2005-2006 Archives

Back to Women's Hockey Home

Back to Archives Home

HARBEC HONORED BY ECACHL,

SAINTS REMAIN No. 3 IN USCHO.com POLL

Feb. 6: Sophomore Sabrina Harbec was awarded the ECACHL Player of the Week for her efforts versus the No. 8 Princeton Tigers and Quinnipiac Bobcats this weekend. The forward had six points, one goal and five assists, while leading the Saints back into first place in the ECACHL.

Harbec had an outstanding weekend both on the offensive and defensive ends of the ice. She assisted on the first two Saints goals versus Princeton, including on Marianna Locke’s game-winner. Then, against the Bobcats, she had a four point night (1g, 3a), including tallying the assist on the game-winning goal again. After the weekend series, Harbec now leads the nation in both points (1.92) and assists (1.20) per game.

Overlooked by her six point weekend is her excellent effort on the penalty kill for St. Lawrence, who was ranked No. 1 in that category coming into the weekend. She was selected as USA Hockey’s “Kaz Watch” Player of the Week heading into the series versus Princeton and Quinnipiac, and she delivered a fine performance. You can read more about Harbec and her chase for the 2006 Patty Kazmaier Award by clicking here.

The ECACHL also selected freshman Carson Duggan as an honor roll member for this week’s performance against the Tigers and Bobcats. Duggan scored three goals and added one assist. Not only did she shatter the St. Lawrence single season record for goals by a rookie (22), but her 24 goals currently leads the nation by four.

The Saints remained at No. 3 in the USCHO.com poll, while New Hampshire took over the No. 1 spot in the country, followed by Wisconsin. The remaining seeds are Minnesota-Duluth at No. 4, Minnesota at No. 5, Mercyhurst at No. 6, Harvard at No. 7, Princeton at No. 8, Clarkson at No. 9, and Providence rounds out the poll at No. 10.

St. Lawrence's hard work and perseverance have pushed them back into sole possession of first place in the ECACHL with six games to play. They travel to Central New York to take the Colgate Raiders and Cornell Big Red on Feb. 10th and 11th.

DUGGAN BREAKS ROOKIE GOALS RECORD,

SAINTS ON TOP OF ECACHL WITH WIN

Feb. 4: The St. Lawrence University women’s hockey team completed a weekend sweep with a decisive 7-1 victory over the Quinnipiac Bobcats on Saturday afternoon at Appleton Arena. With the win, the Saints pulled ahead of Clarkson and Brown for the top spot in the ECACHL.

Coming off an impressive 3-1 win over the No. 8 Princeton Tigers on Friday night, the Saints opened the game with the Bobcats with a lot of confidence on offense. They wasted little time going to work in the Quinnipiac end, as freshman Carson Duggan scored her 23 rd goal of the season at the 4:02 mark of the first period. Sophomore Sabrina Harbec centered a pass from behind Quinnipiac goaltender Connie Craig, and Duggan tipped it into the empty side of the net. The goal set the St. Lawrence single season record for goals by a rookie.

The Saints wouldn’t stop there, though, as Kerri Wallace scored her second goal of the season on the power play only 2:39 later. Harbec, who finished the game with four points, tallied another assist when she fed the puck back to Wallace at the blue line. The sophomore rifled a shot on net and the slap shot went right over Craig’s glove to give St. Lawrence a 2-0 lead.

The Saints would then chase Craig from the game 1:16 later, when freshman Marianna Locke got into the scoring with her 12th of the season. Linemate Allison Domenico intercepted a Quinnipiac pass at center ice and tipped it to the Bobcats’ blue line for a streaking Locke, who ended up on a breakaway. She deeked past Craig for the third goal of the game, ending her night after only 7:57.

Although Janelle Wolitski would come in for Quinnipiac and perform quite well, it was too little, too late for the visitors. St. Lawrence had found their stride, and they tacked on four more goals before the game ended.

Harbec netted the Saints 4 th goal at 2:29 of the second period when Wallace sent a homerun pass from the St. Lawrence goal line to the forward at center ice. The puck landed perfectly for Harbec, who took it one-on-one with Wolitski and used her backhand to put the Saints up 4-0.

Less than three minutes later, Duggan tallied her second goal of the night when she and Harbec found themselves on a two-on-one at the Quinnipiac blue line. Harbec used her great instincts and patience, waiting until the passing lane opened up. As soon as it did, she fed the puck to Duggan who tapped it into the right side of the net to make the score 5-0. Senior Jessica Moffat, who had kept the Bobcats scoreless to that point, exited the game with nine saves in 48:39 of play. She was replaced by junior Kaitlin Branon.

Quinnipiac would end the shutout at 13:57 of the third period when Vicky Graham took a pass from Kathryn Dallimore and beat Branon to make the score 5-1. The Saints would respond with two more goals of their own, though, as sophomore Annie Guay and junior Casey Hughes each netted a goal in the final four minutes.

