Sunday, October 4, 2009

CHA teams stand proud with upset wins

On Friday Night the teams of the CHA showed they were able to stay competitive on the road against somewhat stronger foes. On Saturday the league had an impressive night overall as they racked up three victories and a tie in one of the best non-conference weekends in recent memory.

Niagara and Robert Morris each scored road upsets against WCHA Rivals on Saturday following up on their solid Friday performances. The RMU Colonials had the first upset of the day as they easily downed NCAA Frozen Four Participant UMD on their home ice 4-1. The Colonials took a 1-0 lead following the first period and led 3-0 before the Bulldogs were able to score at the 16:23 mark of the second. The Colonials however came out and finished off the Dogs with an early third period goal. RMU was without Forward Jennifer Kindret for much of the game as she was ejected at the 16:21 mark of the first period with a Checking from Behind and accompanying game misconduct call. Many saw the CFB as retaliation for UMD forward Saara Tuominen's Slashing of Daneca Butterfield that resulted in a penalty under a minute earlier. The Colonials will stay on the road next weekend as they head to Boston to face Boston U and Northeastern.

Box Score 1 - 2
RMU Recap 1 - 2
UMD Recap 1 - 2

Niagara under first year head coach Chris MacKenzie were the second CHA team to score a road upset on Saturday. The Purple Eagles downed St. Cloud State 3-1 at the National Hockey Center behind a 36 save performance by Jenni Bauer. NU was able to get a goal from its first Power Play, second Line, and fourth line in the game showing that they are for the meantime no longer a two line threat. Niagara showed calm resolve once the Huskies tied the game in the second period as they retook the lead just seven seconds later. The only alarming stat in the game were the 7 penalties the Purple Eagles took compared to the three occurrences that SCSU saw the penalty box. While St. Cloud has established themselves as a middle of the pack team in the WCHA the win by NU was a rare home non-conference defeat for a team looking to make some noise nationally in this Olympic year. The Purple Eagles will look to move over the .500 mark as they host RPI next weekend at Dwyer Arena.

Box Score 1 - 2
NIAU Recap 1 - 2
SCSU Recap 1 - 2

The Lakers of Mercyhurst continued to show that they still have a very strong team while they are Agosta-less. The Lakers knocked off WCHA basement dweller Bemidji State 6-1 at the MIC. The Lakers outscored the Beavers 10-2 over the two game series that saw mutiple point games from Jesse Scanzano, Cassea Schols, Jess Jones, Ashley Cockell, and Vicki Bendus. The Lakers will now have a week off before heading to Rensselaer for their first road series of the season.

Box Score 1 - 2
MHC Recap 1 - 2
BSU Recap 1 - 2

The Wayne State Warriors who allowed three second period goals to be their downfall on Friday managed a tie at RPI on Saturday afternoon. The Warriors made defense a priority on Saturday as Delayne Brian made 37 saves in the game while allowing no goals. The teams defense looked particularly stellar in the third period allowing just ten shots to get to Brian while they had several solid series at the other end. The Warriors will also take next weekend off as they host Hockey East foe Boston University on October 16th and 17th.

Box Score 1 - 2
WSU Recap 1 - 2
RPI Recap 1 - 2

The Syracuse Orange Women's Hockey team won just nine games in their inaugral season last year. Only three of those wins were on the road where they were outscored a total of 29- 51. Looking to improve on the lopsided scores this season the Orange headed to Minneapolis for a tough opening weekend with the Minnesota Golden Gophers. While the Orange fell 4-3 on Friday night the evening left the team with something to build on for the Sunday rematch. In the second game of the series the gophers stood strong behind Freshman Noora Raty to hand the Orange a 4-1 loss. The Orange got their lone goal of the game midway through the second as Megan Skelly cut the gopher lead to 2-1. The Orange seemingly wore down following the goal as they were unable to capitalize on four gopher penalties and Chelsey Jones scored twice for Minnesota. While the orange finished the series 0-2, they more than showed that they are greatly improved from last season and could be a force in the future for their CHA rivals. The Schedule for Syracuse gets no easier from here as they will travel to Boston College and New Hampshire for games next weekend.

Box Score 1 - 2
SYU Recap 1 - 2
UMN Recap 1 - 2

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