HARBEC NOTCHES NATURAL HAT

TRICK IN 8-2 ROUT OF BROWN

Jan. 13: St. Lawrence University junior forward Sabrina Harbec scored four goals and notched two assists, tallying the first natural hat trick for the Saints since sophomore Carson Duggan’s four goal game against Union on December 10, 2005. The St. Hubert, Quebec native’s six points led the Scarlet and Brown to their third straight victory by the score of 8-2 over Brown in Providence, RI on Saturday afternoon.

Harbec, the 2005-06 ECACHL Player of the Year and a finalist for the 2006 Patty Kazmaier Award, extended her active point scoring streak to ten games and her active assist streak to six. Her talent was on full display on Saturday, as she scored a goal at even strength, on the power play, and while shorthanded.

However, Harbec wasn’t the only Saint to do damage on the offensive end against the Bears. Sophomore Carson Duggan (1g,2a) and junior Annie Guay (3a) each had three points and sophomore Lisa Batchelor had two points (1g,1a) as the Saints put eight goals on the scoreboard against Brown for the second time this year. St. Lawrence toppled the Bears 8-0 back on December 1 st, 2006.

The Scarlet and Brown grabbed the lead at 6:07 when Harbec banged home a rebound off a Duggan shot to put the Saints ahead 1-0. Though Brown netminder O’Hara Shipe stopped the initial shot, Harbec was there to tap home her 15 th of the season.

Senior forward Crystal Connors lit the lamp behind Shipe at 14:35 of the first period to put St. Lawrence ahead heading into the first intermission. Junior Kerri Wallace fired a shot towards the Brown goalie, and though Shipe seemed in position to make the save, Connors re-directed the puck out of midair and into the net for her 10 th of the season.

Though the Saints led after the first period, it was the Bears who had a noticeable advantage in shots, 11-6. However, Saints goalie Meaghan Guckian, who came up with a 32 save performance on Friday in a 7-2 win over Yale, stopped all 11 shots she faced in the first twenty minutes.

The Saints had a great opportunity to extend their lead nearly five minutes into the second period when Brown took two minor penalties, giving the visitors a 5-on-13 advantage. It didn’t take the Scarlet and Brown long to capitalize, as Harbec scored 12 seconds into the 5-on-3 as she put home another rebound for her 16 th of the season. Duggan and senior defenseman Abbie Bullard assisted on the goal.

Harbec would notch a hat trick 4:15 later, again on the power play, when she eluded a defender and moved in on a break away against Shipe. The forward fired a wrist shot into the top right corner of the net to put the Saints ahead 4-0 and end Shipe’s afternoon. Nicole Stock came in at goaltender for Brown, as Shipe finished with seven saves on eleven shots in 29:02.

The Saints continued to pour on the offense, though, as Duggan welcomed Stock to the game by netting her 16 th goal of the season at 15:09 of the second period. Guay rifled a slap shot from the point, and Duggan got her stick on it, deflecting it past the Brown goaltender for the 5-0 lead.

St. Lawrence would tack on their fourth goal of the period with only 22 seconds remaining in the stanza, extending their lead to 6-0. Harbec and Batchelor moved in on a 2-on-1 while shorthanded, as the two exchanged passes back and forth until Harbec finally had the open net and buried the shot for her fourth goal of the afternoon and sixth of the weekend.

Brown would get two goals back early in the third period as Hayley Moore scored the home team’s first goal of the game a mere 23 seconds into the third period on the power play to make the score 6-1. Guckian made the first save on a shot from Krystal Strassman, but Moore was there to collect the rebound and backhand it into the net. Erin Connors then made the score 6-2 at 8:57 when she punched in a rebound on the top of the goal mouth for her third of the season.

However, it was too little, too late for the Bears, as the Saints again re-asserted themselves at 14:31 when Batchelor scored her eighth of the year. Guay again let loose a missile from the blue line that Batchelor got her stick on before the puck got to Stock, re-directing it into the net to make the score 7-2.

Sophomore Jordan Pyers, who collected her first point of the season against Yale on Friday night, scored the first goal of her career at 19:05 on the power play to complete the scoring. As the puck sat in the goal mouth while a scrum began, Pyers was able to tuck the puck behind stock and over the goal line for the final goal of the evening. Harbec and senior Elisabeth Pahler assisted on the goal.

Guckian finished with 25 saves on the evening while picking up her 14 th win of the season. Shipe took the loss, dropping to 1-5-0 on the season, while Stock made 14 saves in her stead. The Saints power play unit, one of the best in the country, finished 3-of-7 with the extra skater, while the Bears finished 1-for-5.

