Boston College and Wisconsin both get sweeps in top-10 battles
As was the case last year, No. 2 Boston College left little doubt as to which was the better team as it dropped No. 9 Cornell twice, 4-1 and 8-0. Although the Big Red had the benefit of home ice this year in its debut, the goal disparity was even greater than it was a year ago when they fell twice by 6-2 scores.
Alex Carpenter’s 100th goal of her career broke a 1-1 tie on Friday at 9:17 of the third period. That came on a power play, and she added the game’s final goal into an empty net while BC had two skaters in the penalty box. Paula Voorheis suffered the loss for Cornell, despite stopping 40 of 42 shots. Carpenter netted a hat trick on Saturday, and Makenna Newkirk and Haley Skarupa also had three-point games. Katie Burt turned in a clean slate with 23 saves.
Ann-Renée Desbiens and No. 3 Wisconsin blanked No. 6 Bemidji State for the weekend, 3-0 and 4-0. Desbiens has a national-best five shutouts for the season, and Wisconsin has turned in six straight. Rachel Jones and Sam Cogan scored first-period goals, and Annie Pankowski added an empty-netter on Friday. Sarah Nurse returned to the Badgers’ line-up on Saturday after a two-game absence and scored the only goal her team would need at the 5:40 mark. Erika Sowchuk tallied twice.
Back-to-back hats
No. 4 Clarkson got a hat trick each day from Cayley Mercer in sweeping New Hampshire, 4-2 and 6-4. She completed the feat 1:30 into the third period on Friday and had the hats flying at 13:42 of the second period on Saturday. The Golden Knights Loren Gabel scored on Friday before tallying twice and adding a helper on Saturday; Jonna Curtis matched that production for the Wildcats.
Northeastern sends a message in Hockey East
No. 10 Northeastern served notice that it will be a contender in HEA play this year, opening its conference slate with wins over Boston University, 7-1, and Providence, 4-0. Seven different Huskies scored and seven had two points as Brittany Bugalski frustrated the Terriers with 30 saves. She picked up her first collegiate shutout over the Friars, as Denisa Krížová figured in all the goals, two of which came off the stick of Kendall Coyne.
How the rest of the top 10 fared
Despite trailing for the first time this season, No. 1 Minnesota got the sweep of Minnesota-Duluth, 5-2 and 6-1. The Bulldogs broke on top Friday night behind power-play goals from Ashleigh Brykaliuk and Lara Stalder, and yeoman’s work in net by rookie Maddie Rooney, who finished with 43 saves. Senior Milica McMillen had three assists in the Gophers’ rally, lifting her above the 100-point mark for her career, becoming the sixth Minnesota defenseman in program history to accomplish that feat. Hannah Brandt boosted her career point total to 239 with three assists in the series, moving her ahead of Krissy Wendell and into second place for the program. Kelly Pannek had three goals and three assists in the series, and Dani Cameranesi also scored three times.
Dartmouth got the better of opening night versus No. 5 Harvard, as the hosts triumphed 2-1. Miye D’Oench drew first blood for the Crimson, but Lindsey Allen’s tying goal just beat the first-period buzzer. Allen assisted Kennedy Ottenbreit’s winning tally in the second period. Robyn Chemago made 20 saves.
After a 3-0 win on Friday, No. 7 North Dakota could only salvage a 4-4 tie with St. Cloud State on Saturday. Shelby Amsley-Benzie needed just six saves to get the shutout. She got offensive help from Layla Marvin, Meghan Dufault on a penalty shot, and an empty-net dagger from Gracen Hirschy. After being shut out in all five of its previous WCHA contests, SCSU finally figured out where the net was on Saturday. Molly Illikainen’s short-handed goal four minutes into the game started the senior on her way to a hat trick. Illikainen tallied her third goal 66 seconds into the third period, and to that point, UND had only an extra-attacker, delayed-penalty goal by Kayla Gardner. Hannah Potrykus upped the Huskies lead to 4-1 at 11:35 of the period before things got really interesting. UND pulled goalie Lexie Shaw a half minute later and was rewarded with three extra-attacker goals over the final four and a half minutes of the frame, two by Amy Menke sandwiched around one from Marvin. Payge Pena scored in the fourth round of the shootout after a scoreless overtime to gain the Huskies an extra point.
