Box Score Bulldogs Have Won Six of Last Seven Conference
Games
NEW HAVEN, Conn. - The hottest team in ECAC
Hockey right now? By one measure it's Yale, the only team to have
won six of its last seven conference games. The hard-charging
Bulldogs have used their 6-1-0 run to take hold of one of the
conference's eight playoff spots with six regular season games
remaining. Their streak faces a major challenge this weekend with a
road trip to Dartmouth (Friday, 7 p.m.) and No. 6 Harvard
(Saturday, 4 p.m.), the top two scoring teams in the conference.
Yale (9-11-3, 7-8-1 ECAC Hockey) has rebounded well from a 1-7-0
start in conference play. The Bulldogs began their climb with a 2-2
overtime tie at Cornell Dec. 4, and since then have won six of
seven ECAC Hockey games. The streak coincides with a lineup shuffle
that placed freshman Alyssa Zupon (Basking Ridge,
N.J.) as the center on a line with sophomore forward
Aleca Hughes (Westwood, Mass.) and junior forward
Bray Ketchum (Greenwich, Conn.) -- a move that has
paid dividends for all three players. They had two goals and no
assists combined in the eight ECAC Hockey games where they were
split up; they have 12 goals and 12 assists in the eight ECAC
Hockey games they have played together.
| Last 7 ECAC Hockey Games
|
|
| Team
| W-L-T
|
| Yale
| 6-1-0
|
| Clarkson
| 5-1-1
|
| RPI
| 4-1-2
|
| St. Lawrence
| 4-2-1
|
| Cornell
| 3-1-3
|
| Princeton
| 3-1-3
|
| Harvard
| 3-2-2
|
| Quinnipiac
| 3-2-2
|
| Colgate
| 2-4-1
|
| Dartmouth
| 1-6-0
|
| Union
| 1-6-0
|
| Brown
| 0-7-0
|
Other contributors have also emerged for the Bulldogs in recent
weeks. Senior forward Caroline Murphy (Woodstock,
Conn.) picked up a pair of power-play goals last weekend
and now has a career-high seven goals this season, third behind
Ketchum (11) and Hughes (8). Sophomore forward Becky
Mantell (Princeton, N.J.) has set career highs in goals
(3) and assists (6), and senior forward Berit Johnson
(Wayzata, Minn.) also has a career high in goals (3).
And there's also "The Mandi Factor". Since senior forward
Mandi Schwartz (Wilcox, Sask.) reunited with the
team on Jan. 9 after 13 months away beating leukemia, the Bulldogs
have won six of seven. Shortly after Schwartz' departure last
season the Bulldogs lost eight of 10; all told over the course of
her four years Yale is 35-35-8 with her and 12-20-4 without her.
Recently profiled
in the New Haven Register and the Yale
Daily News, she has been practicing with the team
since her return and will play again in 2010-11.
Junior goaltender Jackee Snikeris (Downingtown,
Pa.) remains the backbone of a Yale defense, posting a
.927 save percentage that places her ninth in the country in that
category. And during the 6-1-1 run in Yale's last eight conference
games, senior defenseman Alyssa Clarke (Donkin,
N.S.) leads the team in +/- with a +9, followed closely by
the other half of that defensive pair, junior Samantha
MacLean (Mississauga, Ont.) (+7). Clarke is one of 15
skaters vying for a spot on the Women's East Squad for the upcoming
NCAA Frozen Four Skills Challenge. On-line
voting for that event is open until Feb. 15 at Noon.
Dartmouth (8-12-2, 5-10-1 ECAC Hockey) has been playing better
than its record would indicate of late. Over the last six games the
Big Green has outshot its opponents 240-139, but has only two wins
to show for it. Dartmouth snapped a five-game losing streak, which
was tied for the team's longest in history, with an 8-1 win over
Union two weeks ago, and followed that up with a 6-3 victory over
BC.
Former U.S. Olympian Sarah Parsons is Dartmouth's leading
scorer. She is ninth in the country in points per game (15-15-30 in
22 games). Amanda Trunzo (13-12-25) and Jenna Cunningham (15-7-22)
round out the Big Green's top line, while forward Camille Dumais
(6-13-19) and defenseman Sasha Nanji (5-11-16) give Dartmouth two
of the top 15 freshmen scorers in the country.
The Big Green trails the Bulldogs by four points in the ECAC
Hockey standings. After hosting Yale and Brown this weekend
Dartmouth must play its last four games on the road, visiting
Union, RPI, Clarkson and St. Lawrence as it attempts to climb into
the playoff picture. Adding to the sense of urgency for Dartmouth
is the fact that the Big Green hasn't missed out on the playoffs
since the 1990-91 season. In the last 10 seasons Dartmouth has won
four ECAC Hockey tournament titles (including last year's) and
three ECAC Hockey regular season titles, adding seven NCAA
Tournament appearances.
Yale will have to make a particular point of staying out of the
penalty box vs. the Big Green. Dartmouth leads ECAC Hockey in
power-play goals with 25, a figure that accounts for nearly 40
percent of the Big Green's overall goal total (67). The Bulldogs
have cut down dramatically on their penalties since the winter
break -- 36 in 10 games since Jan. 1 as compared to 61 in the first
13 games. And they have killed off all but four of those penalties
successfully.
Harvard (13-5-4, 9-5-2 ECAC Hockey) is second only to Dartmouth
in scoring offense among ECAC Hockey teams, averaging nearly three
goals a game. The Crimson has a much better won-lost record than
the Big Green because Harvard also leads the league in scoring
defense, allowing just 31 goals in 22 games.
That impressive defensive performance for Harvard comes despite
a major injury to the team's No. 1 goaltender. One looks across the
ice on Saturday will remind the Bulldogs just how important
sophomore goalie Genny Ladiges (Almonte, Ont.) and
freshman goalie Erin Callahan (Kenilworth, Ill.)
are. Harvard started the season counting on senior Christina
Kessler, a preseason All-ECAC Hockey pick who was third in the
country in goals-against average (1.59) last season. Kessler was in
the middle of another fine season this year, establishing Harvard's
all-time wins record (64) in a 5-1 win over Colgate Jan. 16, but
suffered a season-ending injury after that. The Crimson had only
one other goalie on the roster, freshman Laura Bellamy. Bellamy has
started all five games since Kessler's injury, and has a .936 save
percentage and a 1.25 goals-against average. Harvard was also able
to get junior Kylie Stephens, who had left the team after playing
sparingly in her first two seasons, to return to the roster to help
fill the void.
Harvard's top two goal scorers are forwards Kate Buesser and
Liza Ryabkina, who have 10 goals each. Cori Bassett is one of the
top scoring defensemen in ECAC Hockey with 13 points (four goals,
nine assists).
Following this weekend's games, the Yale women's team will join
the Yale men's team on Sunday at Ingalls Rink for the annual
"Skate with the Players". Bring your own skates for the event,
which takes place from 2:15 p.m. to 3:15 p.m. and also includes the
chance to tour the recently renovated facility.
