Tag Archive: W. Hockey

  1. W. HOCKEY | Ladiges ’12 makes the save

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    During women’s hockey goalkeeper, Genny Ladiges’s ’12 first game as a Bulldog, upperclassman goaltender Jackee Snikeris ’11 lost her helmet and took a skate to the face. Snikeris broke her nose and the freshman Ladiges unexpectedly took to the net. Ladiges went on to play in goal for 15 games that season.

    Now in her senior year, just as three years ago, Ladiges plays a crucial role on the team. She has played 14 out of 18 games this season, and she has a 0.888 save percentage and a 4.62 goals-against average.

    “Genny has definitely grown as a person and an athlete over the past three-and-a-half years,” teammate Heather Grant ’12 said in an email to the News. “She has gone from a quiet, scrawny and somewhat intimidated young freshman to a more outspoken teammate, an awesome goalie and an integral member of our team.”

    While Ladiges has held her own in the net, suiting up for a team that has struggled through the years to keep the puck out of her defensive zone might appear a daunting task.

    Yale has one only a single game this season.

    “I try not to think about finishing at Yale,” she said. “Even though the season’s gone pretty horribly, I take nothing for granted — I don’t want to leave with any regrets and just try to play my best. Every practice we’re lucky to be out there.”

    That upbeat attitude has helped to keep the team competitive, despite its scoreboard struggles, head coach Joakim Flygh said.

    The team certainly counts on Ladiges, who has made over 40 saves in a game four times this year, to keep afloat when Yale is often outshot by large margins. Most recently, the Elis were outshot 52 to 17 against St. Lawrence on Saturday.

    “She played behind Snickeris for three years and never complained about where she fit in, so it is great to see her take charge as a senior and push hard to give us an opportunity to be competitive each night she plays,” Flygh said.

    Grant added that whenever Ladiges makes a big play, she boosts the entire team’s morale.

    Known to coaches and teammates as a “quiet leader,” Ladiges is what you would expect of a goalie: reserved and humble, but competitive, quick and agile, Flygh said. He added that she is very well liked by everyone on the team, and that her character makes her coaches want to see her succeed.

    Teammates interviewed echoed Flygh’s sentiments.

    “Genny’s happy-go-lucky personality is a calming force on our team,” team captain Aleca Hughes ’12 said. “I admire her quiet focus and passion.”

    Grant added that Ladiges is a good role model for the younger goalies, Jaimie Leonoff ’15 and Erin Callahan ’13. The entire team, she said, looks to Ladiges for leadership.

    Ladiges and Grant first met at Bulldog Days as prefrosh.

    “She has been my best friend since day one and I would do pretty much anything for her,” Grant said of Ladiges.

    Now a psychology major in Davenport, Ladiges came to Yale from her hometown of Almonte, Ont., just outside of Ottawa. She said she was inspired to start playing hockey around age 7, when her home NHL team, the Ottawa Senators, made it to the playoffs.

    Ladiges joined an organized league one year later.

    “When they asked me what position I wanted to play, I just blurted out ‘goalie,’” Ladiges recalled. “I’d never really thought about it, but I just thought the equipment was really neat and it would be a lot of fun. I’ve been a goalie ever since — this will be 14 years now.”

    Ladiges played in net for five years in a boys’ hockey league in Almonte, before she transferred to a high-level girls’ team based in Ottawa that traveled to cities like Toronto and Montreal for games. Before her senior year of high school, Ladiges completed the recruitment process for Yale.

    Ladiges said Yale had always been her first choice because of its academic caliber.

    She added that some of her best friends are on the team with her, and that she has enjoyed meeting people who are passionate about hockey and who strive to balance athletics and schoolwork.

    Next year, she said she plans to go to graduate school for a master’s in psychology, but added she might also return to Canada and work towards an engineering degree. She has done research is in music cognition and currently works in a medical decision-making lab.

    But before she leaves, she still has 11 more games until the playoffs to play for the Blue and White. No matter where she ends up, Ladiges said hockey will always be a part of her life and added that she hopes her children will also play.

    “She is very capable of stealing a game and I think we will see some of her best hockey down this final stretch,” Flygh said.

  2. W. HOCKEY | Elis drop seventh straight

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    The scoreboard favored cats over dogs this weekend as the women’s hockey team lost consecutive games against the Quinnipiac Bobcats (4–5–1, 3–0–1 ECAC) and the Princeton Tigers (4–1–1, 3–0–1).

