The Dartmouth women's hockey team has had nothing less than a spectacular season thus far. As the only remaining undefeated team in the ECAC, the Big Green's sole loss this year was against No. 1-ranked Minnesota, in a heartwrenching 4-3 overtime loss. Incidentally, Dartmouth had just beaten the Golden Gophers the night before by a score of 7-5.
Since the loss, though, the women have been flawless, defeating their next eight opponents. The Big Green looks to continue that streak this weekend as they take on Brown on Friday at 7 p.m., and No. 6 Harvard on Saturday at 4 p.m., both at Thompson Arena.
The Big Green leads the overall series with the Bears 26-24-7, dominating Brown 7-2-1 in their past 10 meetings. While Brown started hot this season, going 9-4-0, they have struggled as of late, going 1-5-2 since New Year's Day.
While Dartmouth leads the Harvard series 39-24-2, winning seven of their last 10 meetings, the Crimson should prove an admirable foe. Since losing four in a row from Nov. 26 to Dec. 5, including losses to No. 1 Minnesota and No. 3 Minnesota-Duluth, Harvard has been on fire, going 5-1-1.
Harvard boasts one of the best top lines in the country, led by senior Nicole Corriero, freshman Sarah Vaillancourt and junior Julie Chu. The trio have combined for a total of 48 goals and 66 assists so far this season. Chu and Big Green machine Cherie Piper '06 are the only two players in the nation to record at least one point in every game.
Dartmouth's last two games were both defensive gems where they beat Cornell (4-2) and Colgate (3-2).
After having last weekend off, the Big Green are hungry and raring to go.
Katie Weatherston '06, the NCAA leader in average goals per game with 1.72, expressed her excitement for the weekend.
"We're really looking forward to these two games," Weatherston said. "Harvard/Brown is always one of the most exciting weekends for us to play in and the competition is great. We have been preparing for two weeks now in practice and can't wait to get back to playing games."
Weatherston added that the team "hopes to continue playing like we have been and the team seems really focused and excited to play Harvard/Brown. The games will be filled with great battles and a lot of fun to play in."
This weekend will also provide an oppurtunity for Dartmouth to continue many of its players' individual streaks. Piper enters this weekend with a 23-game point streak on the line, which started with five games left last season. The Canadian has recorded points in 36 out of 40 games since she came to Hanover.
Piper and Weatherston, who have notched 46 and 42 points respectively, are also both in the running to hit the 50-point mark this season, a feat done only once in the last eleven years.
Sophomore goaltender Christine Capuano also will skate into the weekend having won her last nine consecutive games, one shy of the school record set in 1992.
All in all, it will be another exciting, action-packed, and possibly record-breaking weekend for the unstoppable Dartmouth women hockey players.
