Beyond the Dashers News: Hockey East report: Week of October 12

Backcheck
Not unlike a plurality of the latest contests, there lies a dead-heated, anybody’s-game debate for Hockey East buffs to undertake.

Which is more surprising? The fact that almighty New Hampshire is joined by the likes of Vermont as the only league members still with a pristine 1.000 win percentage? Or the fact that, out of their first four victims, Syracuse has come closest to issuing the Wildcats’ their first dent?

Coming in to Saturday’s twig-lock with the Orange at Whittemore Center, the Granite State Goddesses had confined the opposition to a nightly mean of 12 shots on net and won all three decisions by an aggregate 11-1. But Syracuse would ultimately muster 21 registered stabs at Kayley Herman and, not unlike their startling 3-3 draw at Boston College, ex-Wildcats Stefanie Marty and Lucy Schoedel were the jutting difference makers as the visitors propped up a 1-0 lead from 4:54 of the middle frame through 11:56 of the third.

Only at that point did the Wildcat offense really perk up. Schoedel blinked on her 29^th shot faced to let former classmate Micaela Long draw the 1-1 knot. Barely eight minutes later, captain Kelly Paton collected the remnants of her own wide attempt and roofed the CPR decider with 7.2 seconds remaining.

So officially speaking, no Orange blood shall stain the deep blue surface of Lake Whittemore, but the likes of Connecticut and Providence must be on more scrupulous watch as they prepare for their respective visits from the second-year CHA program this coming weekend.

***
A baby-stepping Boston University team, one of four Hockey East satellites still with a goose-egg under the “L” heading, pushed one thrilling nudge forward from its opening weekend ties with Ohio State, bumping Robert Morris on a 4-3 OT goal via Lauren Cherewyk. Although, the thoroughly favorable upshot aside, BU still brandishes a blemish in the way of defending leads and averting overtime in the first place. This time, they saw a 3-0 advantage devolve to a 3-3 knot through the third period, chiefly owing to the Colonials’ cashing in on a five-minute, all-you-can-score buffet power play for their first two strikes.

***
Lead spillage turned out to be a common theme on Commonwealth Ave. last Friday. Earlier in the afternoon, Boston College had squandered the exact same 3-0 upper hand through the closing frame, ultimately lending a tie to the stealthy Syracuse program and repressing themselves to a mildly toe-curling 0-1-2 start to their year.

If you want to call that performance sweet-and-sour, consider Saturday’s engagement with Colgate an icy-hot showing on the part of the Eagles. By the second buzzer, they were in a 3-1 hole, though they regrouped for a four-goal tempest in the third, assertively stamping their first win. Most encouraging were the much-needed breakouts of sophomore strikers Mary Restuccia (three assists) and Danielle Welch (game-winning goal, assist), who joined rookie Ashley Motherwell (two assists) in the day’s multi-point club.

***
Providence didn’t issue any compelling quite like the Eagles’ caliber –not that they needed to. Rather, on an excursion to upstate New York to tussle with a tandem of Top 10 clubs, they made a pattern of spelling and revoking one-goal deficits to the point where they lost a half-full 3-2 OT decision at Clarkson, then cleansed their spirits with a revolutionary 3-3 draw at St. Lawrence. In their previous two visits to the Saints’ rustic Appleton Arena, the Friars had absorbed an 8-0 KO in 2007-08 and a 6-1 throttling in 2005-06.

***
PC swapped their Friday and Saturday road sites with Connecticut, which got the better of a still-thawing Saints team on Friday, 2-1, for its first win on the year. But on Saturday, unlike the case of UNH and its aforementioned handling of two old friends, the Huskies could not spare themselves the residual scars from their ex-scoring beacon Dominique Thibault. Thibault, centering a formidable starting line opposite Juana Baribeau (who potted two goals against Providence on Friday) and Genevieve Lavoie, would assist on a power play icebreaker in the first and slug home an unassisted goal of her own en route to a 4-0 Golden Knight triumph. With the shutout, the 1-2-1 Huskies now average one solitary goal per game for the shallowest offensive rate in the league.

