Five games in nine days is a tough test for any team, but it is one the Yale women’s hockey team has passed with flying colors.
The Bulldogs (7–14–3, 6–9–2 ECAC) are unbeaten (2–0–1) in its last three games, its first streak since November. The team will have to pass another test this weekend when they travel to No. 2 Cornell and Colgate as they try to make up the mere two points in the ECAC standings they need to get back into the playoff picture.
In their last outing, the Bulldogs pulled off a brilliant third-period comeback against an R.P.I. team (10–12–7, 8–8–2) that is currently holding down the seventh spot in the ECAC standings, just four points ahead of the Blue and White. In that game, Jenna Ciotti ’14 tallied the game-tying goal, completing a six-point, five-goal week in which she earned both ECAC Player of the Week and Rookie of the Week honors. Before that, Ciotti and her teammates had experienced an offensive explosion, lighting the lamp 11 times in just three games. Perhaps most revealing of the Bulldogs’ progress this season, however, is that the tie in Troy avenged a 4–1 loss at the hands of the Engineers earlier this season.
With the challenge of a date with the nation’s No. 2 team looming Saturday, Friday night’s game against Colgate (9–17–2, 6–10–2) is a crucial one for Yale. The Raiders and Bulldogs are tied for ninth, just two points outside the eighth and final playoff spot. Yale took the teams’ last meeting 3–1 on Jan. 8, a game that saw forwards Aleca Hughes ’12, Bray Ketchum ’11 and Ciotti find the back of the net.
Cornell (23–1–1, 17–0–1) is currently first in the ECAC, their lone non-win in conference coming in an overtime tie with Clarkson last weekend. The Big Red’s lone loss came in an overtime contest before winter break against Mercyhurst, a team that has hovered at No. 5 in the nation.
After this week, the Bulldogs’ final three games are all at Ingalls Rink, and two of the teams, Princeton and Brown, are teams the Bulldogs have already taken down this season. The third, Quinnipiac, is having a strong season, and has already beaten the Elis twice.
“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 Sam MacLean ’11 said after last weekend’s games. “In the past we’ve waited ’til it was too late to pick up the effort and then we had to depend on other teams to lose to make a playoff spot. This year I think we were more aware of how close it would get … and we’ve really picked up the effort in the past couple of games.”
Yale’s game at Colgate is slated to start at 7 p.m. tonight, while their Saturday game against Cornell is set to begin at 4 p.m.
With just five regular season gamesleft, the women’s hockey team knew it had to break out of its recent 1–4 slide if it wanted to secure an ECAC playoff berth. A win and a tie over the weekend kept the team’s hopes alive, and the Bulldogs are now within two points of a coveted eighth-place finish.
After two tough losses to Harvard and Dartmouth last weekend that saw the Bulldogs play well, but still fall short, Yale broke out in a big way Friday night at Union, receiving a hat trick from forward Jenna Ciotti ’14 en route to a 5-0 rout of the Dutchwomen (2–25–3, 1–15–2 ECAC). The Bulldogs (7–14-3, 6–9–2) followed up that win with a third-period comeback at RPI (10–12–7, 8–8–2) to earn a 2–2 tie, a point in the ECAC standings, and keep their playoff hopes alive.
Friday night’s game at Union was a rematch of the Bulldogs’ first win of the season at Ingalls earlier this year. The first 20 minutes saw both teams go scoreless, a period that would not foreshadow anything to follow in the second two. Just two minutes into the second period, Ciotti got her team on the board off a feed from forward Lauren Davis ’12. Eight minutes later, forward Jackie Raines ’14 and defenseman Emily DesMueles ’13, who has stepped up in the absence of injured defensemen Tara Tomimoto ’13 and Aurora Kennedy ’14, combined to set up Ciotti for another tally, giving the Bulldogs a 2-0 lead.
A Yale power play then turned into a special moment for Davis, who got her first career goal to put the Bulldogs up three and round out the scoring for the second frame.
“I can’t even describe what it meant to me to score that goal,” Davis said. “I knew that if I kept working hard, chances would come and eventually it would happen.”
Defenseman Heather Grant ’12 scored the first of her two goals on the weekend just 59 seconds into the third, helped by one of Ciotti’s four points (three goals, one assist) and Raines’ three (three assists). Ciotti then rounded out the Bulldogs’ offensive onslaught with a goal at 13:52.
