Two Goals Each for Raines and Staenz

HANOVER, N.H. - The Yale women's ice hockey team racked up four goals in the final 7:24 Saturday afternoon to cap a challenging stretch of road games with an emphatic 6-2 win at Dartmouth. Senior forward Jackie Raines and sophomore forward Phoebe Staenz had two goals each for the Bulldogs, and senior goaltender Jaimie Leonoff finished with 28 saves.

This was the second weekend in a row that the Bulldogs picked up a road win in one of the toughest venues in ECAC Hockey. Saturday's win was Yale's first at Thompson Arena since a 1-0 victory Feb. 3, 2006, and last Friday's win at No. 10 Clarkson was the Bulldogs' first win at Cheel Arena since 2005.

"This was a great team effort, and a great response from yesterday [a 6-1 loss at No. 4 Harvard]," said Yale head coach Joakim Flygh. "Our goaltending was good, our defense played well, and it was great to see us wear them down offensively."

Yale (11-13-1, 8-10-0 ECAC Hockey) struck first, on a power play. Staenz scored from an almost impossible angle, flipping the puck on net from behind the goal line on Dartmouth goalie Robyn Chemago's right. The puck found enough space in between Chemago and the pipe to bounce into the goal behind her for a 1-0 Yale lead at 7:32. Sophomore defenseman Taylor Marchin and freshman forward Eden Murray assisted on the play.

"That was a clever play by Phoebe, trying a bad-angle shot," said Flygh.

Dartmouth (11-11-2, 7-9-2 ECAC Hockey) evened things with a power play goal of its own later in the period, set up by two of the Big Green's top three scorers. As Leonoff made a kick save on a powerful slap shot from forward Laura Stacey, forward Lindsey Allen maneuvered into the slot and knocked in the rebound to knot the score 1-1 at the 16:52 mark.

Chemago later made a great sprawling save to deny Raines, and Leonoff stopped a dangerous shot by Stacey -- who had toe-dragged her way through the Yale defense -- in the final minute to keep the score 1-1 heading into the first intermission.

After finishing a pair of successful penalty kills early in the second, the Bulldogs went back ahead thanks to a nice effort by Raines. She took a feed along the left boards from junior forward Janelle Ferrara, skated past a Dartmouth defender into the slot, and slid a backhand through traffic that found Chemago's five-hole for a 2-1 lead at 6:05. Junior defenseman Kate Martini, who sent the puck ahead to Ferrara from the Yale zone, assisted on the play.

A shot by junior forward Hanna Åström hit the post midway through the second, keeping the Yale lead at just 2-1 entering the third period.

Leonoff made one of her best saves of the night by getting her glove on a shot by forward Ailish Forfar with Yale killing a penalty in the final 13 minutes of the game. But with less than a minute left on the kill, a slap shot from forward Kennedy Ottenbreit eluded Leonoff to tie the score 2-2 at 7:34 of the third.

The Bulldogs regained the lead five minutes later. Freshman defenseman Mallory Souliotis made a nice play at the blue line to keep the puck in the Dartmouth zone, then sent it over to Raines for a shot that was stopped. But Haddad rifled in the rebound to put Yale ahead 3-2 at 12:36.

"That was just an effort goal," said Flygh. "We kept the puck in their zone for a while, and it paid dividends."

A minute later, senior forward Stephanie Mock tacked on an insurance goal, assisted by freshmen forwards Eden Murray and Courtney Pensavalle. And a minute after that, Raines scored (assisted by Ferrara and Haddad) to make it a quick 5-2 lead for the Bulldogs.

With 18 assists for the season, Ferrara is now tied for fifth on Yale's single-season list.

"She is a dynamic kid, and has always been a pass-first kid," said Flygh. "She knows how to buy herself time to create passing lanes."

With Dartmouth on a power play in the final minutes of the game, the Big Green pulled Chemago (23 saves) for an extra attacker. Yale eventually gained control of the puck, and Staenz sent one into the open net to finish the scoring. Senior defenseman Aurora Kennedy assisted on the play.

Yale has now won two in a row against Dartmouth; the Bulldogs snapped a 14-game losing streak to the Big Green in January with a 5-1 win at Ingalls Rink.

"The last four to six weeks, we have liked the way we have played," said Flygh. "Especially on the offensive side of things. Today was a perfect example. After they tied it up 2-2, we stayed with the game plan and were relentless on the puck. The second and third periods today were some of the best periods we have played all year."

The Bulldogs return home to host Rensselaer next Friday at 7:00 p.m.

Report by Sam Rubin '95 (sam.rubin@yale.edu), Yale Sports Publicity