UPDATED March 21, 10:34 p.m.
After winning the Ivy League title for the third time in four years and enjoying a brief run atop the national polls, the Big Green women's hockey team will play for the national championship at the NCAA Women's Frozen Four, to be held this coming weekend at the Dunkin Donuts Center in Providence, R.I.
The NCAA selection committee announced its decision Sunday afternoon. Dartmouth, seeded No. 4 by the committee, will play top-seeded Minnesota on Friday, March 26 at 5 p.m., while No. 2 Harvard and No. 3 St. Lawrence will play each other at 8 p.m. The winners will face off in the national championship game on Sunday, March 28, at 4 p.m., with the consolation game at 12:15 p.m.
"Minnesota is certainly a great team," Big Green head coach Mark Hudak said shortly after the announcement. Dartmouth split its two games against the Golden Gophers this season, winning the first meeting, 3-2, before falling, 7-3, in the rematch, with both games played at Ridder Arena in Minneapolis.
The Big Green will be without star forwards Gillian Apps '06 and Cherie Piper '06, as both players will be training with Team Canada in preparation for the 2004 World Championships. However, Dartmouth will have the services of team scoring leader Katie Weatherston '06 and tri-captain Meagan Walton '05, who were competing with the Canadian under-22 team when Dartmouth and Minnesota first met.
"We've gotten used to changing our lineup with people going in and out throughout the year," said Hudak, who has guided the Big Green women through injuries and national team commitments all season long. "It's definitely an adjustment, but we've done it before."
The Women's Frozen Four semifinals and championship will be broadcast on College Sports Television, available in the Collis Center's TV lounge. The Dartmouth Sports Network will also provide audio broadcasts of Dartmouth's games, both on 99Rock and online at http://listen.to/dartmouthsports.
In other news, the Big Green men's hockey team, which was not selected for the NCAA tournament, ended its season Saturday with a 3-2 loss to Colgate in the ECAC championship game. Max Guimond '06 and Mike Ouellette '06 scored goals for the Big Green, and goalkeeper Sean Samuel '07 stopped 29 of 32 shots in his second start of the season, but Colgate's Rob Brown scored the game-winner with 1:20 to play.
