ECAC TOURNAMENT CHAMPS - Women's Hockey Captures Fourth ECAC Hockey Tournament Title

Sunday, March 8

Cambridge, Mass.

2:00 p.m.

Dartmouth College

Rensselaer

ECAC TOURNAMENT CHAMPS - Women's Hockey Captures Fourth ECAC Hockey Tournament Title

3/8/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Ice Hockey

By: Dartmouth

Box Score

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. ? The fourth-seeded Dartmouth women's hockey team netted five unanswered goals to close out its fourth ECAC Hockey Tournament Championship as the Big Green defeated sixth-seeded Rensselaer, 6-1, on Sunday afternoon at the Bright Hockey Center.

With the win, Dartmouth earned the automatic bid into the 2009 NCAA Women's Hockey Tournament and the Big Green will enter as the eighth-seed and will play at top-seeded Wisconsin on Saturday at 2 p.m. EST at Wisconsin's Kohl Center. This will be Dartmouth's seventh NCAA appearance and third-consecutive trip.

Just like the night before against St. Lawrence, Dartmouth spread out the wealth with six different scorers. Junior Sarah Parsons (Dover, Mass.) led the way with a goal and two assists and was named the Most Outstanding Player. Sophomore Amanda Trunzo (Andover, Minn.) also posted a goal and two assists on the afternoon, while senior co-captain Shannon Bowman (Leamington, Ont.) and classmate Maggie Kennedy (West Hartford, Conn.) each tallied a goal and an assist.

Senior Carli Clemis (Taber, Alta.) became Dartmouth's all-time leader in goaltending postseason wins with her 10th career win in the second season as she made 15 saves. She also passed Amy Ferguson '03 in games played between the pipes in a career with her 97th appearance in net.

For Rensselaer (19-14-4), Jill Vandegrift tallied the lone goal with the assist going to Nicole McDonald and Sonja van der Bliek pushed aside 28 saves in the loss.

Dartmouth (20-9-4) jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead 2:43 into the contest on sophomore Alyssa Boehm's (Waterford Conn.) first postseason goal and second of the year. Parsons skated out of the Big Green zone, creating a 2-on-1 situation and flipped a pass over the stick of the Rensselaer defender and onto Boehm's stick. Boehm settled it down and beat van der Bliek between the pads.

The Big Green dominated most of the first period with an 11-4 shot advantage and had the lone power play of the frame, but didn't capitalize. Dartmouth had multiple scoring opportunities, but van der Bliek came up big for the Engineers in the first.

In the second period, Rensselaer got back into the game as Vandegrift knotted the game at 1-1 7:27 in the frame. McDonald was in the corner, fired a pass infront and Vandegrift tipped it home past a surprised Clemis.

Dartmouth answered just over a minute later as Bowman put the Big Green back on top with her ninth of the season. She received a pass from Parsons and forced a backhand on van der Bliek, who got a piece of the puck but it trickled over the red line to give the lead back to Dartmouth at 2-1.

The Big Green increased the lead to 3-1 on the power play with 7:26 remaining in the second period. Kennedy fired a shot from the left point that rose up and over the glove of van der Bliek. Bronson and Bowman were credited with the assists. Bowman moved into second on Dartmouth's all-time postseason assist list as she has 14 in her career.

Rensselaer had a great opportunity to get back in the game with a 5-on-3 power play chance, but couldn't get a shot on net. Melissa Boik provided another chance for the Engineers with a breakaway from a blocked shot. Boik tried a forehand to a backhand move, but Clemis sprawled out and covered the post for the save.

Shots in the second period favored Dartmouth with a 12-8 advantage, while Rensselaer had three power play opportunities and did not score. The Big Green went one of two with the extra skater in the second.

Dartmouth opened it up with 14:57 left in the game as junior Jenna Cunningham (Medicine Hat, Alta.) notched her 13th of the season and third of the postseason. The Big Green broke in the offensive end on a 2-on-1 and Trunzo played pass with Cunningham, who beat van der Bliek on the stick side to push the lead to 4-1.

Parsons added to her postseason numbers with her seventh of the second season as she gave Dartmouth a 5-1 cushion midway from through the final period. The goal came on the power play as Bowman slid a pass to Trunzo, who found Parsons camped out at the far post. Parsons got the puck and lifted it just under the crossbar for the score. It was her 12th postseason point this year, which leads the Big Green.

Trunzo added more insurance with five minutes remaining with her team-leading 22nd of the season. She received a pass from Kennedy and skated from the side of the net and scooped a backhand past van der Bliek to close out the scoring at 6-1.

Dartmouth once again came to play on the power play as the Big Green finished with two goals on the man advantage on four chances. Rensselaer went scoreless in five opportunities and Dartmouth finished with a 34-16 shot advantage.

ECAC Hockey also named the all-tournament team and the selections were as follows: Forward Shannon Bowman (Dartmouth), forward Whitney Naslund (Rensselaer), forward Sarah Parsons (Dartmouth), defenseman Laura Gersten (Rensselaer), defenseman Julia Bronson (Dartmouth) and goaltender Sonja van der Bliek (Rensselaer).

The NCAA Tournament kicks off this coming weekend with the Big Green heading to Wisconsin to face the top-seeded Badgers at 2 p.m.