    The games marked the sixth and seventh consecutive losses for Yale (0–7, 0–4) and its third and fourth straight defeats in ECAC play. On Friday night, Quinnipiac shut out the Bulldogs 3–0, then on Saturday afternoon the team suffered a 7–1 loss at Princeton. Still, head coach Joakim Flygh said the team showed improvement, especially during Friday’s matchup.

    “It was a complete hockey game from us,” Flygh said of the Quinnipiac game. “We gave a hell of an effort, and we haven’t had that all year.”

    Goalkeeper Genny Ladiges ’12, who blocked 41 of Quinnipiac’s 44 shots in Friday’s game, added that the third period was the best the team has played this season. During this period, Ladiges blocked all 11 shots on goal.

    The Bobcats first scored at 13:51 during the first period. Quinnipiac made 12 shots on goal, whereas Yale only recorded two. At 0:44 in the second period, Quinnipiac defenseman Regan Boulton tipped in a rebound, and another shot off a rebound got behind Ladiges at 9:03, bringing the Bobcats up 3–0. Yale struggled in the second period, as the team took four penalties and made only three shots on goal in comparison to Quinnipiac’s 21.

    Although the game did not turn around in the third period, the Bulldogs stepped up their intensity and prevented any subsequent Bobcat goals. Quinnipiac made only 11 shots on goal in this period, and Ladiges managed to stop all of them. Yale made eight of its 13 shots in this period, and Flygh said the team did better defensively by keeping Quinnipiac outside on the boards. He added that throughout the game the team’s penalty kill was effective. Quinnipiac never scored on a power play.

    “We executed the systems and competed for every battle,” team captain Aleca Hughes ’12 said in an email Sunday.

    That momentum carried into the first period of Saturday’s game, but the Elis fell behind in the second period. Flygh said the team “dug itself a hole it could not get out of.”

    Although Princeton scored only one goal in the first period, the Tigers quickly scored three in the second at 1:55, 5:11 and 8:44. One Yale goal was waived as the puck had been kicked into the net.

    “Our defensive zone coverage regressed from Friday,” Ladiges said. “I didn’t do my part in helping our team out. I let out too many rebounds that led to two goals.”

    Ladiges made 24 saves before freshman goalie Jaimie Leonoff ’15 took the net in the third period and blocked nine shots.

    Yale had eight power plays throughout the game, and finally capitalized on one in the third period. At 7:51, forward Stephanie Mock ’15 came off an assist from Hughes to score the Bulldog’s only goal. It was the freshman’s first goal of her Yale career and the team’s fifth of the season.

    Both Hughes and Flygh said Mock was proving to be a talented and skilled player.

    “Her goal was a great effort, I’m excited to see her score more as the season progresses,” Hughes said.

    Despite the Bulldog’s breakthrough on the scoreboard, it was too late for a comeback. the Tigers scored three goals in the third period and finished the game ahead 7–1.

    In preparation for next weekend’s home games, the team will focus on improving defensively, Flygh said, by helping out the goaltenders and giving a 60-minute effort in every game.

    “We have to build on the power play and capitalize on those opportunities,” he said.

    The Elis will take the ice again this weekend at Ingalls Rink on Friday at 7 p.m. against Union and Saturday at 4 p.m. against Rensselaer.

  3. Mock ’15 discusses team

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    During Saturday’s match against Princeton, ice hockey forward Stephanie Mock ’15 scored Yale’s only goal, her first at Yale. The News sat down with Mock and discussed her hockey background, her perceptions of the team so far and the premiere goal.

    Q: Where are you from?

    A: I’m from Cape Coral, Fla.

    Q: That doesn’t strike me as a big hockey town. How did you start playing?

    A: Everyone says that – “How did you get into hockey?” I actually started with roller hockey, and then they built an ice rink nearby and I started playing. There aren’t really any girls who play there, so I played with boys until I was 16. Then I went to prep school about an hour away from here at a place called Hotchkiss. I was there for three years, from sophomore to senior year.

    Q: How long have you played hockey?

    A: I got my first roller blades for my fifth birthday. My brother got them for me. I’m 19 now, so it’s been a long time.

    Q: Why did you choose to come to Yale?

    A: First of all, the facility, “the Whale,” is awesome. Also, I just felt really welcomed by the whole team, and the coaches are awesome. And you can’t beat the academics!

