The Dartmouth women's hockey team missed Winter Carnival but enjoyed a pair of blowout victories, going on the road to beat Colgate 5-1 on Friday, Feb. 9 and Cornell 7-0 the following day. The victories extend No. 3 Dartmouth's winning streak to seven games and keeps the Big Green perched atop the ECACHL standings with a six-point lead heading into the final week of the regular season.
Friday's game was defined by special teams play, as Dartmouth racked up nine penalties and Colgate (14-13-2, 13-6-1 ECACHL) committed 10 in the game. The Big Green power play unit, which in recent weeks has not been productive, scored three goals against the Raiders. Dartmouth's penalty killing unit was stingy, allowing only one goal in 10 opportunities and scoring a shorthanded goal.
With the win over the Red Raiders, the Big Green avenged a 2-1 home loss to Colgate from earlier this season.
"Last time we played Colgate, three of our Olympians were away playing at the Foreign Agents Tournament. It really helped having all 21 of our players [this game]," Julia Bronson '09 said about the differences between the two games against Colgate. "We had a lot of energy knowing we lost to them earlier."
Dartmouth controlled the tempo of the game through the first period, outshooting Colgate 16-6. Midway through the opening period, a series of two Colgate penalties gave the Big Green over a minute on the two-man advantage. Dartmouth capitalized on the opportunity when Maggie Kennedy '09 netted her sixth goal of the season, with an assist from Caroline Ethier '07.
Dartmouth took the 1-0 margin into the second period and did not wait long to extend the lead. Only 17 seconds into the middle period, Sarah Parsons '10 dished the puck to a streaking Gillian Apps '06, who beat the Colgate keeper to give the Big Green a 2-0 lead. The second half of the period was riddled with penalties, but Bronson took advantage of another power play to score her first goal of the season, with an assist from Shannon Bowman '09.
More penalties ensued in the third period. Dartmouth quickly dug itself into a hole with a string of penalties, giving the Raiders a two-player advantage. But even in this precarious position, Katie Weatherston '06 stole the puck from a Colgate player and raced up the ice to score, pushing the Big Green's lead to 4-0 and cementing the victory. Weatherston followed up with a power play goal at 7:07, assisted by Parsons.
The Colgate goal came with two minutes left, and the outcome already decided.
On Saturday, the Big Green had a field day against Cornell (3-22-2, 3-16-1 ECACHL), bombarding the Big Red keeper with 47 shots. Echoing Friday's power play success, the Dartmouth power play unit notched another three goals in 10 opportunities.
Dartmouth tallied its first score of the night 10 minutes into the opening period with a goal from Jenna Cunningham '10. Kennedy and Nicole Ruta '08 assisted on the goal. Weatherston followed up six minutes later with a power play goal, assisted by Cherie Piper '06 and Bowman, to give the Big Green a 2-0 lead going into the second period.
The Big Green continued to extend its lead through the second period. After successfully killing a penalty, Dartmouth went on power play again, and at 11:22, Cunningham tallied her second goal of the night, with assists from Kennedy and Bowman. Piper got on the board at 15:16, assists by Parsons and Apps, to stretch the lead to 4-0.
Dartmouth piled on even more goals in the third period, beginning at 8:13 into the period with a score from Ethier. Ruta notched her second assist of the night on the play. Parsons followed up at 17:31 with an unassisted goal. With one minute remaining, Sarah Newnam '09 finished the scoring for the Big Green with her third goal of the season. Assists were from Carrie Thompson '08 and Amy Cobb '08. With a 7-0 final score, keeper Sarah Kennedy '10 got her second shutout of the season.
"We will want to work a little on our special teams--it's an area we should be producing better results," head coach Mark Hudak said before this weekend's games.
The Dartmouth women responded, racking up six power play goals on the weekend, which is a greater total than that tallied in the previous four weeks combined for the Big Green. The penalty killing unit clamped down, allowing its two opponents to go for only a combined one for 15 on their power plays.
Prior to this weekend, Colgate was the only team in the ECACHL that Dartmouth had not beaten this season. Now with the victory on Friday, the Big Green can boast of beating every team in the conference. Dartmouth improves its record to 18-1-1 in the conference and 21-4-2 overall with the pair of wins. With only two games remaining, Dartmouth's lead in the conference is now insurmountable, and the team will head into the ECAC tournament with the first seed.
Though the team has clinched the first seed in the tournament, the Big Green still has goals for the regular season.
"We still want to win Ivies," Bronson said. "Next week's games will be good preparation for the playoffs."
The race for the Ivy title is down to Dartmouth and Harvard and will be decided next weekend.
Dartmouth finishes off the regular season next weekend at home. On Friday, Feb. 16, the Big Green will play Ivy rival Brown at 7 p.m. The regular season finale will be the following day, at 4 p.m. against Yale.
