No. 4 Big Green Plays Host to No. 5 Colgate in First Round for Second-Straight Year

2/26/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Ice Hockey

By: Dartmouth

HANOVER, N.H. - The fourth-seeded Dartmouth women's hockey team opens its 19th-straight ECAC Hockey Tournament this weekend as the Big Green host the fifth-seeded Colgate Raiders in the opening round of the 2009 ECAC Hockey Women's Championship.

The two teams will match up on Friday afternoon at 3:30 p.m., with game two on Saturday at 2 p.m. from Thompson Arena. On Sunday, if necessary, Dartmouth and Colgate will play the deciding game at 2 p.m.

ECAC Hockey Tournament games will be available for viewing by a global audience through B2 Networks. Fans wanting to watch hockey games via B2 Networks will need a high-speed Internet connection and a current version of Microsoft Windows Media Player. Individual tournament games can be purchased for $8 (US) with Championship Round passes available for $20.

LAST TIME OUT
The Big Green finished the 2008-09 regular season earning only one point in the final weekend after making an unbelievable four-goal comeback in the last period of play. Down 4-0 going into the third period, Dartmouth fought back with four goals, two on the power play to earn the tie and had a chance to earn the top seed in the ECAC Hockey Tournament, if the Big Green could take down St. Lawrence. Unfortunately, Dartmouth fell 4-3 after coming up short on another third period comeback.

NATIONAL POLLS
Dartmouth dropped to the 10th spot in this week's national poll, which is the lowest the Big Green has been all season long. Princeton and Harvard gained the most spots as the Tigers are now in ninth, while the Crimson jumped up to seventh. Minnesota remained at No. 1 earning all 19 first-place votes.

ECAC HOCKEY STANDINGS
The Big Green finished the regular season in fourth place with 30 points, after earning only one point in each of the last two weekends. Harvard earned its second-straight ECAC Hockey Regular Season title after sweeping the weekend with SLU and Clarkson. The Crimson finished the campaign with 11-straight conference victories with the last loss coming against the Big Green on Jan. 6.

ECAC TOURNAMENT REGULARS
Dartmouth will be making its 19th-straight appearance in the ECAC Hockey Tournament. Dartmouth has won three ECAC Hockey Tournaments (2002, 2003, 2007).

PINK AT THE RINK
For second year the Dartmouth women's hockey team took part in the Pink at the Rink promotion, which is a partnership between ECAC Hockey and the American Cancer Society to raise awareness for cancer around the league. The Big Green skated in warm ups with pink-wrapped sticks, which are available online for auction. It is the men's teams turn to don the pink as teams around the league will be wearing black jerseys with a little pink displayed.

ONE SPECIAL CLASS
Dartmouth honored this special class of seniors last weekend. There are seven seniors that when they came to Dartmouth they were thrown into competition from the get go. With multiple players away for the Olympics this group filled in and did an excellent job. Senior co-captains Shannon Bowman and Sarah Newnam, along with Maggie Kennedy, Carli Clemis, Katie Gray, Marley McMillan and Julia Bronson are the seven skaters that were honored. The group has posted a 73-35-16 record in their four years and made two NCAA appearances with an Ivy League and an ECACHL Championship.

ONE-GOAL GAMES
The Big Green has played four one-goal games in their last six contests with the other two ending in ties. Dartmouth has played in eight one-goal games this season and has a 4-4 record in those games. The fourth loss came last Saturday against No. 7 SLU as the Saints held off a late charge by the Big Green for the 4-3 win.

FINAL FRAME COMEBACK
Against Yale on Feb. 7, Dartmouth trailed the Bulldogs going into the third period. With two third period goals against Yale the Big Green erased a one-goal deficit with two goals in the final nine minutes. It was only the second win this season when trailing going into the third period. The Big Green came back from its largest deficit in the third period against Clarkson with four final period goals to earn a 4-4 tie. Dartmouth is 2-4-3 when falling behind after two periods. The Big Green had the same situation on Saturday at Cornell, except this time it was a two-goal deficit and Dartmouth fired back with two power play goals to earn the 3-3 tie.