“Over the past few games, we’ve been forechecking more aggressively and putting more pressure on our opponents in the offensive zone,” Grant said. “As a result, we’ve been able to generate a lot of turnovers and scoring opportunities, which has finally started to show up on the scoreboard.”
The dominating win gave Yale much-needed momentum as they headed to RPI to take on a team ahead of them in the ECAC standings for a game in which it effectively needed a point to keep its playoff hopes alive.
Those hopes fell into peril early, as just 91 seconds into the first period, the Engineers’ Toni Sanders gave her team a 1-0 lead with a goal past goalie Jackee Snikeris ’11. Ten minutes later, Sydney O’Keefe lit the lamp, as well, and the Bulldogs headed to the first intermission down two against the seventh-place team in the ECAC.
The second period was scoreless for both teams, a product of the good goaltending boasted by both sides in the form of Snikeris for Yale and Sonja van der Bliek for RPI. The Bulldogs took seven shots in that period, but all were turned away, and they headed to the third needing a comeback to get that crucial point.
A comeback is precisely what they got. Four minutes into the third, a Grant slapper found its way past Van Der Bliek, cutting the deficit in half, and just 40 seconds later, it was Ciotti who capitalized on a helper from classmate Patricia McGauley ’14 to tie the game.
“Ciotti has worked hard all year and has definitely come into her own over the last few games.” Grant said. “She has really bought into our new forecheck and has capitalized on some great team efforts to put the puck in the net. It’s been great to see all of her hard work pay off.”
The score remained deadlocked at two the rest of the way, and neither team was able to muster any offense in the overtime period, sending Yale back to New Haven with a clutch tie and a huge point in the ECAC standings.
“We just need to keep playing the way we have been,” Davis said of the Bulldogs’ charge toward the playoffs. “When we play a full 60 minutes of hockey, we are a very good team. We need to come ready every day to give everything we have for a chance at the playoffs.”
As the playoff picture stands now, the Bulldogs are just two points behind St. Lawrence for the eighth and final playoff spot. Making up that difference will not be easy, as Yale travels to Cornell (formerly the nation’s No. 1 team and a squad that beat the Bulldogs 5-0 in the teams’ last meeting) and Colgate, who is tied with Yale with 14 points in those standings. The Bulldogs will then return home for their last three regular-season games, a midweek matchup with 11th-place Brown, and a big weekend against sixth-place Princeton and fourth-place Quinnipiac, a team that has already taken down the Blue and White twice this year.
“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 Sam MacLean ’11 said. “In the past we’ve waited [until] it was too late … and had to depend on other teams to lose to make a playoff spot. This year I think we were more aware of how close it would get towards the end of the season. It’s going to be a challenge, but this is what we play for, so if we can continue to work hard and get a consistent effort from everyone, then it’s definitely something we can accomplish.”
The Bulldogs next take to the ice at Colgate on Friday at 7 pm.
The Yale women’s hockey team comes into this weekend’s crucial road trip to Union and RPI on an offensive hot streak, having tallied seven goals in its last two games. And with the strong play of goalie Jackee Snikeris ’11, who has 30-plus saves in five of her last six games, the Bulldogs (5–9–1, 6–14–2 ECAC), who are currently five points out of the final ECAC playoff spot, hope to make up ground on the two teams they are trailing for that spot, Colgate and St. Lawrence.
Snikeris and the Bulldogs are coming off a big 4–0 win over Brown Wednesday night, a game in which forward Jackie Raines ’14 had two goals and an assist to lead Yale. Raines is second on the team in scoring with 14 points, just behind forward Bray Ketchum ’11 (17 points), who also lit the lamp Wednesday.
“We know that we aren’t going to get the pretty goals,” Ketchum said after Wednesday’s win. “The last couple games, we’ve been getting shots from everywhere. We’ve generated a lot of rebounds and have been able to capitalize on them.”
The Bulldogs will have to continue to capitalize against an Engineer team that has surprised many with its performance in the ECAC thus far this season. At 7–8–1 in ECAC play, RPI sits in seventh in the conference, a half-game ahead of eighth-place St. Lawrence, the team the Bulldogs are chasing.
But first on the docket for Yale will be Union, the team the Bulldogs victimized in their first win of the season. Union is 0–14–2 so far in conference play, last in the ECAC. In the teams’ last meeting, Yale downed the Dutchwomen 4–1 on the back of goals from Jenna Ciotti ’14, who also scored Wednesday against Brown, Raines, Ketchum, and defenseman Tara Tomimoto ’13, who has been out for the last two weeks with an injury.
