Trips to the ECAC’s frigid North Country are never easy, but this weekend’s edition was a particularly trying one for the Yale women’s hockey team (5–12–2, 4–7–1 ECAC), as it dropped two games, including a tough overtime loss to Clarkson (9–13–3, 6–6–1) Friday night, 2–1. The following day, the Elis lost in a shutout to St. Lawrence (12–11–2,7–6–0), 2–0.
Jackee Snikeris ’11 made 70 saves in two games, but the Bulldogs scored only once, and will head to next weekend’s home matchups with Harvard and Dartmouth four points out of the eighth and final ECAC tournament spot.
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Friday night’s game against the Golden Knights was a rematch of Yale’s 2–1 OT victory earlier this season — a game in which a late, game-tying goal from Bray Ketchum ’11 set up Aleca Hughes’s ’12 game-winner at Ingalls Rink. But with the trip to Potsdam came a reversal of fortunes for the Bulldogs, as an early Clarkson goal meant Yale was battling back for much of the game. Snikeris made several huge saves to keep the Blue and White down just one. And with just under four minutes to play, defenseman Aurora Kennedy ’14 tallied her first career goal to tie things up and renew Yale’s chances of pulling out a crucial point on the road.
But after a strong chance from Hughes was turned away by Golden Knights’ freshman goalie Erica Howe, forward Melissa Waldie found the back of Yale’s net, sending the Bulldogs home with the loss.
“It was pretty upsetting when they scored in overtime,” defenseman Heather Grant ’12 said. “We really needed those two points to put us ahead in the play-off race. Plus, Snik played really well and kept us in there the whole game, and it felt like she deserved a better outcome than an OT loss.”
Yale headed next to St. Lawrence, hoping to avenge a 3–1 loss to the Saints at Ingalls earlier in the season. What the Bulldogs got instead was a game that featured 16 penalties — and zero power play goals. Unfortunately for Yale, however, St. Lawrence was able to tally two-even strength scores for the shutout win.
Jackee Snikeris was strong yet again for the Elis, stopping 33 Saint tries, but despite the perfect day on the penalty kill, Yale was held down by the Saints’ defense, led by Maxie Weisz’s 11 saves.
The Bulldogs came into Friday night’s game tied with Clarkson for the ever-crucial eighth place in the ECAC, but went home Saturday night down four points to the Golden Knights, making the 0–2 weekend even more difficult to swallow. But as frustrating as this weekend may have been for the Elis, Yale is far from out of the playoff hunt, with almost half of their ECAC schedule left to play, including next weekend’s showdowns with Harvard and Dartmouth at Ingalls.