PUTTING THE PUCK IN THE NET
Dartmouth has remained the top scoring team in the league throughout the season, averaging 3.54 goals per game. The Big Green went on a stretch where the team averaged 5.6 goals per game, but since then Dartmouth has earned only 2.5 goals per game and the Big Green is 2-2-2 over that stretch. Dartmouth is 15-2-2 this season when scoring three or more goals in a game.

REELING 'EM IN
Freshman Reagan Fischer has been a welcomed addition to the scoring attack for the Big Green. She is second on the team with 12 goals and she has added nine assists for 21 points this season. She was named ECAC Hockey Rookie of the Week on Jan. 12 following a four-point weekend at Yale and Brown. She added to her scoring total with power play goal against St. Lawrence and recorded two assists against Clarkson for a three-point weekend.

FIRST YEAR SUCCESS
Freshman Kelly Foley has joined Fischer as a first-year scoring threat for the Big Green. She has 20 points on the season with 11 goals and nine assists. Her four power play goals are tied with Fischer for the freshman lead and the two are tied for fourth on the team in the category.

NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTION
Senior co-captain Shannon Bowman has been on a scoring tear in 2009. She posted a season-high nine-game point streak. During the streak, she posted three multi-point games and the streak was a team-high for this season. Her highest point total came in the win over Brown as she had a goal and two assists, which was a season-high. She became the third member of this year's squad to reach the milestone with three points over the weekend, including a goal in the third period to reach 100 points in her career.

100-POINT CLUB
Senior forward Maggie Kennedy became the 28th Big Green skater to reach 100 points with two points against Harvard on Dec. 17. In her career she has posted 39 goals and 66 assists for 105 points in three-plus years with Dartmouth. Kennedy is proving again to be one of the best players in the league. She currently has a two-game point streak. She has only been held scoreless in six games this season. Junior Sarah Parsons became the 29th member with a goal and assist over the weekend to give her 101 points in two-plus seasons.

PEPPERING THE GOALTENDER
Dartmouth has only been outshot in five games this season and in those games, the Big Green is 0-3-2. When the Big Green has the advantage over its opponents Dartmouth is 16-5-2. Despite only earning one point this last weekend, the Big Green still outshot both of their opponents.

THE PUCK STOPS HERE
Senior netminder Carli Clemis has been very impressive this season and became the fourth netminder to reach 50 wins in a career with the win over Brown on Feb. 6. She recorded her fourth shutout of the season and 10th of her career with 31 stops at Harvard on Jan. 6. Earlier this year, Clemis became the first Dartmouth goaltender to record three-consecutive shutouts and did not give up a goal in 212 minutes. With the two wins over Brown and Yale, she passed Kelley Coyne '90 for third all-time in wins with 54. She has posted a 54-23-12 mark in three-plus years for a .674 winning percentage.

POWER IS BACK IN POWER PLAY
Midway through the season, the power play numbers were down for the Big Green. Recently, however, Dartmouth has attacked its opponents on the man advantage, going 25 for its last 66 opportunities for a 37.8% conversion rate. For the season the Big Green is third in the league with 36 goals on the power play and is second with a 22.4% success rate. Sophomore Amanda Trunzo leads the conference with nine goals on the man advantage this season.

AGAINST RANKED TEAMS
Dartmouth has faced top teams six times this season. Dartmouth is currently 1-5 against ranked teams this season. The one win coming against then #4 Boston College on Nov. 5. The Big Green dropped two games to then ranked No. 7 Minnesota-Duluth and also lost to St. Lawrence who was No. 5 in the nation. Recently it was No. 8 New Hampshire who took down the Big Green. The matchup with St. Lawrence was the first against a ranked team since the 8-3 loss to New Hampshire on Jan. 16 and lost most recently to No. 7 St. Lawrence.