Twitter
Facebook
Reddit
Digg
Tell us what you think!Send a letter to the editor about this or any other article in The Maine Campus.
It was a big weekend on the road for the Maine women’s hockey team. They needed all the points they could get to keep in the hunt for the last ECAC playoff spot. The Black Bears came away with a 3-2 win over St. Lawrence, the number five ranked team in the country on Saturday, and then beat Cornell 2-1 yesterday. Maine proved they can play well in big games and that they can win on the road.
Maine posted both wins without Raffi Wolf, who was expected to return to the lineup this weekend after leading the German national team to an Olympic berth for next winter. That all changed Thursday when Wolf injured her ankle in practice. It is not known currently how long she will be out of action.
On Saturday, the Black Bears went into Appleton Arena in Canton, N.Y. to take on the St. Lawrence Saints, a team who had beaten them earlier in the year 6-1.
St. Lawrence got on the board first with a shorthanded goal. Amanda Sergeant netted her 16th of the season on a feed from Shannon Smith at 11:49 of the first period.
They held that lead until the 2:50 mark of the second, when Jarin Sjogren scored her eighth of the season on the power play. Lauren Steblen assisted on the goal.
The Black Bears took the lead when Andrea Keller scored her sixth of the season from Karen Droog at 11:07.
The Saints tied it up again when Caroline Trudeau beat Amanda Cronin for her 11th of the season at 16:31. She got assists from Jessica Wilson and Sara Simard.
The winner for Maine came at 6:09 of the third period when Christine Lane took a feed from Sjogren and beat St. Lawrence goalie Caryn Ungewitter for her second goal of the season.
Maine was outshot 36-13 by St. Lawrence, but was able to get the win. Cronin made 34 saves in net for the Black Bears, while Ungewitter made 10 in the loss.
Sunday’s game at Lynah Rink in Ithaca, N.Y. against Cornell saw no let down from the Black Bears. They jumped on top of the Big Red early in the second period. Karen Droog scored her first goal in five games when she beat Cornell goalie Sanya Sandhal to give Maine a 1-0 lead. Megan Aarts and goalie Dawn Froats assisted on Droog’s 18th on the year.
Cornell tied the game soon after. Maine gave up its second shorthanded goal in as many games when Janel Bode scored her seventh on the season from Erin Ellis at 8:18.
The Black Bears took the lead for good at 15:09 of the third when Aarts was able to beat Sandhal for her 10th goal on the season to give Maine a 2-1 lead. Droog got her second point on the day with an assist on the game winner.
The Black Bears were once again got outshot by a huge margin (29-11) but were able to make up for it by making the most of their chances. Froats made 28 saves on the day, while Sandhal made nine stops for Cornell.
Maine won as many games on the road this weekend as it had all season coming into the weekend. It was the first time that Maine won two games in a single weekend in the ECAC all season. Maine runs its overall record to 13-12-1 and its ECAC record to 8-11-1 for 17 points. They are now three points behind Niagara for the last playoff spot, as the Purple Eagles garnered three of a possible four points from Princeton this weekend.
Next weekend, the Black Bears will hit the road again and play at Yale on Saturday and Princeton on Sunday.
Bangor Daily News