    Q: How are you finding the team experience so far?

    A: Everyone is really good friends, so it’s fun times.

    Q: You scored your first goal last weekend against Princeton. Were you excited?

    A: Yeah, it was fun. It’s about time — my coach said that to me when I came off the ice. It was good, it was on a power play. We needed something, but it was too bad we couldn’t get more goals than that.

    Q: How is the team feeling about the season so far?

    A: We’re not entirely happy with how it’s going right now, but I think some of the scores that we’ve had lately haven’t really reflected how we’re playing. In the last two games anyway we’ve gotten some unlucky bounces. Early on we had gotten a lot of penalties, but we’ve calmed down, so that’s a good thing. And I think we’re on our way back. That’s one of our phrases: we’re bouncing back.

    Q: Do you find there is a discrepancy between the popularity of the men’s and women’s hockey teams here?

    A: I haven’t been here long enough to really notice. I haven’t even been to a men’s game yet. But even in prep school, everyone would go to the men’s games, and we would only get a few roommates and friends to come to ours. There’s always a discrepancy between girls and guys. Guys can hit, so it’s a little more exciting.

    Q: Mandi Schwartz ’11 is a big figure for the women’s hockey program here. You never had the chance to know her, but how has her legacy influenced you?

    A: I played this summer on a team that helped raise money and encourage blood donors to donate — it was organized by [team captain] Aleca Hughes ’12. And we just got Mandi’s sweater and every week we give that to someone on the team who really embodies her spirit.

    Q: The “White Out” game will be on Dec. 2 to support young hockey players diagnosed with cancer. How are you involved in that?

    A: Everyone on the team is in charge of a different aspect of it. I’m helping to spread word [of the event] in the community. It’s really great, what we’re doing. We’re trying to fill the stadium and sell a lot of T-shirts. Most of the money comes from the T-shirt sales, and they’re really cheap, so buy them!

    Q: What do you do outside when you’re not on the ice?

    A: I’m in pre-med, so that keeps me pretty busy, but I haven’t really gotten involved in many other activities. I’m one of the Master’s aides in Saybrook, so I help out with the events in the Master’s house.

  4. W. HOCKEY | Bulldogs looking for win

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    Despite losing its first five games of the season, the women’s hockey team is looking to rally back this weekend at Quinnipiac and at Princeton.

    “We have gotten off to a rough start, but we are motivated to turn things around,” team captain Aleca Hughes ’12 said Thursday in an email to the News, adding that the Bulldogs have only played two conference games this season.

    The team’s conference play is on the heels of Tuesday’s non-conference game loss to Providence College. The Bulldogs (0-2-0 conference, 0-5-0) will take on the Bobcats (2-0-0 conference, 3-5-0) on Friday night and the Tigers (1-0-1 conference, 2-1-1 overall) on Saturday afternoon.

    “They are both very strong teams,” head coach Joakim Flygh said of Quinnipiac and Princeton, adding that they finished fifth and fourth in the Eastern College Athletic Conference last year. “I am expecting them to fight for those spots again this year, so we will have our hands full this weekend.”

    Quinnipiac defeated Rensselaer and Union last weekend in its first conference games of the season; Princeton won against Union and tied against Rensselaer.

    “Overall our first five games have been tough losses, but we will not let that define our season,” forward Danielle Moncion ’13 said. “We have been talking a lot about changes that need to be made, but we have to start putting them into play.” She added that Tuesday’s game saw the team generating more offensive opportunities and capitalizing on them, scoring the most goals in one game this season.

    Flygh said the team “is not the most confident group right now,” but that it is focusing on improving defensively. Moncion added that the team has lots of talent but needs to break down the game and do its indivdual jobs in order to garner collective success.

    “Playing a crosstown rival and an Ivy rival in the same weekend is exciting,” Hughes said. “We are looking forward to the challenge and an opportunity to prove ourselves.”

    Hughes added that if the team gives a consistent 120-minute effort this weekend, it will be in a good spot moving forward.

    Yale tied for eighth place in the ECAC last year with Rensselaer and Colgate.

  5. W. HOCKEY | Bulldogs plagued by penalties

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    For the second weekend in a row, the women’s hockey team could not stay out of the penalty box, resulting in its third and fourth losses of the season.

