Canada’s no. 2-ranked women’s team comes to Ingalls for weekend

Saturday’s exhibition game against McGill University at Ingalls Rink will give the women’s ice hockey team a well-deserved chance to reflect on the season thus far.

“We’re happy with where we are right now,” Wallis Finger ’04 said. “We are pleased with the way we’ve been playing.”

After starting the season 3-12-1, the Bulldogs have won two of three, including a thrilling come-from-behind victory over Quinnipiac University, a grueling 1-1 tie against nationally ranked No. 9 Providence College, and a thrashing 12-1 win over Sacred Heart University.

“We’re starting to put everything together,” Finger said. “We’re clicking.”

The designation of this weekend’s international face-off as an exhibition does not mean that the Bulldogs (5-12-2, 1-5-0 ECAC) intend to treat the Martlets (12-1-1) any different from an ECAC opponent.

“We’re approaching the game as we would with any other game,” Finger said. “We’re going to go in and try to play our best.”

The Bulldogs will need to be at their best if they hope to hold their own against their competitors from across the border. McGill is currently nationally ranked No. 2 in Canada and Martlet goaltender Kim St.-Pierre, who won an Olympic gold medal last year, has allowed only three goals all season for a save percentage of .989.

But Yale’s recent success gives the Bulldogs the confidence to believe that no team is unbeatable.

“We’re quick, feisty and hardworking,” Finger said. “If we play a disciplined game, we can take it to any team.”

–Joshua Lotstein