Flawless First Period Sends No. 9 Big Green to ECAC Hockey Championship Game

Saturday, March 7

Cambridge, Mass.

4:35 p.m.

Dartmouth College

St. Lawrence

Flawless First Period Sends No. 9 Big Green to ECAC Hockey Championship Game

3/7/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Ice Hockey

By: Dartmouth

Box Score

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. ? The ninth-ranked Dartmouth women's hockey team netted three first period goals and never looked back as the Big Green cruised to a 5-2 win over eighth-ranked St. Lawrence to move on to the ECAC Hockey Championship Game.

Dartmouth (19-9-4) spread out the wealth with five different goal scorers, while junior Sarah Parsons (Dover, Mass.) was the lone Big Green skater with two points on a goal and an assist. Senior goaltender Carli Clemis (Taber, Alta.) came to play between the pipes as she made 26 saves including 21 in the final two periods to tie Amy Ferguson '03 for first all-time in postseason wins with nine. Clemis also tied Ferguson for most games played at 96 for her career.

For St. Lawrence (24-10-3), Alison Domenico and Courtney Sawchuck were the goal scorers, while goaltender Brittony Chartier pushed aside 20 shots in the defeat.

Dartmouth broke the ice first just 3:25 into the game to take a 1-0 lead on freshman Reagan Ficher's (Irma, Alta.) 15th of the season. Junior Sarah Toupal (White Bear Lake, Minn.) was credited with the assist. Toupal skated behind the Saints net and found a wide open Fischer atop the crease and she beat Chartier on the glove side for the lead.

Senior Shannon Bowman (Leamington, Ont.) gave the Big Green a 2-0 advantage on the power play with her eight tally of the year and fifth of her postseason career coming at the 14:22 mark. Junior Sarah Parsons (Dover, Mass.) put the original shot on net that Chartier could not control and Bowman kept whacking at the puck. She made contact and gave the Big Green a two-goal advantage.

The Big Green didn't stop there in the first period. Freshman Kelly Foley (Boston, Mass.) put Dartmouth in a commanding position with her first postseason goal and 12th of the year. Senior Julia Bronson (Arlington, Va.) spotted Foley from the Big Green bench and caught her in stride at the offensive blueline. Foley broke in all alone and wristed a shot past the glove of Chartier, which tucked underneath the crossbar for the 3-0 advantage.

After a scoreless second period, Dartmouth increased its lead to 4-0 with a power play goal coming from junior Jenna Cunningham (Medicine Hat, Alta.). It was her 12th of the season and second of the postseason. The goal came right after the Big Green had a goal called back because a skate was in the crease. Cunningham got the net at the far post and dove at the puck and beat Chartier.

Parsons scored her first of the night and sixth of this postseason with 8:54 left in the final period with assist going to senior co-captain Sarah Newnam (Clifton, Va.). With the goal, Parsons moved up to third all-time on the Big Green's postseason goal-scoring list as she has 11 in her three visits to the second season.

St. Lawrence made a push in the final minutes with back-to-back goals to cut the lead to 5-2. The first came with an extra skater on the ice with 3:19 remaining. Domenico shifted around the net and as she did Clemis lost an edge. Domenico saw the open net at the near post and beat a sprawling Dartmouth defender to get the Saints on the board. Sawchuck closed out the scoring with a shorthanded goal with 1:37 left in the game.

Dartmouth finished the night with two power play goals in six chances, while the St. Lawrence tallied one power play goal in seven opportunities. The extra man goal by Saints was also on the power play.

The Big Green return to the Bright Hockey Center tomorrow afternoon at 2 p.m. as the Big Green looks to capture its fourth ECAC Hockey Tournament Championship and with that an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. Fourth-seeded Dartmouth will be taking on sixth-seeded Rensselaer, who defeated Harvard 3-2 in overtime to earn its first trip to the championship game.