The women's ice hockey team came out of Thanksgiving week with home wins over Northeastern University and Providence College. Krissy McManus '05 and Myria Heinhuis '06 each had two goals in a 6-1 blowout over Northeastern on Tuesday night. On Saturday, the Bears held off cross-town rival Providence to take back the Mayor's Cup in a 2-1 victory.
Head Coach Digit Murphy was pleased with the results, especially with the contributions of McManus and Heinhuis. The two are tied for the team lead in goals, with five each for the season.
This is somewhat more surprising in the case of Heinhuis, a defenseman. "She's starting to step up her defensive game, which turns into a little more offense for us," Murphy said. "Also, her shot from the point has been a big help this season."
Heinhuis got the Bears on the board early against Northeastern with a goal at 1:23 of the first period. McManus then scored the first of her two goals and recorded an assist on a goal by Kerry Nugent '05, giving Bruno a 3-0 lead heading into the locker room.
In the second period, Heinhuis added a second goal, which was answered in the last minute by Husky Nikki Petrich. But McManus and Lindsey Glennon '06 sealed the victory in the third with two more goals. Brown goaltender Marie-Pier Desbiens '07 made 15 saves, 10 of which came in the first period.
The Providence game saw the return to play of Jessica Link '05 and Ashlee Drover '06, both of whom had been out with injuries for three weeks. Murphy made a few rearrangements to fit the two veterans back into the lineup, and the results were good.
"Link is one of those players who has the puck all the time, which means she's keeping it away from the other team," Murphy said. "And Drover is one of the best defensemen in the ECAC."
Drover's contribution was visible immediately. Just over a minute into the game, her shot from the point was tipped into the net by Hayley Moore '08 to put Brown up early again. The goal was Moore's first in a Brown uniform. The Friars soon retaliated with a shot from Sonny Watrous that got past goalie Stacy Silverman '08.
There was no more scoring until the very end of the second period, when Moore and Katie Guay '05 assisted on Nugent's game-winning goal. "That goal was more exciting than mine," Moore said of Nugent's score.
"Everyone was so pumped up for the Providence game," Moore said. "We've really been coming together as a team."
Murphy credits the leadership of co-captain Guay and Keaton Zucker '06 in the team's recent successes. "Both of them have been playing out of position - they're wings playing in the center position, which is hard to do on our team," she said. The efforts of Guay and Zucker helped Brown win back the Mayor's Cup, which Providence has held since beating the Bears in last year's match-up.
The Bears will be in Schenectady, N.Y., next weekend, where they will play two games against Union College. Afterwards, the team will have a month off, resuming play in January.