    The Bulldogs (0-2-0) were shut-out 0-9 by the Big Red (3-0-0) at Cornell Friday evening and again 0-4 by the Raiders (1-1-1) at ColgateSaturday afternoon, losing their first two Eastern College Athletic Conference games of the year.

    “Cornell is a talented team,” head coach Joakim Flygh said of last year’s conference champion and the third-ranked team in the country. “But we made it too easy for them.”

    Yale incurred seven penalties in Friday’s game, giving Cornell three power play goals.

    Forward Heather Grant ’12 agreed that penalties were a major factor in the outcomes of both games. “When we were in the box, we lost a lot of our momentum and struggled to regain it,” she said in an email to the News.

    Saturday’s game saw Colgate take advantage of two out of six Yale penalties to score a pair of power play goals in the second period. Both Flygh and forward Paige Decker ’14 said the Elis played a strong first period but turned around in the second to take four undisciplined penalties and lose momentum.

    “We dug ourselves into a deep hole, going into the third period three points down,” Flygh said. Decker added that Colgate scored on the first shift of the third period, and it was difficult to come back from that, too.

    Flygh said the team needs to improve defensively, as evidenced in the game against Cornell. With the Bulldogs outshot 16-65, Flygh said the game was centered on the Elis’ defensive end of the ice. Goalie Genny Ladiges ’12 made 22 saves in the first period, and then Jaimie Leonoff ’15 took to the net to make 34 saves in the rest of the game.

    The roster has been hit hard early in the season, with six players out due to illness and injury, but Flygh said that cannnot be used as an excuse for the team’s playing.

    “It certainly doesn’t help us, but we can’t use it as a hindrance,” he said. “It’s an opportunity for players to step up and get more ice time, and grow into the role they have.”

    Flygh added that the Bulldogs need to work on the “little details” of their game, such as back-checking, communicationand picking up players in the defensive zone, as well as consistency in giving a 60-minute effort in every game.

    “Many things are not going well for us [right now], and there is lots to work on,” Flygh said. “But no doubt we’ll grow as a team.”

    The Bulldogs will take on Providence on Tuesday in a non-conference game. Next weekend, they will play Quinnipiac and Princeton in their third and fourth conference games.

  6. W. HOCKEY | Yale to start conference play

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    After two disappointing nonconference games last weekend, the women’s hockey team is looking to start the season’s conference play on a better note this weekend with back-to-back games at Cornell and Colgate.

    The Bulldogs (0–2, 0–0 Ivy) will challenge the Big Red on Friday evening and the Raiders on Saturday afternoon. The outcomes will affect the team’s standing in the Eastern College Athletic Conference.

    Last year, the Bulldogs fell just short of a playoff run, losing their final game of the season to Princeton and finishing the season with a record of 8–12–2.

    “We made some strides last year and over the summer, but we still have some work to do,” head coach Joakim Flygh said.

    This is Flygh’s second year with the team. He became head coach in July 2010, replacing Hilary Witt. The five freshmen on the team this year are the product of his first recruiting season for the Blue and White. He said he was particularly looking to add speed and skill to the “strong core of returning players.”

    Captain Aleca Hughes ’12 said that Flygh has brought great energy to the team and thatunder his directionthe team is focused on speed.

    “It’s one of the main assets the coaches are looking for in their recruits,” she said, adding that speed work has been more heavily emphasized in the team’s practices and that the new freshmen are “a talented group of kids” who have great potential as players.

    Forward Lauren Davis ’12 said that the freshmen have integrated nicely into the team. However, Kelsey Summers ’15 has had a rough start to her Bulldog career, missing the first part of the season due to an illness. She is not the only out-of-commission player —the team has been plagued with injury and illness in its early season.

    “We had six players sit out on our practices on Wednesday and Thursday,” Flygh said. “We hope to have one back this weekend and a couple more back next week, if they progress.”

    He added that three injured defensemen may be out for the whole season. A depleted roster will not be the only challenge for Yale this weekend: Friday’s game will pit the Elis against last year’s top team in the ECAC, Cornell. The Big Red had a conference record of 20–1–1 last season. Defenseman Heather Grant ’12 said she expects the Cornell to play a “very fast game.”

    “Cornell will be a very quick and skilled team,” Flygh said. “We have to make sure we come ready to compete for a full 60 minutes.” He added that the Bulldogs will need to play a strong defensive game.