Injuries have proven to be a big factor for the Bulldogs, as Tomimoto and fellow defenseman Aurora Kennedy ’14 were out last weekend. Forward Jen Lawrence ’14 has also missed time of late with a nagging injury. Perhaps most importantly, however, is who will not be out with injury this weekend, as Snikeris was the one missing from the Yale squad last time the Bulldogs played the Engineers and Dutchwomen, but will be between the pipes this weekend.
“[Snikeris] has been outstanding ever since our freshman year, but this year she has really stepped up.” Ketchum said. “We know she is going to perform her best every game.”
That next game comes Friday night at 7 p.m., when the Bulldogs and Dutchwomen take to the ice as Yale looks to track down the last spot in the ECAC playoff picture.
Despite battling back in both contests, the Yale women’s hockey team (5–14–2, 4–9–1 ECAC) suffered two tough conference losses this weekend at the Whale; the first, a 2–1 decision to Dartmouth and the second a 5–3 defeat at the hands of rival Harvard.
Aleca Hughes ’12 scored three goals — one Friday night and two clutch goals Saturday — but she and the Bulldogs just could not muster enough offense to take down the Big Green (14–8, 10–6) or the Crimson (12–7–2, 11–3–2).
A tough day for the Yale special teams facilitated the Bulldogs’ demise on Friday. After killing off an impressive 24 straight penalties, the Yale penalty-kill unit relinquished a power-play goal late in the second period that turned into the game winner for Dartmouth. The Bulldogs killed off five other penalties in the course of the game, accumulating twelve total penalty minutes.
Staggeringly, Dartmouth bested that number, committing ten penalties of its own, yet the Yale power play proved unable to capitalize on a single one, ending the day 0–10 with the man-advantage.
After going down early on a Kelly Foley goal at 6:30 of the first period, Yale saw its deficit grow to two when the Big Green’s Erica Dobos deposited the eventual game-winner in the back of the Yale net at 16:30 of the second frame. Hughes pulled the Bulldogs within one at 13:25 in the third period off a feed from linemate Bray Ketchum ’11, but it was too little, too late for Yale, who despite having a 6-on-5 advantage with Snikeris out of net, were unable to tie things up.
Snikeris held Yale in the game with 35 saves, of which a large number were impressive stops on point-blank chances from Dartmouth. Following her big weekend against Clarkson and St. Lawrence last weekend and including that 35-save effort against the Big Green, Snikeris came into Saturday’s game against Harvard having made 105 saves in her last three games.
But if Harvard was intimidated by Snikeris’ recent success, they certainly didn’t seem it Saturday, as the Crimson scored four goals on 29 shots before adding an empty-netter late to seal the deal.
“I thought we played with them all game,” Flygh said in a press relase after the game. “They had some nice individual efforts for their goals. But our kids came to play, and that was evident. They weren’t going to give up.”
The Crimson’s Jillian Dempsey handed her team a 1–0 lead at just 4:35 of the first period, sliding into Snikeris and the net as she slapped the puck over the crease for a breakaway goal. But Yale finally overcame its power play frustrations just five minutes later, when Jenna Ciotti ’14 responded with a goal through the legs of Harvard goalie Laura Bellamy.
The game headed to the second tied, but didn’t stay that way for long. Crimson forward Lyndsey Frey’s wrister found the top shelf of the Yale net and gave Harvard a 2–1 lead. Liza Ryabkina then snuck another shot past a screened Snikeris to increase the deficit to two for the Crimson.
But it was Hughes again who responded to bring the Bulldogs back within striking distance, when a shot thrown on net by defenseman Jamie Gray ’13 rebounded to the doorstep where Hughes stuffed it in.
Harvard got another quick goal early in the third to go up 4–2, but with just over two minutes to go Hughes struck again, using a feed from Jackie Raines ’14 to set up a strong wrister and light the lamp, cutting the deficit to just one.
Yale opted to pull Snikeris yet again, but, like Friday night, were unable to capitalize on a few good scoring chances with the extra skater. Harvard’s Kate Buesser was able to turn a Yale turnover into a decisive empty-netter for the Crimson, making the final score 5–3.
“It’s frustrating when great team efforts don’t convert to wins” Hughes said after the game. “but if we continue to give it our all for a full 120 minutes each weekend I know we’ll be rewarded.”
