After a long week of final exams, the majority of Dartmouth students began their winter break on Tuesday, Dec. 11. But not everyone went into hibernation right away, as the Dartmouth women's hockey team spent the following week on campus, building their team and winning games.
"We find the interim period pretty fun, and it is always a great bonding experience," Carli Clemis '09 said. "Our team and a couple of others basically have the entire campus to ourselves, so it's quiet and there is none of that stressful late-for-govy-drill-is-brutal-long-panini-lines-running-to-orgo-lab kind of atmosphere. We also pass the time with Cranium and Guitar Hero tournaments."
And after a two-week break following a game on Saturday, Dec. 1, the Big Green (11-4-1, 8-3-0 ECAC) needed some time to work off the rust when it returned to the ice. Dartmouth fell to Mercyhurst College (14-4-2) in a 7-0 blowout on on Dec.15.
"Obviously it's never a good feeling losing to a team by that big of a margin, but if you really look at the game closely, there is a lot that we can learn from it," forward Shannon Bowman '09 said. "We basically took what we needed to take from that game and saw that when we did execute we had some great chances."
This was Dartmouth's first shutout loss since Oct. 22, 2006. But while there were not many bright spots in the game, goaltenders Clemis and Mariel Lacina '10 made 18 and six saves respectively, over the three agonizing periods.
Mercyhurst improved its season record to 10-3-2 with the victory and certainly expected another easy victory the next day in a rematch with the Lady Green. But Dartmouth coach Mark Hudak and his players had other ideas in mind.
"Going into the second game, we talked about making them have to make good plays to win, making them have to beat us in the one-on-one battles, and making them have to do something special to earn another win against us," Hudak said.
It was Dartmouth and not Mercyhurst that would accomplish these tasks en route to revenge, defeating the Lakers 6-4 on Dec. 16.
Early on it appeared that Mercyhurst would pick up where they had left off when the Lakers struck first just two minutes into the first period. But the Big Green would have none of it, and Jenna Cunningham '10 scored the first Dartmouth goal of the series midway through the period on a blistering shot that whizzed past the goalie into the top of the net.
The Lakers and Big Green would then trade goals as Mercyhurst slid one in on a power play four minutes into the period. Eight minutes later Dartmouth answered with Cunningham's second score of the night.
Maggie Kennedy '09 soon put Dartmouth ahead soon after with her first of two goals. Kennedy scored again after another Mercyhurst goal early in the third period, which was later followed by a goal from Bowman with four minutes left in the game.
The Lakers scored once more with less than a minute left, but it was too little too late. Cunningham put the game on ice with her third goal, completing a hat trick.
"It was a great feeling to come back after such a beating the day before against the same team," Kennedy said. "It really showed that when we play well we can beat anyone."
The win improved Dartmouth's record to 10-3-1 and was the 100th victory of Hudak's career as head coach of the women's hockey team.
Cunningham's performance was without a doubt the most dominant showing posted by any Dartmouth player this season, netting a total of six points, with three goals and three assists. She was later named the ECAC Player of the Week for the third time this season.
After a well-deserved break, the Lady Green returned to ECAC play on Jan. 4 in a game against Colgate University (7-9-2, 4-3-1 ECAC). Dartmouth lost the defensive battle 1-2 in overtime.
Sarah Newnam '09 struck first early in the first period, notching her second goal of the season. The goal went unanswered until late in the second period when the Raiders were finally able to slip the puck past Clemis, who made an impressive 26 saves over the course of the grueling defeat.
Again the women would prove their resurgence after the tough loss when they stormed to an 8-0 shutout of rival Cornell University (7-6-1, 4-3-1 ECAC) the next day.
In their most dominant single period of the season, Dartmouth netted five goals in the first 20 minutes. Marley McMillan '09, Nicole Ruta '08, Sarah Parsons '10, Cunnhingham and Kennedy each contributed a score to the volley.
The second period saw goals by Kennedy, Amy Cobb '08 and Carrie Thompson '08 before a quietly defensive third period mercifully ended the game.
This week 8th-ranked Dartmouth will travel to Clarkson University (14-4-2, 5-3-0 ECAC) on Jan. 11 and 6th-ranked St. Lawrence University (14-6-0, 7-1-0 ECAC) on the Jan. 12 for rematches of a 3-1 win over the Golden Knights and a 3-4 loss to the Saints.
"Both opponents are very strong in certain areas," Clemis said. "Clarkson is an extremely hardworking team, and St. Lawrence will consistently do the little things right. But if we stick to our game and play with heart, there's no doubt we'll create some great opportunities on the ice and hopefully come out with two Ws."
The month of January will no doubt be the toughest of the season for the Big Green as they match up with the nationally ranked University of New Hampshire on the 17th, followed by Boston College and ECAC leader Harvard on the 20th and 27th.
"Every game is so important for us with such a small amount of games," Bowman said. "We hope to come out of this week with two wins but most of all we want to start off the second part of the season playing great Dartmouth hockey and getting better every game so that the last game of the season is a win."
