W.Hockey Roundup: Trip to Frozen Four on the Line This Weekend

The quarterfinals of the ECAC women's hockey tournament went according to plan on Saturday, as all of the top four seeds advanced to the tournament semifinals at Dartmouth this weekend.

These four teams--No. 1 Dartmouth, No. 3 Harvard, No. 4 St. Lawrence, and No. 5 Brown--had distinguished themselves throughout the regular season, and although none of the weekend's wins came easily, the quarterfinals did reaffirm their status as the class of the league.

Dartmouth 3, Niagara 1

Niagara (17-14-4) was one of three teams to defeat Dartmouth (24-3-1) during the regular season. Despite being the consensus No. 1 throughout the season, the Big Green's tournament hopes were essentially on the line last Saturday. Dartmouth would not be denied.

First Team All-Ivy forward Kristen King scored to put Dartmouth up 1-0, and Canadian National Team defenseman Correne Bredin struck from the blueline to make the score 2-0 in the first period.

Niagara cut the deficit to 2-1 in the third by crashing the net on the power play, but Carly Haggard--last year's ECAC Rookie of the Year--put the game away for Dartmouth. In a scoring run reminiscent of the goal she scored against Harvard at Bright last month, Haggard dashed down the right wing, cut in front of Niagara goalie Tania Pinelli, and slipped a backhand past her.

Meaghan Cahill, one half of Dartmouth's dynamic duo in goal, which also includes sophomore Amy Ferguson, made 16 stops to get the win in net. Pinelli--last season a third-team all-ECAC goalie behind national team goaltenders Ali Brewer and Sarah DeCosta--made 44 saves in the losing effort.

St. Lawrence 1, New Hampshire 0

St. Lawrence (23-6-3) scored the game's only goal at the 9:24 mark of the first period when Jessica Wilson deflected in a rebound that New Hampshire (17-17-0) goaltender Jen Huggon could not control.

Saint freshman netminder Rachel Barrie stopped 34 shots to earn the shutout. Like any successful goaltender, she got her share of good fortune on the day. Tthe Wildcats hit two posts and had a goal disallowed due to a high stick on the afternoon.

It was the third game in a row in which New Hampshire failed to make a dent on the scoreboard.

Brown 4, Northeastern 2

The Huskies (16-15-1) thought they had scored to take a 1-0 lead on a breakaway as time expired in the first. But the goal was disallowed--just another misfortune in the string that has plagued Northeastern since it dealt Dartmouth its first loss last January. The Huskies have gone 6-13-1 since then.

Brown (19-6-1) took its first lead of the night in the second period when Kristy Zamora one-timed the puck past Northeastern goaltender Erica Silva on a pass through the crease from Kathleeen Kauth.

Brown's leading scorer, Kauth, took advantage of a Northeastern turnover to put the Bears up 2-0. Brown freshman Kelly Sheridan would make the score 3-0.

Northeastern would come back and cut the deficit to 3-2 early in the third period, but Zamora struck again for the insurance goal with five minutes left when linemate Cassie Turner found her wide-open in the crease.

Upcoming Action

The Saturday semifinal matchups will be Dartmouth vs. Brown and Harvard vs. St. Lawrence. The winners will meet in the ECAC championship the following afternoon.

Much more than the ECAC title will be on the line this weekend. All four semifinalists will be fighting to prove themselves worthy of one of the four bids to the first-ever NCAA women's ice hockey tournament in Minnesota.

Dartmouth, as the ECAC regular season champion and consensus No. 1 team in the country all season, should make the tourney regardless of what happens this weekend. Minnesota-Duluth, the WCHA tournament champion, is also considered a lock.

If Dartmouth can hold on and beat Brown for the third time this season, then the St. Lawrence-Harvard winner would also be essentially assured of a tournament berth. The loser of that game, in all likelihood, would have its selection chances come down to a comparison with No. 6 Minnesota to determine who gets the final berth.

According to the Minnesota Daily, the general feeling among the players in the Minnesota locker room was that their season was over after finishing the year winless in its last four. Minnesota Coach Laura Halldorson refused to speculate on what would happen when tournament selections are announced on Sunday.

If Brown beats Dartmouth, the selection picture is slightly more complicated. The Bears have the most to prove in the ECAC tournament, as late-season lapses have left them with the smallest margin of error among the semifinalists. Nevertheless, if Brown goes on to win the conference tournament, the Harvard-St. Lawrence loser would have a bleak chance of being selected.

The bottom line is that the team who captures the ECAC tournament this weekend will essentially be guaranteed a berth in the NCAA Frozen Four. Although there is no official automatic berth on the line, the ECAC championship should be as hotly contested as ever this season.