Yale certainly hopes it can reap those rewards soon. With the losses, the Bulldogs fall to tenth in the ECAC, five points out of the final playoff spot. But fortunately, the two teams behind Yale in the standings are its next two opponents, Brown and Union, meaning that the Bulldogs are still alive as they hope to snag the last spot in the tournament picture.
Yale returns to action Tuesday night when they head to Providence for a mid-week date with Brown.
After a tough trip to the North Country last weekend, the Yale women’s hockey team returns home for a much-needed homeweekend as Harvard and Dartmouth come to town. Two tough losses, including a 2–1overtimeloss to the Golden Knights Friday night, dropped the Bulldogs out of the eighth and final playoff spot in the ECAC.
Though Yale will be happy to be back at the Whale for this weekend’s series, the Crimson and Big Green are more than capable of ruining the homecoming. Dartmouth (12–8, 8–6 ECAC Hockey) downed the Bulldogs in the two teams’ last meeting, and sits in a tie for third in the ECAC. The Big Green are coming off three straight wins, and feature goalie Lindsay Holdcroft ’14, named the ECAC’s Rookie of the Week last week.
Harvard (10–7–2, 9–3–2 ECAC Hockey) is second in the conferenceand topofthe Ivy League. In the teams’ last meeting inCambridge, goalie Jackee Snikeris ’11 got knocked out with an injury, and backup goalie Erin Callahan ’13 stepped up to hold the Bulldogs in it and muster a 3–3 tie for Yale’s first point at Cambridge since 1986. Adding intrigue to what is already Yale’s most heated rivalry is the presence of sophomore Whitney Kennedy on Harvard’s roster —sister of Yale defenseman Aurora Kennedy ’14, who scored the Bulldogs’ only goal last weekend.
That game-winner was Kennedy’s first career goal, and, along with Snikeris’ 70 combined saves, one of the positives that came out of last weekend.
“Moving forward, we need to have better energy in practice and everyone needs to do a better job buying into the team’s systems,” another defenseman, Heather Grant ’12, said after Saturday’s game. “If we can do that, then hopefully we can score some goals and be more successful next weekend.”
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.
The Yale women’s hockey team should be rested for this weekend’s trip to Clarkson and St. Lawrence.
The Bulldogs (5–10–2, 4–5–1 ECAC) were scheduled to play Brown last Wednesday, but due to harsh winter conditions, that game was moved to Feb. 15. Because of that, Yale will have gone 13 days without playing when it takes the ice at Clarkson Friday night.
In their last outing, the Bulldogs scored a decisive 3–1 win over Colgate, thanks in large part to a three-point performance from forward Bray Ketchum ’11, who had a goal and two assists. Ketchum and Jackie Raines ’14 helped Aleca Hughes ’12 tally a crucial goal early in the first that followed a tough goal from the Raiders that put Yale down early.
Following the equalizer from Hughes, the Bulldogs never looked back, using Ketchum’s goal midway through the second period and Jenna Ciotti’s ’14 goal later that period to take a lead they would not relinquish. Jackee Snikeris ’11 bounced back from a tough outing against No. 2 Cornell the night before to stop 33 of 34 shots in the win.
“We got a lot of quality scoring chances against Colgate and were able to capitalize on them,” Ketchum said after the game. “It was great to see every line clicking after changing the lines from the night before. We still need to improve in various aspects of our game but we’re moving in the right direction.”
The Bulldogs will try to maintain the momentum they built in that game this weekend, one made all the more important by the fact that Clarkson and St. Lawrence are both right around the Bulldogs in the ECAC standings. When the two teams hit the ice Friday, Yale and Clarkson will be tied for the eighth and final ECAC playoff spot, while St. Lawrence stands just ahead of both teams in seventh.
The Golden Knights (7–13–3, 4–6–1) will look for revenge as they defend their home ice Friday. Clarkson’s trip to the Whale earlier this season sent them home with a tough overtime loss courtesy of Aleca Hughes’ ’12 game-winner early in the extra period. The Saints (10–11–2, 5–6–0) fared better in their trip to New Haven, earning a 3–1 win.
Head coach Joakim Flygh’s new top line features three of the team’s top three scorers: Ketchum (six goals, 14 points), Raines (six goals, 10 points) and Hughes (four goals, six points). After missing the first half of the season with a knee injury, Snikeris has played to a .934 save percentage so far this season.
She and the Bulldogs head to upstate New York to face Clarkson Friday night at 4 p.m., followed by a game at St. Lawrence on Saturday at 7 p.m.
