Women’s Hockey Skating On Thin Ice

Last Friday, the Colgate women’s hock­ey team lost to ECAC Hockey opponent St. Lawrence 4-2, before tying Clarkson on Saturday in its third overtime game of the season, 2-2.

In Friday’s matchup, sophomore for­ward Brittany Phillips and first-year for­ward Rachel Walsh each scored a goal for the Raiders. Both Phillips and Walsh also had an assist during the game along with sophomore forward Jenna Klynstra, who registered two helpers.

In the first frame of Friday’s game, the Saints hit the ground running, starting the game off with an offensive attack. St. Lawrence was firing a series of shots on goal within the opening minutes. Colgate soon retaliated by creating smart scoring opportunities of its own, but was also unable to find the net. As the period ad­vanced, both teams became hungry for the first goal. Unfortunately, it was the Saints who found success first, scoring two tallies separated by a little over five minutes. The first goal was completed on a breakaway at the 12:15 mark and the second shot that found the net was blasted from the blue line at the 17:49 mark and gave St. Lawrence a 2-0 advantage after the first 20 minutes of play.

The Saints carried forward the momen­tum from the first period to the second, making productive plays on the ice which led to their third goal less than four min­utes into the second frame. Colgate soon picked up its game and gave St. Lawrence a run for its money. Having found their rhythm, the Raiders were able to capital­ize on a scoring opportunity at the 9:42 mark. Phillips flicked the puck into the net from a wide-open pass received in the crease. Walsh and Klynstra were credited with assists. The Saints, however, soon returned the favor with minutes left in the second period, giving St. Lawrence a three-goal lead of 4-1.

Although both the Raiders and the Saints were attacking each other’s net in the third frame, neither team was able to score. In the final frame, Colgate got off to an aggressive start, with Walsh scor­ing the team’s second goal in the first several minutes of the period. However, the Saints’ defense fought back and was too strong for the Raiders to push past. Unable to capitalize on any other scoring opportunities, Colgate eventually fell to St. Lawrence 4-2.

The next day, on Saturday afternoon, the Colgate women’s hockey team played Clarkson. This was Colgate’s third tie of the season. Sophomore defender Jes­sica Hootz and first-year forward Jocelyn Simpson each scored the Raiders’ tallies.

Clarkson and Colgate both jumped off to a quick start at the beginning of the first frame, with each team looking to draw first blood. Although the Raiders’ offense was dominating the play in the first period, the Golden Knights were the ones that capitalized, scoring the first goal of the game at the 8:18 mark. Clarkson’s goal helped the Golden Knights gain en­ergy, shifting the momentum of the game. This led to Clarkson’s second tally, which was scored at the 16:51 mark. Despite be­ing down by a two-goal deficit, ‘Gate did not give up. The Raiders won possession off a faceoff and found the net soon af­ter with a shot from Hootz at the 17:29 mark, helping the Raiders cut the Golden Knights’ lead to 2-1.

At the start of the second period, both teams came out on the ice determined to score the next goal. Colgate found success during a power play when Simpson blast­ed a shot into Clarkson’s net at the 5:14 mark to allow the Raiders to tie the game at 2-2. Although both teams continued to battle it out on the ice, neither team was able to find the net during the remainder of the second period.

During the final frame, the puck went back and forth from opposite ends of the ice. Colgate was holding a minor advan­tage over the Golden Knights on the of­fense, but as the clock ran out neither team was able to score another goal.

With an additional five minutes in the extra session, both teams fought hard to score the deciding tally of the game. How­ever again neither team was able to secure the win, resulting in the 2-2 draw. Junior Kimberly Sass made 29 saves for Colgate in the game against Clarkson.

The Raiders will face off against the Yale Bulldogs tomorrow at Starr Rink at 7 p.m, and the Brown Bears on Saturday at 4 p.m. on Senior Day.

These two contests will be crucial to­wards determining whether Colgate ad­vances to the postseason or not, as it cur­rently sits in a tie for ninth place with Yale and two points out of a desired top eight position.