February 28, 2013

ECAC Women's Hockey Championship Coverage

PRINCETON, N.J. -- Cornell, Harvard and Dartmouth pepper the eight-team field for the 2013 ECAC Women's Ice Hockey Championship, commencing this weekend with the best-of-three quarterfinal round.

Cornell (23-5-1, 18-3-1 ECAC Hockey, 8-1-1 Ivy League) and Harvard (21-5-3, 17-3-2 ECACH, 8-1-1 Ivy) tied for this year's Ivy League title but the Big Red edged Clarkson and the Crimson by one point to get the tournament's No. 1 seed. Cornell has made three-straight championship games, winning it all in 2010 and 2011 to secure ECAC Hockey's automatic bid into the National Collegiate Women's Ice Hockey Championship.

Harvard and Clarkson ended the regular season even with 36 points each in ECAC Hockey play but, due to a season sweep over the Crimson, the Golden Knights earned the No. 2 seed and Harvard fell to the No. 3 seed. Katey Stone's squad hosts sixth-seeded Dartmouth (16-8-5, 11-7-4 ECACH, 6-2-2 Ivy) in the quarterfinals to open the 29th championship.

The quarterfinals winners advance to the semifinals on Friday, March 8 with the semifinal winners meeting in the championship game on Saturday, March 9 at 4 p.m. The 2013 Women's Hockey Championship continues to follow the format adapted in 2010 such that the semifinals and championship game will be conducted on the campus of the highest remaining seed.

QUARTERFINALS (Best-of-three series)
Friday-Sunday, March 1-3
No. 8 Colgate at No. 1 Cornell
Friday, March 1 - 7 pm
Saturday, March 2 - 4 pm
Sunday, March 3 (if necessary) - 4 pm

No. 6 Dartmouth at No. 3 Harvard
Friday, March 1 - 4 pm
Saturday, March 2 - 2 pm
Sunday, March 3 (if necessary) - 2 pm

SEMIFINALS
Friday, March 8
Game 1: Quarterfinal Winners, 4 pm
Game 2: Quarterfinal Winners, 7:30 pm

CHAMPIONSHIP
Saturday, March 9
Semifinal No. 1 Winner vs. Semifinal No. 2 Winner, 4 pm