An emotional week for the Yale women’s hockey team ended with a big win over ECAC foe Colgate Saturday as the Bulldogs took down the Raiders 3–1 for its first win of 2011. That game was third in a brutal three-game stretch during which Yale fell to No. 6 Boston College, No. 2 Cornell and Colgate in their first action after nearly a month’s layoff for exams and the holidays. The Elis now stand in seventh place in the ECAC with six weeks of the regular season remaining.
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An early goal from the Eagles (13–3–4, 7–1–2 WHEA) doomed the Bulldogs in their first outing of 2011 as, despite a career-high 49 saves from goaltender Jackee Snikeris ’11, Yale could not overcome a 52–18 shot deficit.
Jackie Raines ’14 brought the Bulldogs to within a goal in the third when she lit the lamp at 2:56 of the final period, but that was all the Yale offense could muster, and the Eagles’ Taylor Wasylk added an empty-netter in the closing minutes to give No. 6 BC the 3–1 victory.
Things didn’t get any easier from there, as what was already certain to be a difficult weekend in light of news of the deterioration of Mandi Schwartz’s condition was made all the more difficult by the arrival of No. 2 Cornell (15–1–0, 10–0–0 ECAC) — the conference leader — to Ingalls in the midst of a blizzard Friday night. Despite missing six players to the Canadian women’s junior national squad in action at the MLP cup, the Big Red charged into Ingalls having been ranked first in the nation the previous week.
Even so, the Bulldogs gave their Ancient Eight rival all they could handle in the first 20 minutes, heading to the first intermission locked in a scoreless tie. But the Big Red — who still had their two leading scorers with them for their trip to New Haven — showed the potent offense that propelled them to the top of the national rankings, tallying three goals in the second period and outshooting Yale 16–5 in that frame.
Snikeris racked up the saves again, stopping 29 shots for the Bulldogs, but Cornell’s Lauren Slebodnick stopped all 23 Yale chances to give her team its eighth shutout of the season.
“Cornell was a tough loss for us,” captain Sam MacLean ’11 said. “They’re a good team but they were missing some of their key players and so it was a big opportunity for us. Going into Saturday’s game we were more relaxed and we were just trying to have fun and go back to the basics.”
There was no rest for the weary as Yale had to turn right around and play Colgate (6–13–2, 3–6–1 ECAC) less than 20 hours later, a team with which the Bulldogs were tied with for the eighth — and final — ECAC playoff spot coming into the weekend’s action. It looked as if the stress of the week had finally taken its toll, as the Raiders scored a goal just two minutes into the first period. But in what may prove to be one of the bigger goals the Bulldogs have scored all season, Aleca Hughes ’12 responded less than thirty seconds later with a goal of her own to tie the score and erase what had been a shaky opening few minutes.
The game stayed tied until midway through the second period when Bray Ketchum ’11 put the Bulldogs up on a goal assisted by new linemate Jackie Raines ’14. Up until Saturday’s game, Ketchum had joined Hughes and center Alyssa Zupon ’13 on Yale’s top line, but after what proved to be a tough opening stretch coming out of the break, first–year Coach Joakim Flygh shuffled the lineup, opting to put Raines, Yale’s second leading scorer behind Ketchum, in Zupon’s place.
That move paid off as Zupon’s new line, featuring Danielle Moncion ’13 and Jenna Ciotti ’14, tallied the Bulldogs’ third goal of the afternoon when a shot from defensemen Heather Grant ’12 was deflected multiple times before Ciotti finally got a decisive piece of the puck for her second goal of the season.
Snikeris was spectacular again for Coach Flygh and the Bulldogs, making 33 saves en route to the win which was not only important because of the crowded ECAC playoff picture, but also impressive as a culmination of what was a challenging week for the Bulldogs.
“It has been a tough week both on and off the ice,” Ketchum said after Saturday’s win. “We are trying to be really supportive of each other right now and show our love for Mands.”
With Schwartz’s jersey hanging behind them on their bench, the Bulldogs demonstrated great mental toughness bouncing back from what could’ve been a demoralizing loss to Cornell Friday night.
“I think the key to our success was generating offense early in the game. Aleca’s goal put us back in the game and boosted our mentality.” MacLean said. “In the second half of the season we’re going to need to continue to put the puck in the net and generate offense early on in game.”