Guay carried the puck into the Quinnipiac zone after a pass from junior Elisabeth Pahler. She hit the brakes at the top of the circle and sent a blazing slap shot on Wolitski, who never saw the puck, and the Saints extended their lead to 6-1. In the final seconds, Hughes and several other Saints ended up digging for the puck in front of Wolitski on the power play. The puck finally slid free, and the junior forward tucked it into the net to finish the scoring on the afternoon.

Moffat got the win for the Saints with nine saves and improved to 13-2-0 on the season. Branon made two saves in relief of the senior. Craig took the loss for the Bobcats and fell to 8-15-3, while Wolitski stopped 30 of 34 shots in her stead.

The victory propelled the Saints into sole possession of first place in the ECACHL, as Brown tied and Clarkson lost on Saturday afternoon. They will look to defend their spot at the top of the standings as they head to Central New York to take on Colgate and Cornell on February 10th and 11th.

ROOKIES LEAD No. 3 SAINTS

PAST No. 8 TIGERS, 3-1

Feb. 3: In a battle of top ten foes, the No. 3 St. Lawrence University women’s hockey team scored two goals in the first eight minutes of play and held off a late rally by the No. 8 Princeton Tigers to win an important ECACHL game on Friday night, 3-1.

The Saints wasted very little time in letting their offense go to work, as Sabrina Harbec won a battle in the neutral zone for a loose puck, then tipped it ahead to linemate Carson Duggan. The freshman used her speed to separate herself from the pack, and walked in one-on-one with Princeton goaltender Roxanne Gaudiel. The rookie wristed a shot to the top-right shelf, netting her 22 nd goal of the season. The goal tied her for the single-season record for goals by a rookie.

The goal also seemed to energize St. Lawrence, as they kept the pressure on the Tigers. Their hard work paid off just over seven minutes later, as Marianna Locke scored her eighth power play goal of the season at 7:23 to give the Saints a 2-0 lead.

After a Katherine Dineen penalty put the Tigers down a player, Harbec snapped a shot on net from the left circle. Although Gaudiel made the initial save, she was unable to control the rebound which landed right on Locke’s stick. The freshman slipped it past the Princeton goaltender to extend the lead, 2-0.

However, Princeton showed why they are ranked as the No. 8 team in the country as they started to slowly put the pressure back on St. Lawrence. Then, after Carson Duggan was whistled for goaltender interference at 18:26 in the second period, the Tigers cashed in. Dina McCumber fed a pass to Marykate Oakley to Saints goalie Meaghan Guckian’s left side. Oakley then tossed a pretty pass through the crease to a wide open Annie Greenwood, who notched her 17 th goal of the season when she tipped the pass into the right side of the net. The score was 2-1 St. Lawrence heading into the final period.

With the teams exchanging quality scoring chances, it was Gaudiel and Guckian who made some outstanding saves to keep the score the same. Princeton then had their best chance to tie the score late in the third when Casey Hughes took a high-sticking penalty with 4:01 remaining in the game. However, the Saints killed off the penalty beautifully, allowing only one shot on Guckian.

After the power play had ended, Princeton was forced to pull Gaudiel to get the extra attacker. However, freshman Lisa Batchelor made a nice hustle play and landed the puck right in the slot in the offensive zone. She fired a shot into the empty net and the Saints celebrated a hard-fought victory.

Guckian finished the night with 19 saves on 20 shots to improve to 9-1-2 on the season. Gaudiel closed with 24 saves on 26 shots, but took the loss, falling to 11-5-4.

With the victory, the Saints climbed into a three-way tie for first in the ECACHL with Brown and Clarkson. They will be in action for another important league game with the Bobcats from Quinnipiac on Saturday afternoon. The puck is set to drop at 4:00pm.

SAINTS EARN No. 3 RANKING,

HARBEC FEATURED FOR PATTY KAZMAIER

Jan. 31: The St. Lawrence University women's hockey team was rewarded by the USCHO.com and USA Today polls this week for thier sweep of the Niagara Purple Eagles.

The Saints, who had dropped to No. 5 after losing an ECACHL battle to Colgate on January 21st, leaped both Minnesota-Duluth and Minnesota to land themselves in the No. 3 slot.

The No. 1 team in the country is the Wisconsin Badgers in both polls, while New Hampshire remained at No. 2. Minnesota-Duluth slipped to No. 4 in the USCHO. poll and to No. 5 in the USA Today Poll, while the Badgers from Minnesota are No. 5 in the USCHO.com poll and fourth in the USA Today poll.

The remaining teams mirror their positions in the polls, with Mercyhurst at No. 6, Harvard at No. 7, Princeton at No. 8, and Clarkson and Providence holding down the final two spots.

Also, sophomore forward Sabrina Harbec has been featured by USA Hockey in the "2006 Kaz Watch," an article that highlights an outstanding Division I women's hockey player each edition. Read the feature by clicking here.

St. Lawrence is set to battle No. 8 Princeton at 7:00pm on Friday and the Quinnipiac Bobcats on Saturday at 4:00pm. The Saints currently are tied for 2nd in the ECACHL standings.