Boxscore
ERIE, Pa. (2/3/06) - The Colgate University women’s hockey team skated to a 2-2 draw with No. 6 Mercyhurst on Friday, Feb. 3. The Raiders displayed strong defensive talents backstopped by Brook Wheeler (Brussels, Ont.), who had another impressive appearance between the pipes, making 35 saves, her third straight 30+ save effort. Wheeler moved to second on Colgate’s save list with 935 stops, surpassing Jen Burtaw (’02) at 921.
Not to be outdone the Raider seniors Becky Irvine (Lakeview, N.S.) and Allison Paiano (Orleans, Ont.) also made their way into the history books, scoring their 100th career points as a tandem.
During a scoreless first period it was all about the special teams as seven penalties were called. Mercyhurst proved early on their third-ranked penalty kill was going to be hard to break. The Lakers applied constant pressure, attacking both in the defensive and neutral zones, as the Raiders struggled to get out of the neutral zone.
Colgate was the dominate team when the squads were playing 4x4 midway through the first, with the Raiders keeping the puck down in their end for the majority of the 46 seconds.
Ashley Johnston (Duxbury, Mass.) picked up a pair of body checking penalties in the final four minutes of the opening frame, but Colgate’s penalty-killing unit along with netminder Wheeler stood tall denying the Lakers a chance to pencil their way onto the score sheet.
Both squads returned to the ice in the second with high intensity, and were able to give their special teams a break. It was the Raiders that were able to lit the lamp first, and it wasn’t just any goal to the Colgate bench.
Seniors Irvine and Paiano made Colgate women’s hockey history, as they scored their 100th career point together. They are the first two players to reach the Century Club, playing all four years at the Division I level.
As Irvine entered the left face-off circle, she sent a clean cross-ice pass to Paiano who ripped a shot and that went high over the blocker of Laura Hosier at 10:50 of the second frame. Elin Brown (Calgary, Alta.) was credited with the feed to Irvine.
Mercyhurst scored two back-to-back goals, giving the Lakers the 2-1 lead. Valerie Chouinard raced up center ice with Colgate defender Kiira Dosdall (Fairfield, Conn.) fighting to slow her up, Chouniard one-timed a shot that went high over the shoulder of Wheeler at 2:24. Stephanie Jones and Michelle Bonello both assisted on the play.
Just under four minutes later, Stefanie Bourbeau snuck the puck between Wheeler’s right pad and the post after receiving the puck off the boards from Julia Colizza at 6:12.
Colgate was able to tie up the game with a goal from Kara Leene (Waterbury, Vt.) six minutes later. Tara French (Truro, N.S.) settled an Ashley Bradford (Burnaby, B.C.) pass at the blue line and rifled a shot from the point through a screen where it was tipped by Leene for the equalizer at 12:30.
It was another battle of the squad’s special teams in the final few minutes, as the Raiders were able to kill off a penalty with 3:35 remaining to force the overtime. Mercyhurst was called for an infraction at 2:06 of the extra session, before Colgate was called for hooking at the four-minute mark.
Hosier made 13 saves for the Lakers, as they are now 17-7-3, while Colgate moves to 9-10-5.
The Raiders and the Lakers will battle it out again tomorrow, Saturday, Feb. 4 at 2 p.m.
