trip as they take on the Brown Bears and Yale Bulldogs. The game on Friday night could be a match-up between the top two teams in the league, and will have major playoff implications. The game at Brown will also be head coach Paul Flanagan's 250th behind the Saints' bench.

The final road game of the season for the Saints is in New Haven, CT where the Saints will battle Yale, who currently is in eighth in the league standings. The game time has been moved to 3:00pm on Saturday, Feb. 18th and is the USCHO.com Game of the Week. Former St. Lawrence defenseman Meghan Maguire ('02) will be the guest analysis during the game. To listen to the SLU vs. Yale game, go to www.USCHO.com approximately ten minutes before game time and chose the Game of the Week. You must have Windows Media Player for PC or Mac in order to listen to the game.

St. Lawrence will need their two top scorers to continue their impressive play if they're to win the league and host the ECACHL Tournament. Sabrina Harbec leads the team with 48 points on the season, including 18 goals and a team-high 30 assists. She ranks first in the nation in points (1.92) and assists per game (1.20). Linemate Carson Duggan currently leads the nation with 24 goals, and broke the St. Lawrence single-season record of goals by a rookie last weekend versus Quinnipiac.

In net, the Saints continue to get outstanding efforts each game from senior Jessica Moffat (13-2-0) and sophomore Meghan Guckian (9-1-2). They are the best goaltending tandem in the country and will need to continue their outstanding play to keep their team on track for a birth into the NCAA Tournament.