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HARBEC NAMED ECACHL'S PLAYER OF THE WEEK, AKSTULL NAMED TO HONOR ROLL

Dec. 11: Junior forward Sabrina Harbec has been named the ECACHL Player of the Week after an eight-point weekend versus the Maine Black Bears. First year forward Tara Akstull, who tallied the first three goals of her collegiate career versus Maine, was named to the conference's Honor Roll.

Harbec currently leads the Saints in scoring with 34 points, including 12 goals and 22 assists. The St. Hubert, Quebec native, who was last year's ECACHL Player of the Year and a top-3 Patty Kazmaier Finalist, had four assists in the opening game against the Black Bears on Friday evening.

Harbec duplicated her four-point performance on Saturday by scoring two goals, including the game-winner, and notching a pair of assists. She also extended her active scoring streak to eight games, and is the first

St. Lawrence University women's hockey player to earn the Player of the Week award this season.

Akstull, who entered the Maine series this weekend with six assists on the season, exploded in Orono, ME this weekend for three goals against the Black Bears, including her first collegiate game-winning goal in Friday night's game. The Clifton Park, NY native also added an insurance goal in each contest. It is the first time that Akstull has been named to the ECACHL's weekly Honor Roll.

The Saints completed the opening half of their season with the wins at Maine, and remained at No. 7 in this week's USCHO.com Poll. The Scarlet and Brown will begin the second half of the season on January 5th, 2007 in Chestnut Hill, MA against the Boston College Eagles. The puck will drop between the two teams at 2:00pm.

HARBEC NOTCHES FOUR POINTS AS SAINTS FINISH 2006 WITH 5-1 WIN OVER MAINE

Dec. 9: The St. Lawrence University women’s hockey team, ranked seventh in the country entering today’s game with the University of Maine, found themselves in a 1-0 hole only 46 seconds into the game. However, junior Sabrina Harbec led the Saints charge, scoring two goals and two assists as the visitors ran off five straight goals to down the Black Bears 5-1 for the second consecutive day.

The Scarlet and Brown (14-5-1, 7-3-0) found themselves trailing for the first time since November 25th when Vanessa Vani scored her ninth goal of the year 46 seconds into the first period. Chantal Jaillet passed the puck from the point to Vani, who took the Black Bear’s first shot on Saints rookie goaltender Maxie Weisz and got the puck behind the Severna Park, MD native to put Maine on top 1-0.

The Saints would pile up the shots on goal again in the first period, this time on Rachel Gettings. St. Lawrence managed 14 first period shots, and would eventually tie the score at 1-1 on the power play at 7:59 of the opening stanza. Senior defenseman Abbie Bullard slid a pass back to the blue line off of a rebound to her defensive partner Annie Guay. Guay blasted a shot that beat Gettings for the Saints first goal, which was the junior’s seventh of the season.

Gettings had a much busier period in goal for the Black Bears, making 13 saves and keeping the score tied after 20 minutes. Weisz would settle into her net as well, denying the Black Bears for the remainder of the period.

With the game still deadlocked at 1-1 almost midway through the second period, Harbec took matters into her own hands and gave her team a 2-1 advantage at 7:29. The St. Hubert, Quebec native took a shot on Gettings, which the goaltender turned away. However, Harbec hustled to the loose puck and lifted it into the open portion of the goal for her 11th of the season.

Though the period seemed to be headed to a close with the Saints holding a narrow one-goal lead over Maine, Harbec again had other ideas, and lit the lamp for the 12th time this season at 19:36 to extend the St. Lawrence cushion to 3-1. Sophomore Lisa Batchelor took a pass from fellow forward Crystal Connors and sent a pass through the crease to a waiting Harbec. She stuffed it past Gettings to complete the play and send her team to the second intermission with a two-goal edge.

Although she was not facing the consistent pressure that Gettings encountered at her end of the ice, Weisz was again solid, stopping each of the four shots she faced in the period. Gettings made eight saves to increase her two-period total to 21.

The Saints worked to put the game out of reach in the third period, and their offensive pressure paid off at 8:20 of the final frame when first year student Tara Akstull scored her third goal of the weekend series to put the Scarlet and Brown up 4-1. Harbec collected an assist on the rookie’s third goal of the year, as did senior co-captain Julia Palmateer, her third helper of the weekend.

St. Lawrence would put the finishing touches on an outstanding non-conference road weekend by tallying their fifth and final goal of the contest at 10:55. As the Saints skated on the power play after Maine ’s Taryn Peacock took a five minute major for hitting from behind, Harbec sent a pass to the blue line for Guay, who sent another hard slap shot towards Gettings. However, before the puck could get to the goalie, Batchelor deflected the puck, re-directing it past the netminder for her sixth goal of the year. Harbec was credited with her 22nd assist of the season, her sixth of the weekend, as was Guay, who picked up her ninth assist of the campaign.

“I think winning the last four in a row will give us a lot of confidence heading into the second half of the season,” said Saints head coach Paul Flanagan. “We know there is plenty of hockey left this season, and we have to take one game at a time.”

