With two wins this weekend, Dartmouth women’s hockey clinched its fifth straight appearance at the ECAC Hockey Tournament. The Big Green (9-18-1, 8-13-1 ECAC) shut out Brown University 3-0 Friday night before traveling to Yale University and beating the Bulldogs 2-1.
“We knew what was on the line — if we didn’t win, then we wouldn’t make the playoffs,” Lindsey Allen ’16 said. “Everyone had that in the back of their heads, we just wanted to keep playing and to keep going. We knew if we played really well defensively then they couldn’t score so they couldn’t win.”
The team came out firing against the Bears (4-20-5, 3-16-3 ECAC), dictating play early as Brown struggled to find its offensive rhythm.
Just 45 seconds into the first period against Brown, Allen put the puck in the net with assists from Laura Stacey ’16 and Catherine Berghuis ’16. Berghuis slid the puck up the ice to Stacey, who flew into the zone on a two-on-one with Allen. She slid the puck to her linemate, who deposited the puck into the open net.
Dartmouth’s offense continued to create opportunities. Just under 17 minutes later, Devon Moir ’17 scored her second goal in the last three games and extended the Big Green’s lead to 2-0 by putting the puck up under the crossbar from the slot.
Kennedy Ottenbreit ’17 scored Dartmouth’s third and final goal on a power play with just over a minute left in the second period.
“For both games we were trying to keep pushing and keep going and not let them have a chance to set up in our end,” Allen said.
The Big Green kept Brown at bay in the third period, earning goalie Lindsay Holdcroft ’14 her first shutout of the season. The captain stopped all 26 of Brown’s shots.
Dartmouth’s offense finally played to its potential, registering 32 shots on goal and scoring more than two goals for the second time since Jan. 25.
After dominating Brown on Friday and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s loss to No. 4 Clarkson University, the Big Green controlled its own destiny against the Bulldogs (8-14-7, 6-9-7 ECAC). A tie against Yale would have been good enough to propel the Dartmouth women into the playoffs.
The team dominated, firing 42 shots on goal. Yale’s goalie was up to the task, stopping 40 of the shots she faced, but Holdcroft stopped 17 of 18 Yale shots in the 2-1 win.
Ottenbreit kicked off the scoring 9:24 into the first period with her second goal of the weekend. The lead was short-lived as Yale tied it up with 5:01 left in the period on a shot that deflected off of Holdcroft’s glove and into the net.
Moir tipped in the game-winning goal 7:05 into the second period on a shot from Ottenbreit. This was Moir’s second goal of the weekend and her third tally in the last four games.
“It was just nice to be able to produce after working hard during the year,” Moir said.
The defense played another strong third period, keeping Yale out of the net and holding on to the lead.
With the win, Dartmouth cemented its position as eighth seed in the ECAC, giving the team a post-season berth. Both RPI and Colgate University lost on Saturday, giving the Big Green the final playoff spot by three points.
The Big Green will kick off the first round of the tournament with a best-of-three series against Clarkson (25-4-5, 16-2-4 ECAC) on Friday in Potsdam, N.Y. Clarkson propelled itself to first in the league on the back of a weekend sweep and losses by Cornell University and a tie by Harvard University against the Bulldogs. This season, the Golden Knights swept the Big Green, winning the games by a combined 9-1.
“We’re extremely excited,” Ottenbreit said. “We faced a lot of adversity this year, and it was hard just making the playoffs. Now it’s a whole new season and anything can happen. We’re the underdog, and I don’t think anyone thinks we can do it except us. That’s motivation to prove everyone wrong.”