    “Last weekend was tough,” Davis said. “But we had a focused week of practice and are ready [for the upcoming weekend].” She added that the Bulldogs will not approach the game against Cornell differently than any other game, although the team has worked on specific systems in practice this week to combat the way Cornell plays.

    Defenseman Heather Grant ’12 added that the Bulldogs are not the most highly-skilled team, but are a very hard-working one and that will be their greatest strength.

    This weekend’s games are the first two in a series of five away games for the Bulldogs. Next week, they will play Providence, Quinnipiac and Princeton.

  7. M. HOCKEY | Go big or go home

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    The stakes are higher and the altitude is lower. It’s payback time.

    A week after it clinched the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA tournament with its ECAC championship-winning performance in Atlantic City, the men’s hockey team (27–6–1, 17–4–1 ECAC) will kick off its hunt for the national championship in Bridgeport this weekend. Yale will open the tournament with a chance to avenge an early-season loss against No. 16 Air Force Academy (20–11–6). A victory would pit the Elis against the winner of a game between No. 8 Union and No. 9 Minnesota-Duluth the next night.

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    The NCAA tournament is single elimination, so a loss Friday would end Yale’s season and, with it, the collegiate careers of the team’s nine senior skaters, who constitute the most successful class in school history. If the Elis win Friday, they move one step closer to a national title and face another do-or-die situation the next night in the same location. If they make it out of the weekend alive, they will advance to their first Frozen Four since 1952.

    Unlike last season’s team, which beat the odds to win the first NCAA tournament game in school history, this year’s Elis are favorites and, as the tournament’s top seed, are predicted to reach the national semifinals in Minnesota.

    Despite Yale’s No. 1 seed and the expectations that accompany it, neither a school-record 23 regular-season victories nor a dominant effort in the ECAC championship is any guarantee of success on a weekend when one lucky bounce can decide everything.

    Yale has seized the tournament’s upset potential before. Last year, the Bulldogs played as heavy underdogs against a vaunted North Dakota team with seven national championships to its name. The Elis took an early lead and hung on for a 3–2 victory.

    Air Force has proven capable of its own surprises on the big stage. Two years ago, the Falcons took down No. 1 seed Michigan in the first round of the NCAA tournament. Four months ago, they dealt Yale its first loss of the season.

    “We’re taking [Yale] seriously as the No. 1 seed in the country, but we ain’t sneaking up on them either,” Air Force coach Frank Serratore said in a press conference on Monday. “We handed them a pretty humbling loss [in Colorado] on that Sunday and I’ll guarantee you they haven’t forgotten that.”

    That humbling loss for the Elis came on Air Force turf, more than 6,000 feet above sea level in Colorado. Yale led 3–0 after two periods, but the Falcons exploded with four late goals to come from behind and topple the visitors. Yale has not squandered such a large lead since.

    “We definitely remember what happened back in November,” said center Andrew Miller ’13, who leads Yale in scoring. “But as of now we are both different teams.”

    Indeed, Yale has made one major personnel change since its loss to the Falcons. Goaltender Jeff Malcolm ’13 — who allowed all four goals — has not returned to the ice. Instead Ryan Rondeau ’11 has become the Elis’ full-time starting goalie, and started all 28 games in the rest of Yale’s season.

    Although the senior started the first game of his freshman season, he had seen limited action before this season. But Rondeau has emerged as one of the nation’s top goaltenders this year. His 1.83 goals against average is the best in the country, and he has not allowed a goal in more than three games.

    Rondeau also started both of Yale’s NCAA tournament games in 2010, and he is not the only Eli with experience on the national stage. Fifteen of Yale’s 18 projected skaters for Friday’s game have played at least once in NCAA contests.

    That playoff experience showed when Yale bulldozed its way through the ECAC tournament with some of the best hockey it has played all season. The team has won its past three games by a combined 14–0.

    But Air Force is on a hot streak of its own. The Falcons needed to win the Atlantic Hockey postseason championship to earn a berth in the NCAA tournament, and did so in a clean sweep. They entered the postseason on a four-game winning streak, before sinking Holy Cross in the semifinals and the Rochester Institute of Technology — which reached the national semifinals last season — in the finals.

    “If you’re going to be a champion, you need the ability to come from behind, and you need the ability to play on the road,” Serratore said of his team, which did both in the conference playoffs.

    Yale has struggled on the road this season, and suffered all five of its regular season losses outside the friendly confines of Ingalls Rink. But the crowd at this weekend’s games in Bridgeport, a 20-minute drive from campus, is expected to favor the Elis.

