February 10, 2005

Bulldogs Back on the Road with Trip to New York

Feb. 10, 2005

Yale's win over Clarkson last Saturday ensured the Bulldogs of a spot in the ECACHL playoffs, but where they will play and whom they will face remains unsettled. First Yale must make it through a trip to New York this weekend to face Colgate and Cornell, two teams with post-season aspirations of their own. The Raiders (12-13-2, 5-7-2 ECACHL, 7th) are just two points behind sixth-place Princeton with three weekends left to play, while the Big Red (3-16-3, 3-12-1, 9th) is two points behind Clarkson for the eighth and final playoff spot. Colgate will provide a video webcast of Friday night's game.

The Raiders have bounced back from a sluggish start to go 5-3-1 over the last nine games, including a 3-0 win over No. 7 Mercyhurst in their most recent game. That has moved them up to 13th in the country in USCHO.com's Pairwise Rankings. The last two meetings between the Bulldogs and the Raiders have each been decided by one goal, including a 2-1 Yale win earlier this season. Junior forward Deena Caplette (Winnipeg, Man.) and sophomore forward Sheila Zingler (Wausau, Wisc.) scored Yale's goals, while junior goaltender Sarah Love (Bayfield, Ont.) made 23 saves. The Raiders' goal came from Becky Irvine, who leads the team in scoring (12-20-32). Irvine, Amanda Barre and Allison Paiano have totaled 23 points over the past three games. A fast start could be key against the Raiders, who have allowed nearly half (27 of 60) of their goals in the first period. Netminder Brook Wheeler leads the ECACHL with a .937 save percentage.

Team	GP	W-L-T	Pts.
Dartmouth	14	13-1-0	26
Harvard	14	12-1-1	25
St. Lawrence	14	11-2-1	23
Yale	15	9-5-1	19
Brown	16	8-7-1	17
Princeton	13	6-5-2	14
Colgate	14	5-7-2	12
Clarkson	14	4-9-1	9
Cornell	16	3-12-1	7
Vermont	14	3-11-0	6
Union	14	0-14-0	0

Cornell is a disciplined team that stays out of the penalty box (11.3 penalty minutes per game, second-best in the ECACHL) under the leadership of head coach Melody Davidson, who will coach Team Canada in the 2006 Olympics. Love had two shutouts (57 saves) against the Big Red last season, and made 21 saves in the Bulldogs' 2-1 win at Ingalls earlier this season. Sophomore forward Kristin Savard (Framingham, Mass.) has scored four goals in the three games she's played in her career against Cornell. Cornell features one of the top freshmen in the conference in Brianne Schmidt, who leads the team in scoring with 14 points.

A pair of records could fall this weekend. Yale is one win away from tying the school record for victories (12), set in 1985-86 and tied last year, and head coach Hilary Witt now has 32 wins, leaving her one win away from tying the school record.

report by Sam Rubin '95, Yale Sports Publicity Department