The women’s hockey team concludes its regular season road schedule when it travels to New England this weekend to take on Brown tonight and Yale tomorrow afternoon. The Red is 1-0-1 on the season against the Bears and Bulldogs, beating the Bears (2-18-4, 0-15-3 ECAC) 5-0 and managing a tie versus the Bulldogs (9-13-3, 7-10-1 ECAC) on a goal with 13 seconds to play by senior forward Melanie Jue.
Though Brown has clearly struggled all season long, the Red is adamant about not looking past the Bears. The team is already eliminated from postseason play, and would therefore love nothing more than to conclude its season with an upset over an Ancient Eight foe.
“Our team has a pretty good mindset going into every game,” Jue said. “We’ve been at the bottom of the standings the last few seasons so we know what it’s like [for Brown] and know not to take any games for granted. We’re looking to come out strong and not give them any room to breath.”
Against Yale, the Red will be facing a team fighting to stay alive. The Bulldogs are currently tied with Dartmouth for the last ECAC playoff spot; that, coupled with the fact that Yale was three seconds away from pulling off an upset at Lynah Rink back in December, has let the Red know that it will be in for a tough game.
On the forefront of the Red’s mind heading into the weekend is the fact that it is a mere one point away from clinching the Ivy League crown outright. Last weekend Cornell clinched at least a share of the title with Harvard, but the Red clearly will not be satisfied until the honor belongs to them alone.
“We’re definitely all thinking about [the Ivy League title],” said sophomore forward Chelsea Karpenko. “We’re clinched with Harvard but of course we want to take that top spot for ourselves.”
Barring a monumental collapse, the Red will lock-up the Ivy League crown. The tougher challenge will be claiming the top spot in all of the ECAC, as Cornell currently sits in second place, three points behind Clarkson with four games to play each. The top spot in ECAC ensures home-ice advantage throughout the ECAC playoffs, which is a huge advantage to any team.
“Our goal this weekend is without a doubt to get four points,” Jue said. “We’d love to catch Clarkson and finish the regular season the way we started it.”
Original Author: Ware Cady