Women's hockey plays final games before ECAC playoffs

The women's hockey team will have to be at its best this weekend if it wants to end the season on a high note.

Only two games remain in the regular season for Princeton (19-8-0 overall, 11-5-0 Eastern College Athletic Conference) before the team begins the playoffs. Both are this weekend, as the Tigers face a difficult road trip to Providence on Saturday to face Brown (15-9-2, 11-4-1) and to Cambridge on Sunday to take on Harvard (23-3-1, 13-3-0).

Both games have huge playoff implications. Princeton now stands at No. 5 in the ECAC, just a half-game back of Brown in the fourth spot.

"We have to collect as many points as we can for home ice for the first round of the playoffs," head coach Jeff Kampersal '92 said. The top four teams get home ice in the first round of the playoffs.

Both the Crimson and the Bears are near the top of the ECAC and represent a significant challenge for the Tigers, who are trying to recapture the play that led them to six consecutive victories earlier in the season.

That streak was ended two weeks ago by Yale and was then followed by a loss the next weekend to non-conference opponent Mercyhurst. Princeton was able to recover and win a second game against Mercyhurst by a 3-0 score.

The first contest against Brown will be played with intensity, as the Tigers will be looking for a little revenge. The first game between the two teams resulted in a relatively easy win for the Bears. The loss sapped Princeton's momentum after a victory over No. 1 Harvard.

Princeton will need more than intensity, however, if it wants to leave Providence with a victory.

Paradoxically, the Bears are led offensively by two junior defenders. Jessica Link leads the team in total points scored with 37 on the season. Classmate Amy McLaughlin has also been hot lately, leading Brown in points scored last weekend against Vermont and Dartmouth, a feat for which she was named ECAC Player of the Week. Shutting down these two will be the main objective for the defense and senior goalie Megan Van Beusekom.

Meanwhile, the offense must do whatever it can to get a good number of shots off against a Brown defense that has recorded shutouts in three of its last four games.

After facing the Bears, Princeton will move on to Cambridge on Sunday, where the Tigers will face a Harvard team that is gunning for the top spot in the ECAC playoffs. Ranked No. 1 in the country until a loss to Dartmouth last week — but still No. 1 in the ECAC — the Crimson will have the same mindset that the Tigers will sport against Brown: revenge. Princeton beat Harvard in the last meeting between the two. That loss was one of only three for the Crimson on the season.

The challenge for Princeton will be keeping the locks on sophomore forward Julie Chu, who is an all-around threat, and is second in the nation in assists per game. The Crimson also possess one of the top goalies in the conference, sophomore Ali Boe, who is coming off a shutout in last weekend's win against Vermont.

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As always, senior forward Gretchen Anderson will lead the Tigers' attack. Anderson has been named a finalist for the Kazmaier Award, which honors the top player in women's college hockey each year.