The women’s hockey team trekked six hours north this weekend to take on the Clarkson Golden Knights and the Saint Lawrence Saints at their respective home rinks. Bruno tied Clarkson 1-1 and lost to St. Lawrence 5-1.
Clarkson (7-2-2, 2-1-1 ECAC) and St. Lawrence (4-6, 3-1) are perennial hockey powerhouses. The Golden Knights were ranked fifth in a preseason U.S. College Hockey Online poll, and the Saints have topped Brown (1-2-1, 0-1-1) in their past 18 matchups. These teams also hold an additional advantage over Bruno as they have been practicing and playing since September. Ivy League hockey teams are not allowed to start practicing until two weeks before the start of their seasons, said co-captain Jennifer Nedow ’14. “We were playing two really hard teams who have already played a lot of games,” she said.
Clarkson 1, Brown 1
Friday night’s game against Clarkson proved a defensive test for Brown, with goalie Aubree Moore ’14 saving 53 of 54 shots, while Clarkson only had to defend 11 shots from Bruno. Following the trend from last weekend’s competition against the RIT, the Bears were once again outshot by a high margin but still managed to keep the game close through skillful defensive efforts. Penalties, like goals, also proved to be few and far between, with Bruno notching one and Clarkson two, resulting in a lack of power plays.
Clarkson scored first to take a 1-0 lead near the end of the first period. The goal was answered by Bruno’s Ariana Rucker ’16 as she deflected a rebound off Erin Conway ’17 to tie the game in the second period. The rest of play proved scoreless for both teams, though Clarkson turned up the offensive pressure in overtime, testing a solid Moore in goal.
St. Lawrence 5, Brown 1
Saturday the Bears took on St. Lawrence in a higher scoring game, though the goals were not in Brown’s favor. The offensively strong Saints outshot Bruno by a 33-18 margin.
St. Lawrence took an early lead in the first period, with a goal off a power play and an additional one at 18 minutes, 47 seconds to make the score 2-0 going into the second period. St. Lawrence doubled the margin, as it scored two more times to bring the score to 4-0. Brown got on the board in the third period, as Rucker scored for a second time in the weekend off an assist from Brittany Moorehead ’15, bringing both Rucker’s and Bruno’s total goal count for the weekend to two. But the Saints scored again in the third to seal their victory 5-1.
Moore’s standout performances in goal brought her shots saved total to 167, an average of 42 per game for the season so far.
“We know we have a team that never quits and great goaltending,” said Head Coach Amy Bourbeau.
Having a strong defense allows the team to be more aggressive offensively and take chances by having a fourth man in the zone, Nedow said.
The defensive trend continued on the road back to Providence as the team’s path was briefly blocked.
In a moment that was “no big deal,” the returning team encountered five “moose in the middle of the road on (their) way home from Canton, N.Y.,” according the team’s Twitter.
The Bears will host Quinnipiac in their first home game of the season Nov. 8 at 7 p.m. at Meehan Auditorium.
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