St. Lawrence finished their six game road trip 5-0-1, and hopes to carry their momentum with them back to Appleton Arena next weekend as they welcome RPI and Union for a pair of conference games. The Saints will meet the conference-newcomer, Rensselaer, on Friday night at 7:00pm.

DUGGAN AND HARBEC SCORE TWICE

AS NO. 7 SAINTS TAME BULLDOGS, 7-2

Jan. 12: The St. Lawrence University women’s hockey team, ranked No. 7 in the country, got a pair of goals from both sophomore forward Carson Duggan and junior forward Sabrina Harbec to extend their current unbeaten streak to seven games and remain undefeated against Yale University with a 7-2 victory in New Haven, CT on Friday evening.

The win moves to the Saints to 16-5-2 on the season and improves their conference record to 8-3-0.

St. Lawrence continues to dominate the Bulldogs, posting their 18th straight win against Yale to improve to 21-0-1 in the all time series.

The visitors got on the board at 4:40 of the first period when Duggan scored her 14th goal of the season with an assist going to junior defenseman Annie Guay. St. Lawrence’s pressure in the offensive zone paid off as Yale goaltender Shivon Zilis was unable to stop the Ma-Me-O Beach, Ontario native’s bid, giving the Saints an early 1-0 cushion.

Zilis did well to keep the Saints from extending their lead, but her counterpart Meaghan Guckian was perfect throughout the first period, stopping all seven shots she faced. Finally, when Yale’s Denise Soesilo took a checking minor at 10:53, the Scarlet and Brown’s seventh-ranked power play went to work and scored the team’s second goal of the evening at 11:34. Senior forward Chelsea Grills was credited with her eighth goal of the season, with assists going to fellow classmate Crystal Connors and junior defenseman Kerri Wallace.

Though the Saints were ahead 2-0 and out-shot the Bulldogs 13-7 after through one period, they wasted little time in going to work in the offensive zone and tacking another goal on to their lead. Harbec took only 20 seconds into the second period to net her first of the game (unassisted) and put the Saints on top 3-0.

The Duggan-Harbec combination was simply too much up front for Yale, who simply was unable to match up with the Saints’ two leading scorers. Duggan scored her second of the evening at 8:10 of the second period, with assists from Harbec and senior defenseman Abbie Bullard, while Harbec notched her second goal of the game at 14:34 to extend the Saints lead to 5-0. Guay, her Team Canada teammate from the U-22 Air Canada Cup last weekend, assisted on the St. Hubert, Quebec native’s 14 th of the season.

Yale wasn’t willing to throw in the towel, though, and scored two quick power play goals a mere 2:14 apart to pull to within three goals at 5-2. Helen Resor got the home team on the scoreboard at 15:34, and teammate Alyssa Clarke beat Guckian at 17:48 for the Bulldogs’ second tally of the evening.

Though they were outscored in the period by a 4-2 margin, Yale managed to outshoot the Saints, 15-13. Guckian was the difference though, making 13 stops to Zilis’ ten.

After giving up the two quick goals, St. Lawrence tightened down the screws in the defensive zone and protected their goaltender and their three goal advantage. With Yale’s Jenna Spring sitting in the penalty box for checking, the Saints power play unit went back to work and Connors scored her ninth of the season, with an assist going to first year student Brittaney Maschmeyer, at 9:29 of the third period to seemingly put the game out of reach.

Fellow senior Elisabeth Pahler would complete the scoring with her second goal of the season at 17:44 of the third period, making the score 7-2. Sophomore Jordan Pyers picked up her first assist of the season on the Saints’ final goal.

Yale would again outshoot the Saints in the period by a 12-7 margin, though they had nothing to show for it as Guckian came up with twelve big saves to preserve the victory. The Victor, NY native finished with 32 saves and improved to 13-5-2 on the season, while Zilis closed with 26 stops, falling to 8-7-0.

Each team scored twice with the extra skater, as the Saints went 2-of-5 on the power play and Yale finished

2-of-8. St. Lawrence remained unbeaten after leading after the first period (9-0-0), and several Saints extended active streaks thanks to a solid offensive effort. Harbec collected three points, extending her season-high point streak to nine games (21 points), while Duggan picked up a goal and point in her third straight contest. Connors and Grills each earned points in their second consecutive game.

The Saints will play their sixth straight road contest tomorrow, Saturday, January 13th in Providence, RI against the Brown Bears. The Saints look to finish their season-long road trip with an unblemished record, as they enter Saturday’s game 4-0-1 dating back to December 8th, 2006. The puck will drop on the Scarlet and Brown and the Bears at 4:00pm in the Meehan Auditorium.