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Women's Ice Hockey January Recap: Ivy Title Race Coming Into Focus
PRINCETON, N.J. -- With January drawing to a close, the Ivy League women’s hockey Championship chase is heating up as all six teams have played at least seven of 10 Ivy League games. Currently, Cornell is in control with 14 points from eight games played.
Princeton is second with 11 points, also in eight games played. Dartmouth, Harvard, Brown and Yale have all played seven Ivy League games and the Big Green leads that group with nine points.
Both Princeton and Dartmouth remain in the title hunt as each could reach 15 points in the Ivy League standings. However, those two rivals will square off with a chance to eliminate each other from Ivy contention at 7:00 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 3 in Hanover, N.H. If there is a loser in the Princeton-Dartmouth game, that team would be eliminated from Ivy title contention. If the two teams were to tie, they would remain capable of tying Cornell in the standings but the Big Red would be assured at least a share of the 2012 Ivy League title.
After playing Dartmouth on Friday, the Tigers take on Harvard at 4:00 p.m. on Saturday afternoon in the weekend’s only other Ivy-Ivy matchup. If Princeton comes away with two wins this weekend or a win versus Dartmouth and a tie to the Crimson, the Ivy title would still be up for grabs. But if Princeton were to defeat Dartmouth and then fall to the Crimson, Cornell would claim the 2012 title in outright fashion.
In Ivy games only, the Cornell duo of freshman forward Jillian Saulnier (six goals, four assists) and senior forward Catherine White (four goals, six assists) are tied for the League lead in points with 10. Saulnier’s six goals are tied for the Ivy lead with Dartmouth senior forward Kelly Foley, while Cornell sophomore forward Brianne Jenner leads in assists with seven. In net, Princeton senior Rachel Weber has the top mark in goals against average (0.87) and save percentage (.969).
Aside from chasing the Ivy title, the teams enter February jockeying for position in the ECAC Hockey standings as the 2012 Tournament draws closer. The top-eight teams will make the tournament and play best-of-three quarterfinals series at campus sites as determined by the higher seeds the weekend of Feb. 24-26. The semifinals and championship games will then take place the following weekend on March 2 and 3.
Brown
The Bears are fifth in the Ivy standings (2-5-0) and tied for
eighth in ECAC Hockey (4-8-4) … Brown is 2-2-1 over its last
five games and went 3-4-2 overall in the month of January …
most recently, the Bears dropped home games to Dartmouth (3-1) and
Harvard (3-0) on Jan. 27 and 28 … Brown is back in action on
Feb. 3 and 4 when it makes a two-game road trip to play at ECAC
foes Clarkson and St. Lawrence.
Cornell
The Big Red lead the Ivy League (7-1-0) and ECAC Hockey (14-2-0)
standings and are ranked second in the nation … Cornell went
9-1 in January, with the lone loss coming at Clarkson on Jan. 28 by
the score of 5-3 … the night before, Cornell snapped St.
Lawrence’s nine-game winning streak with a 6-4 victory for
its ninth-straight win … Cornell plays host to ECAC foes
Rensselaer and Union this weekend.
Dartmouth
The Big Green is third in the Ivy League (4-2-1) and in ECAC
Hockey (10-4-2) … coming off a weekend sweep of Brown (3-1)
and Yale (6-0) on Jan. 27 and 28, the Big Green closed out the
month with an impressive 8-1-1 record … Dartmouth’s
lone loss was a 1-0 overtime game that then third-ranked Cornell
won … dating back to Dec. 11, Dartmouth has won nine of its
last 11 games (9-1-1) … the Big Green hosts Princeton in a
an important Ivy League showdown at 7:00 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 3,
and then Quinnipiac at 4:00 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 4.
The Crimson is fourth in the Ivy standings (3-4-0) and second in ECAC Hockey (11-4-1) … Harvard went 6-3-1 in January including winning three of its last four games … most recently though, Harvard dropped a 5-2 decision at Boston Univ. on Jan. 31 in the first round of the Beanpot … the Crimson offense has come alive as of late and averaged over four goals a game over its last four contests (4.25) … Harvard plays host to Quinnipiac and Princeton on Feb. 3 and 4.
Princeton
The Tigers are second in the Ivy standings (5-2-1) and seventh in ECAC Hockey (7-7-2) … Princeton went 3-1-1 in the month of January … the Tigers closed out the month with a 3-2 home win over Robert Morris on Monday night … freshman defenseman Ali Pankowski scored the game-winning goal in the second period and senior Rachel Weber made 22 saves in net to lead Princeton … the Tigers play an important Ivy set of games this weekend at Dartmouth on Feb. 3 and at Harvard on Feb. 4.
Yale
The Bulldogs are sixth in the Ivy League (0-7-0) and 12th in ECAC Hockey (1-15-0) … senior goaltender Genny Ladiges has made 40 or more saves five times in the last seven games for Yale … the Bulldogs are looking to snap a 16-game losing streak at St. Lawrence and Clarkson this weekend on Feb. 3 and 4.
