Beyond the Dashers News: Hockey East report: Week of October 26

Backcheck
The New Hampshire Wildcats have suddenly unveiled a collection of varying facades that ought to give Sacha Baron Cohen a run for his money. In their first trek beyond campus in the young season, the Lake Whittemore Monsters suddenly devolved into a pack of North Country quarry.

Consensus No. 3 ranking in all national polls aside, the Cats could not escape the green-and-gold gale of Clarkson University any better than four of their Hockey East cohabitants could earlier this month. They relinquished a 6-2 decision at Cheel Arena on Friday with only the likes of captain Kelly Paton (goal, assist) and junior defender Courtney Birchard (goal, assist, eight shots) making significant ripples at any time, namely the second period when they partially recompensed a 3-0 deficit.

Well, all good things do come to an end, and with that ragdoll treatment from the not-so-chivalrous Knights, sophomore stopper Lindsey Minton experienced an atrocious termination to her career-long unbeaten streak. She now stands at 12-1-1 overall in her UNH tenure.

But the Cats regrouped enough to draw a 3-3 knot with St. Lawrence, though even that upshot packed a spoonful of vinegar. A 3-1 edge that subsisted through the first 13-plus minutes of the third period dissolved dramatically while UNH took four unanswered penalties. Consequently, the Wildcats have followed up a pristine 4-0-0 start with a 1-1-2 run, complete with two blown multi-goal leads that resulted in ties.

***
Boston University made the same northern excursion and swapped adversaries with the Wildcats over Friday and Saturday. And the Terriers, too, had an at best sweet-and-sour visit to St. Lawrence’s Appleton Arena, spilling 1-0 and 2-1 leads en route to their fifth overtime period in six games and their fourth tie (2-2) on the year.

But could they escape the equal-opportunity thrash of the streaking Clarkson club and keep the goose-egg under their “L” column unhatched?

Ha. All the Golden Knights did was dispense their most lopsided outpouring yet, force-feeding the Terriers a 7-2 blowaway with the help of three power play strikes and two decisive first period connections via ex-UConn Husky Dominique Thibault, who in her first eight games at Clarkson charged up a 5-8-13 scoring log all against members of her former league.

***
Incidentally, the post-Thibault Huskies finally flaunted the searing offense coach Heather Linstad promised –and how. Between an 8-1 throttling of Brown University on Friday and a 4-1 triumph over Union on Saturday, Connecticut spiked its total bushel of goals from nine in its first six games to 21 in a matter of eight. Translation: their goal-per-game median jolted from an infinitesimal 1.5 to a more substantial 2.625. Friday alone saw seven individuals scrape out a multi-point performance for themselves.

***
Northeastern’s stick rack still has yet to spice up, but the Hub Huskies nonetheless stamped a pair of Ws themselves, sweeping their guests from Bemidji State, 2-1 and 3-2, and reintegrating goaltender Leah Sulyma, who repelled 32 of 34 shots faced on Saturday while granting the 4-1-1 Florence Schelling her first respite of the year. At the moment, Schelling is just ice chips shy of the unofficial netminder’s Triple Crown with the league’s top GAA (0.99) and save percentage (.961) and the second-best win percentage behind only New Hampshire’s Kayley Herman

The remainder of the active league tenants had, at best, a sweet-and-sour weekend. Maine’s own arid offense cost them 3-1 and 1-0 decisions at home versus Robert Morris, Vermont followed up another stimulating win (4-3 over Princeton) with a submissive 7-2 falter, and Providence notched a classic 2-2 knot with Yale, only to turn around and hand the Mayor’s Cup back to Brown University, 5-1, on Sunday.

Forecheck
It’ll finally be time to really size everyone up as intraleague action takes over for the better part of the second month’s schedule. Boston University and Vermont are the lone members yet to break in their respective Hockey East itineraries, but will take care of that this weekend with a day trip to Providence and two-night hosting to Northeastern, respectively.

Weekly scoreboard
Friday, October 23
Connecticut 8, Brown 1
http://www.collegehockeystats.net/0910/boxes/wbrncon1.o23
http://www.uconnhuskies.com/sports/w-hockey/recaps/102309aab.html

Vermont 4, Princeton 3
http://www.collegehockeystats.net/0910/boxes/wprnver1.o23
http://www.uvm.edu/~sportspr/womens_hockey/?Page=News&storyID=15278

Northeastern 2, Bemidji State 1
http://www.collegehockeystats.net/0910/boxes/wbmjnoe1.o23
http://gonu.com/whockey/2010/wh10-06.shtml

Clarkson 6, New Hampshire 2
http://www.collegehockeystats.net/0910/boxes/wclkunh1.o23
http://www.unhwildcats.com/sports/wice/2009-10/releases/20091023b32tt1

Boston University 2, St. Lawrence 2
http://www.collegehockeystats.net/0910/boxes/wbu_stl1.o23
http://www.goterriers.com/sports/w-hockey/recaps/102309aaa.html

Providence 2, Yale 2
http://www.collegehockeystats.net/0910/boxes/wprvyal1.o23
http://www.friars.com/sports/w-hockey/recaps/102309aaa.html

Robert Morris 3, Maine 1
http://www.collegehockeystats.net/0910/boxes/wmnermu1.o23
http://goblackbears.cstv.com/sports/w-hockey/recaps/102309aaa.html

Saturday, October 24
Robert Morris 1, Maine 0 (OT)
http://collegehockeystats.net/0910/boxes/wmnermu1.o24
http://goblackbears.cstv.com/sports/w-hockey/recaps/102409aaa.html

New Hampshire 3, St. Lawrence 3
http://collegehockeystats.net/0910/boxes/wstlunh1.o24
http://www.unhwildcats.com/sports/wice/2009-10/releases/20091024fqptxj

Clarkson 7, Boston University 2
http://collegehockeystats.net/0910/boxes/wbu_clk1.o24
http://www.goterriers.com/sports/w-hockey/recaps/102409aaa.html

Northeastern 3, Bemidji State 2
http://collegehockeystats.net/0910/boxes/wbmjnoe1.o24
http://gonu.com/whockey/2010/wh10-07.shtml

Princeton 7, Vermont 2
http://collegehockeystats.net/0910/boxes/wprnver1.o24
http://www.uvm.edu/~sportspr/womens_hockey/?Page=News&storyID=15283