Women's Hockey Closes Regular Season at Brown and Yale

Princeton at Brown

GAMETIME: Friday, Feb. 20 at 7 p.m.
2008-09 RECORDS: Princeton (16-9-2, 13-6-1 ECAC); Brown (6-20-1, 5-15-0 ECAC)
SERIES RECORD: Princeton leads 30-28-2 overall and is 14-15-2 at Brown
LAST MEETING: Brown won 2-1 in overtime on Jan. 31, 2009 at Princeton
STREAK: Brown won the last game

Princeton at Yale

GAMETIME: Saturday, Feb. 21 at 4 p.m.
2008-09 RECORDS: Princeton (16-9-2, 13-6-1 ECAC); Yale (11-15-1, 7-12-1 ECAC)
SERIES RECORD: Princeton leads 49-10-2 overall and is 22-5-2 at Yale
LAST MEETING: Princeton won 3-2 on Jan. 30, 2009 at home
STREAK: Princeton has won the last two meetings

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The Princeton women's hockey team closes the regular season this weekend at Brown and Yale with a home ice playoff berth in its sight. The Tiger currently hold down the fourth spot in the standings and two points this weekend will clinch a home-ice playoff series next weekend. Princeton can finish anywhere from second to sixth in the final ECAC standings.

Princeton played itself into that position last weekend with a series sweep in the North Country of Clarkson and St. Lawrence. Princeton won both games by a 2-1 score and in doing so picked up its first sweep in Northern New York since Clarkson joined the league in the 2004-05 season. Princeton also snapped a three-game losing skid at the hands of Clarkson and completed a season sweep of first-place St. Lawrence. It was also Princeton's first win at St. Lawrence since a win on Dec. 6, 2002, and Princeton first consecutive wins against St. Lawrence since 1998.

With the two wins, the Tigers put themselves in strong position to finish in the top four in the ECAC standings and clinch the home ice playoff series that comes with a top four finish. Princeton needs to garner two points in its final weekend of play to earn the home ice series. Princeton currently sits fourth in the standings, four points out of first, three out of second and two out of third. Princeton has a two-point buffer on fifth-place Colgate and four points on sixth-place Clarkson. Click here for the current standings.

Princeton can finish anywhere from second to sixth in the final league standings depending on how the final weekend of the season plays out. A rundown of how each team can finish is listed below.

St. Lawrence 1-4 (clinched first round home ice)
Harvard 1-4 (clinched first round home ice)
Dartmouth 1-5 (clinched playoff spot - needs one point to clinch home ice)
Princeton 2-6 (clinched playoff spot - needs two points to clinch home ice)
Colgate 3-7 (clinched playoff spot - cannot clinch home ice without help)
Clarkson 4-8 (clinched playoff spot - cannot clinch home ice without help)
Rensselaer 5-8 (clinched playoff spot - will travel first round)
Cornell 6-8 (clinched playoff spot - will travel first round)

Princeton used timely scoring and strong defensive play in last weekend's sweep. On Friday, the Tigers never trailed in a 2-1 win at Clarkson. Sophomore Laura Martindale opened the scoring less than three minutes into the game and classmate Sasha Sherry scored the game winner midway through the third period. Senior Annie Greenwood assisted on both goals.

The following afternoon, seniors Katherine Dineen and Christine Foster scored second period power-play goals as Princeton climbed from a 1-0 hole and defeated St. Lawrence 2-1. Foster, along with Greenwood, assisted on the first goal and both finished the weekend with three points. Senior goaltender Kristen Young made 21 saves in the win, and coupled with her Friday performance, stopped 47 of the 49 shots she saw over the weekend, leading to ECAC Goaltender of the Week honors.

The wins extended an impressive 2009 calendar year for the Tigers, who are now 9-1-1 since the calendar turned from 2008 to 2009. Princeton is 3-0-1 in its last four entering this weekend's trip to New England. In that span, Princeton is 7-0 in games played away from Baker Rink.

Princeton has received balanced scoring this season, as evidenced by the 12 scorers in double digits. Princeton's top 12 scorers are all bunched between 10 and 21 points with seven having between 12 and 14 points this year. Junior Melanie Wallace's 21 points continue to lead the team despite being held off the score sheet last weekend. Sherry ranks second with 19 and is followed by a third-place tie between freshman Paula Romanchuk and Foster.

Three of Princeton's four goals over the weekend came off the stick's of defenders. Princeton defensemen have scored more goals this season than any other team's blue line with 21. The Tiger defense has contributed 63 points this season and its 2.33 points per game average ranks fifth in the nation.

Princeton enters the final weekend at Brown on Friday night, looking avenge its only loss of 2009, a 2-1 overtime loss at the hands of the Bears on Jan. 31 in Princeton. Princeton outshot Brown 43-12 in the game, but Jenna Dancewicz was able to slip two shots into the Tiger goal and Brown pulled off the win.

Princeton is 30-28-2 all-time against Brown and is 15-14-2 in games played in Providence. Brown's win last month snapped a four-game Princeton unbeaten streak in the series. Brown is 6-20-1 overall and 5-15 in the ECAC and has been eliminated from ECAC playoff contention. Since sweeping Quinnipiac and Princeton the final weekend of January, Brown is 1-4 in its last five and enters the weekend off losses to Rensselaer and Yale.

The Tigers close the regular season at Yale on Saturday afternoon. Princeton topped the Bulldogs 3-2 in late January taking leads of 1-0 and 2-1 before Yale came back to tie it each time. Princeton went ahead 3-2 on Dineen's second goal of the game at 8:06 of the third and it held for the win for the Tigers.

Princeton is 49-10-2 all-time against Yale and is 22-5-2 in games played in New Haven. Princeton has won the last two games in the series, but the teams have split in each of the past two seasons. Yale is 11-15-1 overall and 7-12-1 in the league and has also been eliminated from the postseason. Yale enters the weekend unbeaten in three games with a tie against RPI and wins over Union and Brown. Yale has allowed just one goal in its last three games.

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Players Mentioned

Katherine Dineen

Christine Foster

Annie Greenwood

Laura Martindale

Paula Romanchuk

Sasha Sherry

Melanie Wallace

Kristen Young