No. 8 Quinnipiac remained undefeated with a 6-3 victory over Yale in a nonconference game. The Bobcats outscored the Bulldogs 2-1 in all three periods. Nicole Kosta led the way with two goals and an assist, while Melissa Samoskevich had a goal and two assists. Krista Yip-Chuck was the only player for Yale to have a multi-point game with a goal plus a helper.
Other action
Princeton kicked off its season with a road sweep over Mercyhurst, 3-2 and 2-1. Senior Kimberly Newell made 28 saves in getting Friday’s win and added another 27 on Saturday. Morgan Sly and Audrey Potts had a goal plus an assist on Friday, with Cristin Shanahan netting the deciding goal at 11:21 of the third period. Karlie Lund and Sly tallied in the second game.
A week after recording its first league win, Merrimack added its first victory outside of Hockey East, stopping Colgate, 4-2, after the Raiders had taken the series opener, 4-3. On Friday, Breanne Wilson-Bennett scored the deciding goal with under three minutes left, after Colgate twice rallied from a goal down. Katelyn Rae scored twice and Jackie Pieper once for the Warriors, and Shae Labbe, Lauren Wildfang, and Annika Zalewski hit the twine for the Raiders. Samantha Ridgewell made 47 saves and picked up her second win on Saturday. Colgate got tying goals from Bailey Larson and Wildfang, but this time, it was Marie Delarbre that decided the matter in Merrimack’s favor, her second of the game. Paige Voight and Meghan Martin had the other Warriors goals.
Vermont got its first win of the season, 3-1, over Providence. Molly Depew made 23 saves to out-duel Madison Myers. Dayna Colang, Bridge Baker, and Victoria Andreakos scored for the Catamounts, the third into an empty net.
Boston University bounced back with a 5-2 defeat of Vermont. Maddie Elia led all scorers with two goals and an assist.
Jenny Potter coached her first WCHA wins, sweeping Minnesota State, 5-3 and 4-0. Claudia Kepler had two goals and an assist to lead the way on Friday. Two tallies from Lauren Spring and Alex LaMere’s 17-save shutout were Saturday’s highlights.
Connecticut squeezed out a sweep at Penn State, 1-0 and 4-3. Elaine Chuli was perfect on all 28 shots she faced on Saturday, with Leah Lum providing the only goal late in the second period. The Huskies rallied from a 3-1 hole on Sunday, with Marisa Maccario scoring the deciding tally with 8:25 remaining.
Maine swept Brown, 4-0 and 4-1. Brooke Stacey and Jillian Langtry had a goal and an assist to support Meghann Treacy’s 14-save shutout. Bridget Carey opened Saturday’s scoring for Brown, but the Black Bears took over the rest of the way. Emilie Brigham had the only multi-point game.
RIT took both games at Union, 3-1 and 2-1. Jessica Kaminsky notched the series’ first goal for the Dutchwomen. Caitlin Wallace and Kendall Cornine put the Tigers on top and Carly Payerl hit an empty net. Jenna de Jonge made 20 saves to garner her first collegiate win. Cornine and Jess Paton gave RIT a lasting lead on Saturday, and Brooke Stoddart saved 22 shots, denied a shutout only by a third-period goal by Kathryn Tomaselli.
Syracuse dumped RIT, 7-1, on Wednesday in the week’s first action. Stephanie Grossi completed her hat trick while short-handed in the second period; she also had a pair of assists. Melissa Piacentini contributed four helpers.
St. Lawrence downed Syracuse, 3-2, on Saturday. Justine Reyes, Amanda Boulier, and Hannah Miller netted the Saints’ goals.