St. Lawrence held a 34-13 advantage in shots on goal, and finished 2-of-6 on the power play. The Black Bears were unable to get anything going while they skated with a player advantage, going 0-for-5 with the extra skater. Weisz made 12 stops in her third career start, improving to 3-0-0 on the season, while Gettings dropped to 2-2-1 after taking the loss despite a 29 save performance.

Saturday’s game against the Black Bears was the Saints final contest in 2006. St. Lawrence is back in action in 2007 on January 5th in Chestnut Hill, MA when they meet the Eagles from Boston College. The puck will drop on the two teams at 2:00pm.

CONNORS REACHES 100 POINT MARK

AS SAINTS SKATE PAST MAINE, 5-1

Dec. 8: Six days after senior forward Chelsea Grills became the tenth player to reach the 100 career point mark, fellow classmate Crystal Connors scored two goals to become the 11th player in St. Lawrence University women’s hockey history to reach the “Century Mark.” The Saints (13-5-1, 7-3-0) also got two goals from first year forward Tara Akstull en route to a 5-1 non-conference victory over the Maine Black Bears in Orono, ME.

The win moved the Scarlet and Brown to 4-3-0 all-time against Maine , as they took the first contest between the two teams since February 17, 2001. A mere 2:24 into the game, St. Lawrence was able to put their seventh ranked power play unit to work as Maine ’s Jenna Cowan was whistled for cross-checking at 1:12 . Junior forward Sabrina Harbec collected her first assist of the evening when she fed fellow classmate Annie Guay just over the blue line. Guay skated to the left circle and fired a blast that beat Maine goaltender Genevieve Turgeon between the pads. It was Guay’s sixth of the season and put the Saints on top 1-0.

Maine was unable to produce much offense on St. Lawrence netminder Meaghan Guckian in the first period. The Victor, NY native stopped each of the four shots she faced to blank the Black Bears through the opening stanza. However, the Saints offense went back to work late in the period, as Akstull scored her first collegiate goal at 16:06 of the first period to extend her team’s lead to 2-0. St. Lawrence co-captain Julia Palmateer got the play started, as she fed a pass to Harbec who fired a shot on Turgeon that was saved. However, the rebound popped out to Akstull who buried the shot for her first of the season.

“Tara has been working so hard all year, it was only a matter of time before she scored,” said Saints head coach Paul Flanagan. “It was great to see our forwards step up on each of the lines.”

The Saints, who out-shot the Black Bears 12-4 in the first period, continued to pour on the offense in the second, extending their lead to 4-0 by the ten minute mark. Connors first goal of the game came at 3:22 , with assists going to Harbec and sophomore Lisa Batchelor. The goal was her 100th career point and gave the Saints a 3-0 cushion. Only 5:50 later, Akstull tallied her second goal of the game at 9:12 of the second period to build the Saints lead to 4-0. Palmateer collected her second assist of the night, and rookie Courtney Sawchuk also was credited with a helper on the fourth goal.

However, the Black Bears kept their hopes of an upset alive as they scored only 1:27 later on the power play to cut the deficit to 4-1. Taryn Peacock scored her sixth goal of the season at 10:39 to close the second period scoring. Cowan fired a shot towards Guckian, and Peacock tipped the puck on net. On the first official shot on goal of the period for Maine, the puck got past Guckian and pulled the Black Bears to within three at 4-1.

Through two periods, the Scarlet and Brown held a 29-8 shot advantage, but Turgeon was tough in goal, making 25 saves to Guckian’s seven.

The goal seemed to give the Black Bears life, as they put together their best offensive period of the night by far, taking nine shots on Guckian in the final stanza. However, the Saints junior goalie held her ground, not allowing another goal for the home team to ensure the victory. Harbec collected her fourth assist of the game, her twentieth of the season, at 13:56 when she fed a pass to Connors while the team skated down a player while senior Abbie Bullard sat in the penalty box. Connors would end any hopes of an upset as she scored her eighth goal of the year at 13:56 to re-open the visitor’s four goal advantage at 5-1.

Guckian earned her 11th win of the season with a 16 save performance, while Turgeon took the loss (3-6-1) despite making 37 saves. St. Lawrence finished the game 1-of-4 on the power play while Maine was 1-of-3.

“It was a great effort all around,” added Coach Flanagan. “Congratulations to Crystal on reaching 100 points. I can tell you she earned every one of them. She has been one of the most reliable and durable players we’ve had come through this program, and it’s great to see her get her name in the record books.”

The Saints improve their non-conference record this season to 6-2-1 with the victory, and Connors goal in the third period extended the team’s active streak of consecutive games with a short-handed tally to four.

The Saints and Black Bears will meet in the series finale tomorrow, Saturday, December 9th in Alfond Arena with the Scarlet and Brown hoping to end the first semester on a high note. The puck is set to drop between in Orono , ME at 2:00pm.