The Bulldogs will look to score early on Wednesday evening when Brown (2–10–3, 1–6–2) makes the trip to Ingalls for Yale’s last home game before a grueling trip to St. Lawrence and Clarkson this weekend. That game will round out the first half of the ECAC season for Yale, who currently sits just ahead of St. Lawrence (9–10–2, 4–5) in seventh in the ECAC standings, making Brown a crucial win as the Bulldogs head into an even more important weekend.
“The win against Colgate was huge,” Ketchum said. “We still need to improve in various aspects of our game, but we’re moving in the right direction. Anything can happen in our league right now. Our goal is to be at the top come playoff time and we all believe this is feasible.”
Despite being outshot in both games, the Yale women’s hockey team was opportunistic in earning a weekend split.
The Bulldogs (4–8–2, 3–4–1 ECAC) were outshot 27–8 against Princeton (4–10–1, 4–6–1) Friday night, but capitalized on two power play chances to earn a tough 2–1 win. Yale then dropped a 3-1 game to Quinnipiac (13–6–1, 6–5–0) in which they were tied 1–1 after just a few minutes into the second period despite the shot deficit being 14–4 at that point.
The 3–1 loss was the Bulldogs’ last action before January, and as things stand in the ECAC now, Yale is tied for eighth out of 12 teams. Eight teams make the conference tournament.
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“I think our team is in a good place.” Hughes said. “We’ve hit some bumps in the road early on, but we are starting to emerge as a group …if we continue to work hard all day, every day in practice and bring that mentality to all 120 game minutes every weekend, I think we can put ourselves in a good playoff position.”
On Friday night Yale jumped out to an early lead, as forward Jackie Raines ’14 scored her fifth goal of the year off a feed from linemate Jenna Ciotti ’14.
The Bulldogs’ production continued two minutes later when a Princeton hooking penalty sent Yale on the power play again. This time the top unit of Bray Ketchum ’11, Aleca Hughes ’12, and Alyssa Zupon ’13 did the job for the Elis, as Ketchum fired the puck on net where Zupon got a piece of it and lit the lamp.
The Tigers were able to halve the lead early in the second period, but a perfect night for Yale on the penalty kill and 26 saves from reigning ECAC Goaltender of the Week Jackee Snikeris ’11 prevented the Tigers from closing the gap, and sent the Bulldogs back to Connecticut with the win.
Saturday’s matchup with Quinnipiac was the second in as many weeks for Yale, who had dropped a 2–1 decision to the Bobcats last Saturday. After its victory on Friday, the Bulldog penalty kill relinquished a goal just seconds into its first power play Saturday. Yale killed off three more penalties, but were able to muster just two shots in that frame.
Still, the Bulldogs headed to the first intermission down just one, and despite the huge shot differential found themselves tied less than three minutes into the second period, as Hughes stuffed a rebound past Quinnipiac goaltender Victoria Vigilante for the equalizer.
Kelly Babstock, who came into the weekend as the nation’s leading scorer, as only a freshman, for the Bobcats, regained the lead for Quinnipiac minutes later, and the Bobcats got some insurance in the third when a shot from the point found its way past Snikeris, who was screened by several members of the Bobcat power play unit.
“In spite of a slow start in the first period, I thought we played much better against Quinnipiac this time around,” defenseman Heather Grant ’12 said. “Even though we played better, the team was still pretty down after the game. Losing to Quinnipiac sucks, but we get another shot at them after Christmas, so hopefully things will go our way next time.”
The Bulldogs had a rough beginning to their season, as it took eight games for the Bulldogs to get their first win, a 4-1 drubbing of Union on November 13. But since that win, Yale has gone 3-3, and gotten a big boost from the return of Snikeris to the net after missing seven games with an injury.
Also contributing to the Bulldogs’ turnaround is the emergence of the freshmen class as an integral part of the Yale offense. Raines is leading the team in goals, and her line — rounded out by Ciotti and Jen Lawrence ’14 — has established itself as Coach Joakim Flygh’s second line.
“I think the freshmen have done a great job adjusting to college hockey,” Grant said. “We hoped they would be able to make an impact right away, and they’ve done just that. They scored our first goals of the year and have continued to generate many of our offensive opportunities. We need them to keep playing with confidence and putting the puck in the net in order for us to be successful.”
The freshmen class and the rest of the Bulldog squad will be challenged right away upon returning from break, as Hockey East leaders Boston College will make the trip to Ingalls Rink for a non-conference matchup before Yale returns to ECAC play. That game will be followed by a home weekend against ECAC leader Cornell and Colgate, and another home game against Brown before the Bulldogs start their second trip through the ECAC.