    The Athletics Department had sold over 400 subsidized tickets to students as of Thursday morning, and Director of Athletics Ticket Operations Jeremy Makins said he expects the Webster Bank Arena at Harbor Yard to nearly fill its 10,000-person capacity. Makins said the event sold out when Yale hosted the tournament in Bridgeport two years ago.

    “I wouldn’t miss it — I’ll be there,” University President Richard Levin said. “Unfortunately I was away when they won the ECAC, but I’ve seen many of their games this year and it’s a fabulous team and they’ve been extraordinarily well coached. I’m very excited.”

    After Union and Minnesota-Duluth face off at 3:00 p.m., Yale will take on Air Force at 6:30 p.m. Friday at the Webster Bank Arena at Harbor Yard in Bridgeport. If the Elis win, they will play on the same ice at 6:30 p.m. Saturday.

    Drew Henderson contributed reporting.

  8. W. HOCKEY | No playoffs this year

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    The Yale women’s ice hockey team’s push for the playoffs came up just short.

    After a clutch 1–0 win Friday night against Quinnipiac, the Bulldogs fell to Princeton 4–1 on Saturday in a game they needed to win in order to secure the final playoff spot. The game was the final one for four Yale seniors, forward Bray Ketchum ’11, captain Sam MacLean ’11, forward Lili Rudis ’11, and goalie Jackee Snikeris ’11, and it was an especially tough one to swallow as the team came just one point from extending its season. The Elis were in a three-way tie for eighth place after Saturday’s loss, but RPI came out on top of the tie break for the last ECAC tournament berth.

    “What stands out to me about the senior class is their grit, determination and commitment,” forward Lauren Davis ’12 said. “They have been through so much over the past four years, and they have always stood tall and been able to tough it out.”

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    Friday night’s game was the third meeting between the Bobcats and Bulldogs this season. Quinnipiac had taken the first two meetings — both in Hamden — by scores of 2–1 and 3–1, outshooting Yale by a combined 74–26 in those games.

    QPac still outshot Yale on Friday night, but the Bulldogs were still able to keep the Bobcats off the scoreboard. Snikeris’s 35 saves, some huge clears from Yale defenders on Quinnipiac chances, and an assist or two from the goalposts kept the game scoreless until late in the third. It was then that MacLean fired a shot from the point that was deflected by forward Ashley Dunbar ’14 up and over the Bobcat’s standout goalie Victoria Vigilante to not only give the Bulldogs a 1–0 lead with five minutes to go, but also to tally her first career goal.

    Yale held on in the last five minutes, sending itself into Saturday with a chance at the playoffs if it could take down a Princeton team that it defeated 3–1 earlier in the season — but also a team that had gone 12–2 since that game.

    The Tigers got on the board first with a fluke goal on a shot from the point from forward Sally Butler that just snuck past Snikeris and into Yale’s net. But with less than two minutes to go in the period, defenseman Heather Grant ’12 threw a shot on Princeton’s net that snuck out to forward Danny Moncion ’13 who stuffed it in to tie things up heading into the second.

    But Princeton came out strong in the second frame, scoring just 41 seconds into the period to take a lead they would not relinquish. The Tigers would add two more goals, one in the second and one in the third, to send Yale home with a tough loss.

    The seniors will leave behind a strong statistical legacy. Ketchum, in addition to a number of ECAC accolades, accumulated 40 goals and 44 assists in four years, leaving her in Yale’s all-time top 12 in goals, assists, and points scored. Captain MacLean played 116 straight games — every single game of her career. Snikeris will leave with the single-season goals against average record (1.67 in 2008-’09) and the career shutouts record (16), to go along with multiple ECAC Hockey first-team selections.

    Those seniors may be remembered more for what they brought off the ice than on it, their teammates said.

    “Although our record may not always indicate it, the senior class has brought significant strides to the program,” junior goalie Genny Ladiges said of the class of 2011. “They’ve built a legacy of passion, hard work, integrity and competiveness that remains the cornerstone of YWIH and will no doubt be recognized as the turning point in the program someday in the future.”

