While hundreds of millions of people were preparing to see the Tampa Bay Buccaneers demolish the Oakland Raiders in Super Bowl XXXVII, the Princeton women's hockey team shook off its final exam rust by defeating one of Canada's best hockey teams, McGill, 3-1—a team which sports one of the best amateur goalies in the world.
Five days later, Princeton blew out Vermont to notch its fifth Eastern College Athletic Conference win and followed that up with a conference loss to Dartmouth, putting Princeton in the doldrums at fifth place in the conference.
Taking on one of the best
McGill (20-5-2) came into Baker Rink Jan. 26 as the second-ranked women's hockey team in Canada. On their trip into the states, the Martlets were visiting Princeton (12-6-2, 5-3-0 ECAC) after a 3-1 victory over Yale.
The Tigers dominated the ice from the first drop of the puck. While Princeton was able to get 10 shots on net in the first period, none of them found their way past McGill's Olympic gold medal-winning goalie Kim St-Pierre.
The Tigers' biggest chance to make good on their domination came 15 minutes, 44 seconds into the first period when McGill right wing Brittany Privee was given two minutes in the penalty box for unsportsmanlike conduct. Instead of Princeton seizing the opportunity to take the lead, however, the Martlets capitalized on a turnover in their own zone. Center Audrey Hadd poked the puck ahead to right wing Veronique Lapierre, who pulled a double move to beat freshman Tiger goalie Roxanne Gaudiel on her stick side.
The shorthanded goal put McGill up one, 16:34 into the first period despite having been thoroughly dominated to that point.
"In the first period, we did things we're not supposed to do," head coach Jeff Kampersal '92 said.
Princeton started the second period just as strong as it did the first, allowing the puck behind its own blue line for only 20 seconds in the first four minutes of the period. The Tigers also replaced Gaudiel in goal with senior Sarah Ahlquist.
At 14:59 in the second frame, freshman forward Tarah Clark was able to poke the puck forward from inside the Tiger zone. Sophomore forward April Brown broke free after the puck and beat St-Pierre to even the score at 1-1.
"I saw the loose puck," Clark said. "We've been practicing this week just to take the puck to the net."
Princeton's clear control of possession time was beginning to pay off. The third period began in much the same way as the first two — the Tigers controlled the puck and had a new goalie. This time, Kampersal substituted in junior Megan Van Beusekom.
"With the break, everybody's a little rusty, so we wanted to give everybody game time," Kampersal said. With the game still either team's for the taking, Princeton's junior forward Susan Hobson stole the puck in her own zone and pushed it toward the red line. Clark was able to gain possession, and she flew down the right side of the rink with a defender harassing her from the inside. Clark, a lefthander, pulled up at the goal line to get a forehand shot on net, and she squeezed the puck inside the right crossbar to give the Tigers a 2-1 lead 14:26 into the third period.
The Tigers were not happy with a one-goal lead and continued to pressure the Martlets' net. That pressure quickly paid off as senior defense Annamarie Holmes and junior defense Angela Gooldy pushed the puck from behind the McGill net to freshman forward Heather Jackson, who got the puck past St-Pierre for the third time at 18:06 in the third period.
Getting back on the horse
In their first ECAC action since the nation's top team whipped them on their own ice, Princeton — led by Hobson's three assists — feasted on lowly Vermont (3-16-1, 0-6-1) with a dominating 4-0 win.
Freshman forward Sarah Greer scored her first goal of the season at 8:21 into the first off a pass from Hobson fresh from the penalty box, and that would be all Gaudiel and the Tigers would need.
Just to be safe, Princeton added three more goals. Junior forward Gretchen Anderson converted a Catamount turnover into a goal, her team-leading tenth of the year, at 12:55 of the first to put the Tigers into the locker room with a 2-0 lead.
Freshman forward Sarah Butsch and junior forward Lisa Rasmussen added goals in the second period as Princeton cruised to the win. Goalie Tiffany Hayes played well again for Vermont, recording an incredible 55 saves in the losing effort. Gaudiel needed just 17 saves for the shutout.
The Catamounts are just 4-44-2 in the last two season.
"Both McGill and Vermont were feisty," Kampersal '92 said. "But I think we were a lot better skill-wise."
A tough loss
Princeton was unable, however, to make it a perfect 3-0 over break as fourth-ranked Dartmouth invited the Tigers to New Hampshire and sent them home with a bad taste in the mouth and a 4-0 loss.
"Dartmouth is a good, strong team but they didn't play their best," Kampersal said. "We could have had a chance to beat them, but we didn't take advantage of some opportunities. We made some major mistakes at inopportune times."
Dartmouth scored halfway through the first period and took the one-goal lead to the intermission.
Princeton was still in the game, but the Big Green struck again just 27 seconds into the second period, then trampled the Tiger spirit with a goal 18 minutes later.
"It's a cardinal sin to give up a goal in the first two minutes or the last two minutes of a period," Kampersal said. "Those are major momentum deflators."
Dartmouth added another goal eight minutes into the third period, staining the Orange and Black's intersession with a haze of green. Dartmouth out-shot Princeton just 26-21 for the game. Goalie Amy Ferguson stopped all 21 Tiger shots for the win, and Van Beusekom made 22 saves in the loss.
Princeton, ranked eighth in the country, is just 3-5-1 against teams currently ranked in the top ten.
Senior forward Andrea Kilbourne, the Tigers' leading scorer with 19 points, was named yesterday as a finalist for the Patty Kazmaier award, which recognizes the nation's top collegiate women's hockey player.
The Tigers' next action comes this weekend with conference road games at Cornell and Colgate.
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