On Saturday afternoon in Meehan Auditorium, women’s ice hockey (17-12-2, 12-8-2 ECAC) beat No. 40 Dartmouth (5-23-3, 3-16-3 ECAC) by a whopping 7-2 to lock up the first round of conference playoffs. Up just 3-2 with 12 minutes left in the second period after blowing a 3-0 lead, Bruno turned on the afterburners and scored four unanswered points to pummel the Big Green.
“We battled,” Head Coach Melanie Ruzzi told The Herald in a post-game interview. “We scored some beautiful goals and made some really nice plays, but then we also busted our butts to get back on defense and cleared out pucks in front.”
Moving on to the quarterfinals, No. 16 Brown will head to Connecticut this coming weekend for a best-of-three series against No. 6 Quinnipiac. The Bobcats are seeded No. 3 in the ECAC rankings, while Bruno sits at No. 7.
From the opening puck drop on Saturday, the playoff’s elevated stakes were clear. With increased pace and physicality, the Bears and Big Green fought through rushes and hits to corral the puck at all costs.
Bruno drew first blood eight minutes in as forward Sam Broz ’27 carried the puck around the back of the net before dishing it to defender Cadence Richards ’29 at the right end-zone spot. Dartmouth goaltender Jiahui Zhan blocked Richards’ initial shot, but forward Martina Accardi ’29 crashed the crease to push the puck over the line.
Less than a minute later, the Bears found paydirt once again. All the way from the blue line on the left side, defender Avery Lian ’29 flicked the puck towards the net. The shot — from over 60 feet out — looked more like a play to set up a shot on goal than an attempt to score. But like a heat-seeking missile, the puck tumbled through the air and found its target in the back of the net.
The remainder of the first period passed without any true offensive threats, leaving the score 2-0 when the buzzer sounded.
But the second period brought back the excitement. Three minutes in, forward Monique Lyons ’28 stole the puck and dumped it off to forward Ava DeCoste ’27, who sent a slap shot screaming past Zhan to secure a 3-0 lead for the Bears.
But the three-goal edge lasted less than 30 seconds. Finding the tenacity to answer, Dartmouth forward Ella Inglis wrapped behind the goal for a shot, then finished off her own rebound.
With a foot in the door, Dartmouth began attacking furiously. Their efforts were rewarded with 12 minutes left in the period, earning a shot after Brown goalie Rory Edwards ’27 blocked two preceding chances. But with two Dartmouth forwards forcing a 2-on-1 advantage, Edwards could not lock down the net’s right side, shrinking Bruno’s lead to one.
Having let their momentum slip into the hands of the Big Green, the Bears could have caved to the flow of the game. Instead, they declared their season would not end.
Less than a minute after the concession, India McDadi ’26 took the puck up the rink’s left wall and passed to forward Margot Norehad ’27 in the slot, who then sent the puck to Broz. After Broz missed her first shot wide right on an open look, Norehad recovered the rebound and sent it right back to Broz, who did not dare miss twice.
Close calls marked the rest of the second period for the Bruno offense. With eight minutes left, defender Isabella Gratzl ’29 found herself on a breakaway, but her shot sailed wide right. Two minutes later, McDadi earned a 1-on-1 opportunity with Zhan at the doorstep, but could not outmaneuver the Dartmouth goalkeeper and the score remained 4-2.
Meanwhile, the Bears’ defense found its chance to step up. While the Big Green’s offense repeatedly crashed the crease following menacing shots blocked by Edwards, Bruno’s goalie and her defensive front stalwartly protected the puck and the goal line preserving their 4-2 lead to the period’s close.
The key to Edwards’ play is “just keeping it simple,” she said in a post-game interview with The Herald. “Believing you can stop every puck ... and having some big help from my (defense).”
As the final period opened, Bruno’s offensive barrage continued. Brown struck eight minutes into the period when Jade Iginla ’26 and Lyons showed off their chemistry. Wrapping around the backside of the net from opposite directions, the two standout forwards met in the middle, where Ignila dumped off the puck to Lyons. Not missing a beat, Lyons curled around to the right side of the net and snuck the puck past the goal’s right post.
With a 5-2 advantage and just over ten minutes remaining in the contest, the Bears refused to rest on their laurels. After a Brown power play, Norehad sent a wrist shot on net from the high slot. Though the Dartmouth defense blocked the try before it reached the net, Broz positioned herself in the crease and flipped the puck into the goal.
Closing out the triumphant victory, Olivia Fantino ’28 notched one more goal with three minutes left in the game for a 7-2 final score.
Ruzzi said that the team will have to “be better” next weekend to dispatch Quinnipiac, who the Bears fell to 2-5 on Feb. 13 in their penultimate regular season game.
“In the playoffs, everyone’s fighting for their lives,” Ruzzi added.
Sajiv Mehta is a senior staff writer covering sports. He is from Scarsdale, New York and plans on concentrating in English and American Studies. In his free time, he can be found reading an encyclopedic novel or watching the Yankees.