    Ladiges and classmates Grant, and forwards Lauren Davis ’12 and Aleca Hughes ’12 will lead the Bulldogs to that future. The Bulldogs still retain two of their top three point-scorers, freshmen Jackie Raines ’14, 19 points, and Jenna Ciotti ’14, 15 points. Raines and Ciotti tied for second in goals with nine apiece behind Hughes, who lit the lamp ten times to lead the Bulldogs in that category. Ketchum’s 12 assists were tops on the team. Snikeris finished second in the ECAC with a .940 save percentage.

  9. W. HOCKEY | One last chance at the final playoff spot

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    The women’s hockey team has just one more shot at making the playoffs.

    The Bulldogs (8–16–3, 7–11–2 ECAC) are just two points out of the eighth and final playoff spot, and will face two top-five ECAC hockey teams, Princeton (14–12–1, 11–8–1) and Quinnipiac (20–10–2, 12–8), in must win games tonight and Saturday at home.

    St. Lawrence, RPI and Colgate are tied for the final two spots with 18 points, followed by Yale with 16. If the Bulldogs win both games this weekend, they will have 20 points in the ECAC standings, and will need some help for a berth in the conference tournament.

    “We’ve been in this situation many times before when it comes down to the last game or two, and we need to win to hold onto a playoff spot,” captain Samantha MacLean ’11 said.

    The Bulldogs are coming off a 4–2 win against Brown Tuesday night, a game in which forward Aleca Hughes ’12 scored two goals. Forwards Jenna Ciotti ’14 and Jackie Raines ’14 added the other scores for a Yale team that committed nine penalties, but killed them all in large part due to 32 saves from goalie Jackee Snikeris ’11.

    In their last meeting, the Bulldogs bested the Tigers 3-1 at Princeton. Yet, since then, Princeton has gone a powerful 11–2, meaning that Yale will have its hands full in what is a must-win game Friday night.

    The same is true for Saturday afternoon’s intrastate rivalry matchup with Quinnipiac, a team that has beaten the Bulldogs twice already this season. The Bobcats are led by freshman standout Kelly Babstock, this week’s ECAC Hockey MLX Skates Weekly Award winner and sophomore goalie Victoria Vigilante who is sporting a spectacular 1.66 goals against average to go along with a .934 save percentage.

    “It’s going to be a challenge, but this is what we play for,” MacLean said. “If we can continue to work hard and get a consistent effort from everyone then it’s definitely something we can accomplish.”

    The big weekend gets underway tomorrow night at 7 p.m. at Ingalls Rink.

  10. W. HOCKEY | Yale defeats lackluster Brown

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    The Yale women’s ice hockey team took a big step in its eleventh-hour playoff push Tuesday night.

    The Bulldogs (7–11–2, 8–16–3 ECAC) taking took down Brown (1–16–3, 2–22–3), 4–2, in the first of three home games in the next five days. Aleca Hughes ’12 scored two goals, including the clincher in the final seconds, and Jackee Snikeris ’11 made 32 saves, with four or five huge stops in the closing minutes, to propel the Blue and White to the win.

    The Bulldogs and Bears played a penalty-filled first period, as both teams committed three violations, including two apiece from Brown’s Erica Farrer and Yale defenseman Samantha MacLean ’11. The Bulldogs had a Grade-A short-handed chance on one of the enusing penalty kills courtesy of Bray Ketchum ’11, who, instead of clearing, opted to skate the length of the ice and ended up sending a shot just wide of Brown netminder Katie Jamieson’s net. But that was the last scoring chance for the Elis in the period, and the teams headed to the first intermission locked in a scoreless tie.

    The penalties continued to mount for both sides in the second, as three more Yale transgressions and two for Brown set up several power play chances. Yet the penalty kill units continued to hold. But forward Jenna Ciotti ’14, who has been a scoring machine of late for the Bulldogs, continued at her torrid pace, connecting on a wrister off a feed from forward Jackie Raines ’14 to give Yale a 1–0 lead.

    “It’s really nice to see them chipping in,” first-year head coach Joakim Flygh said of the freshmen. “There’s no question that’s big for us.”

    The Bulldogs would take that lead to the third frame despite several great chances, including a goal that was waived off. But the chances paid off in the third, as Hughes chased down her own rebound and put it in to double the lead.

    Just seconds later, Raines carried the puck into the zone and made a great move to set up another goal and up the Yale lead to three.