***
Would you believe that, on the converse to Connecticut, Maine still withholds the best scoring output in the league? Well, just remember that 20 of their 24 cumulative goals were compacted at the expense of Sacred Heart two-plus weeks ago. They have since failed to reignite the winning flare, a trend that continued through two home falters (5-2 and 2-1) before Minnesota State.

***
Let Maine’s recent downturn and their own program’s recent history be a gentle caution to Catamount rooters in Vermont. Sure, the Catamounts just revved up their regular season itinerary with a two-game sweep of Union (2-0 and 4-1 finals), but that has been an annual ritual for three years running. In their previous two seasons, they had likewise kicked off with a double-Dutch knockout, only to win no more than five of their remaining 30-plus contests. Therefore, the maturity of the Catamounts’ professed youth movement still remains yet to be tested. That shall happen in a hurry this weekend when they entertain a two-night visit from Clarkson, which has already charged up a 3-0-1 start at the expense of Boston College, Providence, and Connecticut.

***
Northeastern stamped a crisp 4-0 triumph of Robert Morris in its lone contest of the week, upping its primordially sound run to a 2-0-1 record and a cumulative 9-2 scoring differential, for whatever that’s worth at this phase of the season.

Additionally, Swiss Save-ior Florence Schelling’s shutout boosted her save-percentage to a league-best .975 and junior forward Alyssa Wohlfeiler charged up a 1-2-3 scoring log to spike her season bushel to 2-3-5 and tie herself with Maine’s Jenna Ouelette with a leading point-per-game mean of 1.67.

Forecheck
For the 2-0-1 Northeastern Huskies, Tuesday night’s shuffle over to Conte Forum will be the first major keep-it-up test. After all, they will be dealing with a 1-2-1 BC club that only just extracted its first tangible token of encouragement and will sorely need its first Hockey East contest to fuel its slightly-delayed jumpstart and prove that it has the makings to trivialize the roster’s Olympic-induced cavities.

Weekly scoreboard

Friday October 9
Boston College 3, Syracuse 3
http://www.collegehockeystats.net/0910/boxes/wbc_syr1.o09
http://bceagles.cstv.com/sports/w-hockey/recaps/100909aac.html

Boston University 4, Robert Morris 3 (OT)
http://www.collegehockeystats.net/0910/boxes/wbu_rmu1.o09
http://www.goterriers.com/sports/w-hockey/recaps/100909aaa.html

New Hampshire 4, Colgate 0
http://www.collegehockeystats.net/0910/boxes/wclgunh1.o09
http://www.unhwildcats.com/sports/wice/2009-10/releases/200910093x503e

Connecticut 2, St. Lawrence 1
http://www.collegehockeystats.net/0910/boxes/wconstl1.o09
http://www.uconnhuskies.com/sports/w-hockey/recaps/100909aab.html

Clarkson 3, Providence 2 (OT)
http://www.collegehockeystats.net/0910/boxes/wclkprv1.o09
http://www.friars.com/sports/w-hockey/recaps/100909aaa.html

Vermont 2, Union 0
http://www.collegehockeystats.net/0910/boxes/wuniver1.o09
http://www.uvm.edu/~sportspr/womens_hockey/?Page=News&storyID=15159

Minnesota State 5, Maine 2
http://www.collegehockeystats.net/0910/boxes/wmnemns1.o09
http://goblackbears.cstv.com/sports/w-hockey/recaps/100909aaa.html

Saturday, October 10
Minnesota State 2, Maine 1
http://www.collegehockeystats.net/0910/boxes/wmnemns1.o10
http://goblackbears.cstv.com/sports/w-hockey/main-w-hockey-body.html

Northeastern 4, Robert Morris 0
http://www.collegehockeystats.net/0910/boxes/wnoermu1.o10
http://gonu.com/whockey/2010/wh10-03.shtml

Clarkson 4, Connecticut 0
http://www.collegehockeystats.net/0910/boxes/wclkcon1.o10
http://www.uconnhuskies.com/sports/w-hockey/recaps/101009aaa.html

Providence 3, St. Lawrence 3
http://www.collegehockeystats.net/0910/boxes/wprvstl1.o10
http://www.friars.com/sports/w-hockey/recaps/101009aaa.html