“In order to make a run at the tournament we need to bring our best effort to every shift, every period and every game.” Hughes said. “If we play 120 minutes of hockey every weekend and capitalize on our chances, I think we are going to surprise a lot of people.”
Following a tough one-goal loss to Quinnipiac (11–6–1, 4–5–0 ECAC) last Saturday, the Yale women’s hockey team (3–7–2, 2–3–1 ECAC) will have a chance at redemption against the Bobcats in a Saturday rematch, its last game action until Jan. 7. Prior to that showdown, the Bulldogs will travel to Princeton to take on the Tigers (3–9–1, 3–5–1 ECAC) in another important ECAC matchup Friday night.
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The loss to Quinnipiac saw goalie Jackee Snikeris ’11 make 41 saves in just her second game back from an injury, a performance that, when combined with her 28-save showing Friday in an upset win over the University of Connecticut, earned her ECAC Goalie of the Week honors in just her first week back.
Another senior, forward Bray Ketchum ’11 also comes into this weekend on a hot streak, having scored four goals in her last five games. Her line, made up of Ketchum, Aleca Hughes ’12 and Alyssa Zupon ’13, has accounted for more than half of the team’s fourteen goals over the same span.
“Bray, Aleca and I complement each other well because we all have different styles but each of us contributes a unique strength to the line’s dynamic.” Zupon said of the Bulldogs’ top line. “Every game, we want to set the tone for the team with aggression, a dynamic offense, power, and reliability … our line thrives on momentum, and once we start being successful, we feed off of that positive emotion and energy and refuse to slow down.”
Princeton, coming off a tough 2–1 loss to No. 5 BU, hopes to slow that line and the rest of the Bulldog offense down. Goalie Rachel Weber, though winless in the past six games for the Tigers, has played to a .904 save percentage over a span that has seen the Tigers play four ranked teams.
Quinnipiac’s Victoria Vigilante will also be a force to be reckoned with for the Bulldog offense. The sophomore made 22 saves against Yale in the Bobcat win Saturday and has kept opponents to 1.87 goals per game so far this season.
Her adversary, Snikeris, will also have her work cut out for her. The Bobcats sport freshman phenom Kelly Babstock, who leads the nation in points (33), and is third in goals (15) and second in assists (18). She was named ECAC Rookie of the Week this week, while teammate Kate Wheeler, whose goal beat the Bulldogs Saturday, was the conference’s Player of the Week.
“Quinnipiac plays aggressively all over the ice and we need to move the puck faster next weekend and keep them out of the front of the net,” Yale captain Sam MacLean ’11 said after Saturday’s game. “We can’t give them so many rebounds and shots from the point when they’re all crashing the net. I think we know what we have to work on to be more successful next weekend.”
The Bulldogs will look to put the lessons they learned Saturday to work this weekend as they face off against the Tigers and Bobcats in their last chance to make a mark before over a month off for exams and break.
The Yale women’s hockey team emerged from Thanksgiving break with two big wins — big because they came against tough teams and because of how much the Bulldogs had been struggling just weeks ago. After starting 0–5–2, Yale (3–7–2, 2–3–1 ECAC) has now won three of its last five games.
The Bulldogs went 2–2 over the break, losing to St. Lawrence before taking down Clarkson — a team that finished second in the ECAC last season — and the University of Connecticut — currently in second place in the Hockey East. After defeating UConn in the Nutmeg Classic First Round on Friday, the Bulldogs fell to Quinnipiac in the championship the next night.
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The Bulldogs’ break got off to a tough start, as Yale dropped a 3–1 decision to ECAC foe St. Lawrence (7–6–2, 3–2–0) at Ingalls Rink. The Saints scored two goals in a five-minute span late in the first period, added another in the third, and despite a late goal from Jackie Raines ’14, the Bulldogs’ comeback bid fell short.
Clarkson (6–8–3, 3–1–1) arrived at Ingalls undefeated in ECAC play, and after the Golden Knights got on the board with a goal just six minutes into the first period, it looked like they might depart unscathed as well. But Yale’s first-line center Alyssa Zupon ’13 got a piece of a shot from defenseman Tara Tomimoto ’13 to answer the Clarkson goal and send the game to the first intermission tied up.
A Clarkson power play goal late in the second period gave the Golden Knights the lead heading into the third, but after numerous near misses from Zupon and her linemates Bray Ketchum ’11 and Aleca Hughes ’12, Ketchum finally connected for the equalizer after dodging multiple Clarkson defenders and falling to the ice mid-shot.
