W. Hockey Roundup: Harvard Shoots For First in Final Weekend

The Harvard women's hockey team has been very successful in recent weeks, beating three ranked teams in eight days before succombing to cross town ECAC rival Northeastern 3-2.

The Crimson (19-8-0, 18-4-0 ECAC) is currently ranked No. 4 in the country after its tough loss against Northeastern and is second in the ECAC trailing Dartmouth by one point heading into the final weekend of play.

Harvard started its successful run at home by edging No. 1 Dartmouth, 3-2, and blanking No. 6 Brown, 5-0. The Crimson then took to the road and escaped No. 10 Providence with a 3-2 win.

Junior co-captain Jennifer Botterill won player of the week awards from both the Ivy league and U. S. College Hockey Online after breaking the record for consecutive games with at least one point scored at 74 straight.

Freshman goaltender Jessica Ruddock also received some accolades this week. Ruddock took home Ivy League Rookie of the Week honors for the second straight week after recording her second shutout of the season gainst Brown with a career-high 37 saves.

The Crimson is jockeying for playoff position this weekend as they travel to New Hampshire and Maine. The Crimson can still take first place in the ECAC, pending the outcome of this weekend's games.

Dartmouth's Big Green (21-3-1, 18-3-1) has struggled of late, falling to Harvard and taking a weekend split at Niagara. Nevertheless, Dartmouth retains its No. 1 ranking in national polls and maintains a one point lead over Harvard in the ECAC standings.

In the 3-0 victory over Niagara, sophmore goalie Amy Ferguson recorded her first shutout of the season, stopping 23 shots.

Dartmouth hosts both Providence and Northeastern this weekend in a playoff warm-up. The Big Green can potentially clinch the ECAC title to complement its Ivy League title.

St. Lawrence sits in third place in the ECAC behind Harvard and Darmouth. The Saints (20-6-3, 16-4-2) are one point behind Harvard and three behind Dartmouth in the standings. After destroying Cornell twice this weekend, 8-2 and 5-2. St. Lawrence hosts Yale and Princeton this weekend in an attempt to sweep the season series with both of the teams.

Brown (17-5-3, 14-5-3) currently resides in fourth place in the ECAC after beating Providence 6-1 and Northeastern 3-2 over the weekend. The Bears have a five point advantage over New Hampshire for home ice in the first round of the playoffs.

Junior Kristy Zamora accounted for half of Brown's offensive output against Providence by netting her second hat trick of the season in the 6-1 rout.

Brown closes out its season when it travels to New Hampshire and Maine this weekend.

New Hampshire (17-14-0, 13-9-0) is hanging on to fifth place in the ECAC with 26 points, 11 behind Dartmouth. The Wildacts continued their success this past weekend with 2-0 and 2-1 victories over Yale and Princeton, respectively.

UHN faces a steep challenge this week against No. 6 Brown and No. 4 Harvard. UNH is looking to hold its one point lead in the standings over Northeatsern.

Northeastern (15-13-1, 12-9-1) scored a huge upset this past weekend in its 3-2 victory over Harvard. The Huskies, however, could not ride out the momentum of the win and fell to Brown the following day, 3-2.

Yet another impressive ECAC goalie made headlines this week as Huskie goalie Erika Silva recorded her 2,000th career save. Recently appearing in Sports Illustrated, Silva has been nominated as one of the candidates for the Patty Kazmaier Award, which is given to the top collegiate women's hockey player in the nation.

Northeastern will attempt to move up to at least fifth in the ECAC this weekend as they play against cellar-dweller Boston College (7-24-0, 1-21-0) and No.1 Dartmouth.

If there are no changes to the playoff picture, Harvard will host the Niagara Purple Eagles (17-13-4, 9-11-4) in the first round of the playoffs. Niagara meanwhile has to feel good about last weekend as it managed to split a home series with Dartmouth, handing the Big Green just its third loss of the season.

Niagara finished its season one week early and hence will play no games this weekend. The Purple Eagles will surely watch the results of the Providence games, since they lead the Friars by only one point in the standings for the second-to-last playoff spot.

Providence (17-12-3, 9-10-3) had a largely unsuccessful weekend, dropping both of its games. The Friars first suffered a close 3-2 loss to Harvard and then a blowout to Brown, 6-1.

The Friars are clinging to the last playoff spot in the ECAC, two points ahead of ninth place Maine. Providence can leap frog Niagara, sliding into the seventh playoff spot and avoiding a first round confrontation with Dartmouth by winning one of its games this weekend. The Friars will try to pick up that victory against either Dartmouth or Boston College, which only has one ECAC win this season.