The women’s ice hockey team had its playoff season cut short after dropping the first round best-of-three series to No. 3 Clarkson University this past weekend. The Big Green (9-20-1, 8-13-1 ECAC) lost to the Golden Knights (27-4-5, 16-2-4 ECAC) 2-0 both Friday and Saturday afternoon. In each game, the offense failed to mobilize, managing only 31 shots on the weekend to 70 by the Golden Knights.
Despite being matched up against top-seeded Clarkson, who head coach Mark Hudak called talented, strong and experienced, Dartmouth entered the game with confidence.
“We went in knowing that they were a really good team, but both times we’ve played them it’s been a really close game until the third period, until we had mental breaks,” Katy Ratty ’17 said. “We knew if we could play a full three periods, we could pull out a win.”
Clarkson scored early on Friday, notching the first point just 9:07 into the first period on a power play. In Dartmouth’s last game against the Golden Knights, a 6-1 loss at Thompson Arena, the visitors also scored early with the man advantage.
Lindsay Holdcroft ’14 kept the Big Green in the game, stopping 15 of 16 shots in the first period and all 12 in the second. She would end the afternoon with 38 saves in the losing effort.
“When you play a team like Clarkson, you need your goalie to play really well, and Lindsay certainly did,” Hudak said. “Having that experience, knowing how to play in a big game like that, knowing what she needs to do, it was huge for us.”
Yet Dartmouth’s offense could not produce. The team managed only 15 total shots on goal and went 0-4 on the power play.
“We weren’t playing our best game, we weren’t getting shots to the net, we couldn’t get the puck out of our end,” Lindsey Allen ’16 said. “Clarkson did a good job keeping us in our end and keeping possession of the puck.”
Clarkson netted another puck just 46 seconds into the final period again with the man advantage, taking advantage of a Big Green mistake.
The Big Green could not bounce back from the two-goal deficit. It mustered only two shots on goal in the third period.
“They put a lot of pressure on us in their zone and made it really hard to carry the puck,” Ratty said. “We tried to stay poised with the puck, but they were just on us all the time.”
In the second game, Clarkson controlled the first period of play, firing 13 shots on goal to Dartmouth’s one.
Again, it was Holdcroft’s stellar play that kept Clarkson from running away with the game. The goaltender turned away 12 of the 13 shots and she did not allow a goal until 18:58 had passed in the first.
Dartmouth picked up its game in the second period. The Big Green had numerous chances in the offensive end, but it could not convert any of its 13 shots on goal. Clarkson, however, did. With 8:53 left in the period, the Golden Knights snuck one into the net and brought the score to 2-0.
“We were trying to change up a couple things to create some offense for us,” Hudak said. “Clarkson responded pretty well to what we were doing, and I think having that talent, that experience up there, they’re going to be able to react pretty well.”
After a scoreless final period, Clarkson won both the game and the best-of-three tournament, knocking Dartmouth out of the playoffs.
“We definitely believed in ourselves, and we said we could go all the way if we just played our game and a few pucks went our way,” Ratty said. “This was the last game for the seniors, and we were really sad to see it end and sad that we couldn’t reach our goals.”