Despite a few late chances, Clarkson was unable to get the go-ahead goal, and the game went to overtime where the line of Ketchum, Zupon and Hughes struck again. After the Golden Knights turned the puck over in their own zone thanks to an aggressive forecheck from Hughes, the junior forward deposited a wrister into the top corner of Clarkson goalie Erica Howe’s net for the game-winner.
“The win against Clarkson was awesome,” Ketchum said. “We showed a lot of character by coming back and it gave us great momentum going into the overtime. Overtime is usually stressful, but we outplayed them and showed a lot of poise.”
Among the Bulldogs who impressed was goalie Genny Ladiges ’12. Following the injury to senior Jackee Snikeris ’11 early in the season, Ladiges started seven straight games, including the win against Clarkson, a game in which she saved a stellar 38 shots. In addition to being between the pipes for two of Yale’s three wins so far this season, Ladiges played to a .929 save percentage and averaged over 30 saves per game, giving first-year coach Joakim Flygh and the Bulldogs quite the goaltending tandem in combination with Snikeris, a first-team All-Ivy selection last season.
Yale welcomed Snikeris back to the lineup Friday for its opener in the Nutmeg Classic Tournament — a four-team competition featuring Yale, Sacred Heart, UConn and host Quinnipiac — the four Division I women’s hockey teams in Connecticut. The Bulldogs faced off against the Huskies (6–8–1, 4–2–1), a perennial Hockey East power.
Snikeris was tested right away, as UConn got some tough shots on net right from the get-go, but captain Sam MacLean ’11 made sure it was the Bulldogs who bit first, ripping a slap shot by goalie Alexandra Garcia to give her team the 1–0 lead. After dominating for much of the next 20 minutes, Ketchum scored eight minutes into the second to extend the Bulldogs’ lead, but the Huskies answered with a tough goal on a puck that appeared to bounce out before crossing the red line, but was ruled to have gotten by Snikeris and into the goal to cut Yale’s lead in half.
Raines then capitalized on a rebound off a Tomimoto shot to push the Bulldogs’ lead back to two, and just minutes later Jen Lawrence ’14 (two goals) tipped a Raines shot in to send the score to 4–1. After a power play goal with five minutes to go cut the Huskies’ deficit to two, Ketchum added an empty-netter, her second goal of the game, to seal the 5–2 win.
“Every line played well [against UConn]” Ketchum said. “That’s what we need. A couple of the freshmen really stepped up and helped us out. We used our speed and we attacked the net from the corners, which is what we wanted to do. It was a great team effort.”
With the momentum of that big win carrying them, Yale headed into the Nutmeg Championship against rival Quinnipiac (11–6–1, 4–5–0) hoping to extend their win streak to three. After a back-and-forth first period that featured no penalties, Quinnipiac jumped out to a 1-0 lead with a last-minute goal on a puck that the Bulldogs simply could not clear from Snikeris’ crease, giving the Bobcats one-too-many chances.
Yet early in the second, the line of Zupon, Hughes and Ketchum had their say again, as the puck found its way into the crease of Quinnipiac’s goalie Victoria Vigilanti, and Zupon snuck her way through the Bobcat defense and found herself open on the doorstep and free to convert on a loose puck. The Bobcats started to increase the shot differential throughout the second, but Snikeris made save after save to keep the game tied until just nine minutes were left in the period, when Quinnipiac’s Brittany Lyons found the back of the net on a shot Snikeris tipped, but couldn’t stop.
Yale battled throughout the remainder of the game, but while Snikeris’ 41 saves kept the Bulldog deficit to just one, Quinnipiac controlled the puck for much of the third, outshooting Yale 43-21 overall.
“QPac plays aggressively all over the ice,” MacLean said. “We need to move the puck faster next weekend and keep them out of the front of the net. We can’t give them so many rebounds and shots from the point when they’re all crashing the net.”
Both Bobcat goals came on loose pucks or rebounds that the Bulldogs failed to clear, but, as their captain noted, Yale gets another shot at their cross-town rival next weekend, following their Friday date at Princeton.
“Yesterday’s loss was really tough for us.” MacLean said. “We really wanted to bring the Nutmeg championship home, but I think we learned a lot from that game that will help us prepare for when we face them next weekend.”
The Bulldogs take on the Tigers Friday at 4 p.m., followed by a rematch with Quinnipiac at the TD Banknorth Sports Center Saturday at 4 p.m.