    Yet Brown came storming right back, as a goal from Laurie Jolin cut the lead to two. Brown’s leading scorer, Alena Polenska, scored another goal just minutes later to put the Bears back within one goal from the Bulldogs, 3–2. The Bears were on the verge of tying the game up as the Elis racked up two penalties in the final three minutes. After killing the first penalty, Brown pulled Jamieson for the second power play to take a 6-on-4 advantage, but Hughes stole the puck and converted the empty-netter to ease Yale’s minds and send the Bulldogs into a crucial weekend with a 4–2 victory.

    “We were good on the penalty kill,” Flygh said. “We blocked a lot of shots — our kids really competed out there, and we were able to get two points which is ultimately what matters.”

    Those two points are crucial as Yale will head into the weekend just two points out of the eighth and final ECAC Hockey playoff spot. Though the Bulldogs need help from the rest of the conference this weekend, they must first take care of business against Princeton, a team they beat 3–1 earlier this year, and Quinnipiac, who have beaten the Bulldogs twice this season.

  11. W. HOCKEY | Playoff hopes dwindling for Elis

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    There are no easy road trips in ECAC hockey, but traveling to Colgate and No. 2 Cornell just a week after a drive to Union and RPI is certainly one of the tougher ones. Coupled with the pressure of the Bulldogs’ having to fight for their playoff lives, it may have been too much for the Elis, who lost 1–0 to Colgate before being defeated by No. 2 Cornell. 7–1.

    The Bulldogs now sit in tenth, two spots out of the playoffs. They still have a glimmer of hope for making the playoffs with a coveted eighth place finish, but to do so they would need wins over Brown and Princeton — both teams that Yale has previously defeated — as well as to get some help from around the conference if their postseason dreams are to come to fruition.

    Jackee Snikeris ’11 played spectacularly against the Raiders Friday night, but the Bulldogs couldn’t get around the obstacle of the Raiders’ goalie Kimberly Sass, who made 26 saves to earn the 1–0 win. Yale then ran into the the Big Red powerhouse, and despite 45 saves from Genny Ladiges ’12 and taking the initial lead over Cornell thanks to a goal from Aleca Hughes ’12, the Bulldogs fell 7–1.

    “[The first period] was a lot of fun,” Hughes said of the Cornell game. “To have a lead on a team that’s that good. Genny was unbelievable. We played right with them for a long stretch.”

    The Bulldogs and Raiders came into Friday night’s contest tied for ninth in the ECAC, each team hoping to take a tenuous hold on the eighth and final playoff spot. Early on, it was Colgate that looked more ready to do so, outshooting the Blue and White 15–7 in the first period, but Snikeris made several crucial saves to send her team to intermission locked in a scoreless tie.

    The teams were even for much of the second, but following a sequence in which Snikeris turned away a grade-A scoring chance from the Raiders, Brittany Phillips found the back of the net off a face-off to send the Bulldogs down one.

    Yale continued to play disciplined hockey into the third, not committing its first penalty until there were just 12 minutes left, but two more in the following few minutes left the Bulldogs short-handed as they tried to stage a comeback. Despite a couple of late chances when Snikeris was pulled for an extra skater, Colgate earned the 1–0 win.

    The No. 2 Big Red loomed as the next challenger for the Bulldogs and first-year head coach Joakim Flygh, who opted to rest Snikeris and play Genny Ladiges, who played excellently filling in for seven games earlier this season when Snikeris was down with a knee injury.

    The Bulldogs gave Ladiges a lead early, as the reliable scoring duo of Bray Ketchum ’11 and Hughes combined to put their team up 1–0 just three minutes in. Thanks to 15 saves from Ladiges in the first, Yale held that lead for 15 minutes before a late Cornell goal sent the teams to the break tied at one.

    “We were fired up after coming out of the first period tied at one, and we had followed our game plan,” head coach Joakim Flygh said in a press release after the game. “Towards the end of the second period we started giving up too many opportunities, too many rebounds. You can’t expect your goaltender to make three or four saves in a row.”

    The Big Red’s third-ranked scoring offense exploded for four goals in the second, despite another 19 saves from Ladiges. Ten more saves in the third gave the junior a career-high 45 on the night, but Cornell was simply too much for the Bulldogs, and came away with its 19th ECAC win of the season.

    “They’re just so fast in transition,” Hughes said. “We can’t really be mad — they’re just a great team, and we really battled. They just beat us.”

    Yale has three games remaining in the regular season and all will be at Ingalls Rink, starting with a Tuesday night game against Brown.