The women's hockey team looked like two completely different teams in its first two home games of the season, falling 6-0 to Clarkson on Friday and rebounding to a hard-fought 3-2 loss to No. 9 St. Lawrence on Saturday.
"We were talking about it in the locker room, and sometimes with us it's like we're Jekyll and Hyde," said Head Coach Digit Murphy.
Against Clarkson (3-5-2, 1-1-0 ECAC Hockey), the Bears (1-4-1, 1-3-0) struggled throughout the first period against Clarkson's aggressive forecheck and were often unable to clear their own zone. This caught up with them 5:23 into the period, when Clarkson kept the puck in the zone and got off a shot from the top of the left circle that was deflected by the traffic in front of the net and beat goalie Nicole Stock '09 five-hole to give the Golden Knights a 1-0 lead that held up for the rest of the period.
"They were a really big team and we lost a lot of battles for the puck," said Stock, captain and a Herald sports staff writer. "We had a tough time clearing the zone."
The second period was very similar to the first, as the Bears continued to struggle offensively, taking only five shots in the period while giving Clarkson too many opportunities. The visitors took a 2-0 lead 7:35 into the period when Melissa Waldie threw a centering pass into traffic in front of the Bears' net, and the puck was deflected by Danielle Boudreau past Stock. Bruno also continued to struggle with committing too many penalties, as the Bears lost Paige Pyett '12 for the remainder of the game after she was called for a five minute major for knocking a Golden Knight into the boards behind the net. The Bears were called for 10 penalties totaling 31 minutes, meaning they played over half of the game with at least a woman disadvantage.
"We were in the box way too much, and that's been a problem for us from day one," Stock said. "We need to be smarter about how we play the body and need to stay out of the box and play five-on-five hockey, because that's where we're at our best."
With the Bears down 2-0, neither team was able to get much going for the first ten minutes of the period. With Brown's frustration rising, the wheels fell off for the Bears late in the period, as they gave up four goals in about five minutes to close out the game. Stock finished with 41 saves on the night.
"We were in the game for 55 minutes, and after the third goal happened I think we all got down on ourselves individually because we know that being down 3-0 with five minutes to go is a lot bigger hole than being down 2-0. After that our systems broke down, and it showed on the scoreboard."
On Saturday, the Bears appeared to be an entirely different team. Taking on a very talented St. Lawrence (5-1-2, 2-0-0) squad, Brown made crisper passes, generated more offensive chances and played with intensity throughout the game.
"I think what we need to do is understand that we need to be a learning team, and we took yesterday's game, which was humiliating, and we learned from it," Murphy said. "We focused on the fact that it was a new day, and we knew we not only needed to bring energy early, but we had to sustain it for the whole game."
Despite their improved play, the Bears continued to struggle with taking penalties, and St. Lawrence was able to take advantage when they moved the puck around on the power play and got the puck to a wide-open Alley Bero, who was camped out to Stock's right, and she one-timed the shot into the net to put the Bears in a 1-0 hole that held up for the remainder of the period.
"There was a mishap on our rotation, and a girl got behind us and we didn't know she was there," Stock said. "The goal was a tough one to swallow because I got a glove on it, and usually when you touch a puck, you feel like you should make the save."
In the second period, it was the Bears' turn to take advantage of a power-play opportunity. After two successive Saints' penalties gave Brown a five-on-three advantage for 1:30, the Bears' offense came alive as they peppered the Saints' goaltender with shots. Unable to score on the five on three, Brown kept attacking for the remaining 30 seconds of their power play, and in a scrum for a rebound in front of the net, Saints goalie Brittony Chartier lost her stick, stopped a great chance by Maggie Suprey '11 but couldn't prevent Andrea Hunter '10 from stuffing in the rebound and evening the score, 1-1.
"We had a lot more shots on goal today and got some great chances," Stock said. "We played with a lot more energy and intensity, and it sparked us on offense."
The play was back and forth for much of the rest of the period, but the Bears benefited from a few highlight-reel saves from Stock, including an incredible kick save on a two-on-one chance for St. Lawrence.
"Stock just flashed her pad and made an unbelievable save," Murphy said. "She routinely makes incredible saves that there is no way our team should be asking her to make."
Despite Stock making 22 saves in the period, the Bears eventually gave up another goal and headed into the final period down 2-1.
The Bears came out for the third period with a lot of intensity, but they were unable to even the score before St. Lawrence took advantage of yet another power-play opportunity when Hunter was called for interference 11:00 into the period. St. Lawrence was able to find a wide-open Marianna Locke in the slot, and she beat Stock high to the stick side to give the Saints a 3-1 advantage.
"We had a couple of mental lapses on our penalty kill," Murphy said. "We need to learn to minimize our penalties because if you play more five-on-five, you have a much better shot at a victory, especially against a team like St. Lawrence."
Rather than let the deficit get them down, as they had the previous night, the Bears refused to give up and kept playing hard and generating offensive chances.
"I was really impressed with how we stayed the course and stuck with our systems, even when we were down," Murphy said. "That's where I think it showed that we learned from yesterday, because had we lost 2-0 yesterday I'm not sure we would've been as determined to stick with it and keep fighting the way we did today."
Bruno was rewarded for its determination less than two minutes later, when Nicole Brown '10 and Jenna Dancewicz '11 raced down the ice together on a two-on-one rush. Brown carried the puck over the blue line, saw the defender was playing the pass and ripped a shot high off the goalie's shoulder. Dancewicz then charged in and stuffed the rebound over the goal line to cut the Bears deficit to 3-2 with 4:54 remaining in the game.
"Their goalie bobbled a couple shots and we were able to capitalize," Stock said.
The Bears pulled Stock with about a minute to go, and with a six-on-five advantage, Brown got off a late flurry of shots but was unable to score and force overtime. Stock had 47 saves in the loss, and the Bears' offense took 23 shots on goal.
"Today was kind of a moral victory," Murphy said. "To be playing six on five at the end of the game and be a slap shot away from tying the game against St. Lawrence, a team that has national-team players on it, is a big step for us."
Brown returns to action next weekend when they take on Cornell (2-2-1, 0-1-1) and Colgate (6-5-0, 1-1-0) on the road on Friday and Saturday.
"I think we really have a special team this year," Murphy said. "The girls all respect each other and that goes a long way. Now we need to decide what our game is and where we want to be. The players need to decide which team they're going to be. If we bring the team that played Clarkson on the road next weekend, we're going to get smoked. But if we bring the team that played against St. Lawrence today, there's a good chance we come away with two victories."
