Hockey Game Central

HAMILTON, N.Y. (2/16/11) – The Colgate women's hockey team will play its final two games of the regular season this weekend when it travels to Harvard for a matchup on Friday, Feb. 18 at 7 p.m. before taking on No. 10 Dartmouth on Feb. 19 at 4 p.m.

Colgate (11-17-3, 8-10-2 ECAC) is coming off a 2-0 weekend with a 1-0 shutout win over Yale and a 4-1 win over St. Lawrence. Sophomore Brittany Phillips recorded three points with the game-winning goal against Brown and two goals in the Brown game while senior Jacquie Colborne had two points in the Yale game with the game-winning goal and an assist in the final goal. Senior Jessi Waters also had two points in Saturday's game with one goal and one assist.

ECAC HOCKEY PLAY
Colgate is currently sitting in ninth place with 18 points in the league standings above Yale, Brown and Union. Rensselaer and St. Lawrence, who both also have 18 points each, hold the seventh and eighth positions. Colgate has wins over Quinnipiac, Princeton, Clarkson, Rensselaer and Union and has suffered losses to Princeton, Dartmouth, Harvard, Quinnipiac, St. Lawrence, Yale, Rensselaer and No. 2 Cornell. The Raiders' only ties were with Brown on Jan. 7 and Clarkson on Feb. 5.

With the regular season coming to a close, the two games this weekend will help determine whether the Raiders secure a spot as one of the top-eight teams in the league and advance to the ECAC Hockey Playoffs that will take place next weekend.

RECORD-SETTING GAME
Junior goaltender Kimberly Sass recorded 26 saves to help the team secure a 1-0 shutout win over Yale on Friday night. This was Sass' fifth shutout of the season and third straight at home, both of which are new school records. All five of her shutouts have been recorded at Starr Rink.

POINT LEADERS
Phillips leads the team with 33 points from a team-best 15 goals and 18 assists. She is currently ranked sixth in school history for points in a season, tied at ninth for goals in a season and is also tied at seventh for assists in a season. Phillips is followed by sophomore Jenna Klynstra who has 26 points off 12 goals and 14 assists and by Waters who is third with three goals and 17 assists for 20 points. The senior's 17 assists have her tied at 10th for most assists in a season.

THE SERIES
The Crimson owns a 16-1-2 record with Colgate. The Raiders' only victory was in 2006-07 when the team defeated Harvard 3-1 en route to reaching the semifinals of the ECAC Hockey tournament for the second time in school history and the first time in the team's history as a Division I program. This will be the second meeting between the two teams this season, with Harvard defeating Colgate 3-1 on Nov. 6 in Starr Rink.

Dartmouth leads the all-time series with Colgate 24-5-2. The Raiders' most memorable win came in the first game of the ECAC quarterfinals during the 2008-09 season, when the team defeated the Big Green 7-6 in overtime. Saturday's game will mark the 32nd meeting between the two teams since they first met in 2001-02. Dartmouth won the first meeting this season 6-2 in Hamilton, N.Y. on Nov. 5.

SCOUTING HARVARD
The Crimson (14-9-4, 13-4-3 ECAC) is coming off a 2-2 overtime tie with Clarkson and a 3-2 overtime win over St. Lawrence last weekend. The team, which was picked to finish third in the ECAC preseason poll below Cornell and Clarkson, the team has only suffered four league losses this season to Princeton, Rensselaer, Cornell and Quinnipiac.

Currently holding the second spot in the league standings below Cornell with 29 points, Harvard is led by senior Liza Ryabkina and sophomore Jillian Dempsey. Ryabkina leads the team with 22 points from 11 goals and 11 assists while Dempsey has nine goals and 10 assists.

SCOUTING #10 DARTMOUTH
The Big Green (17-9, 13-7 ECAC) is coming off a 3-2 win over St. Lawrence and a 3-1 win over Clarkson last weekend. Picked to finish eighth in the preseason poll, the team has suffered losses to Cornell, Harvard, Rensselaer, Clarkson, St. Lawrence and Quinnipiac.

Currently sitting in third place in the league standings with 26 points below Cornell and Harvard, Dartmouth is led by sophomore Camille Dumais and junior Kelly Foley. Dumais leads the team in points with 27 from 11 goals and 16 assists while Foley is second with 14 goals and 12 assists for 26 points. Freshman goaltender Lindsay Holdcroft was recently named the MLX Skates Goaltender of the Week by the ECAC.

ECAC PRESEASON POLL
The Raiders were picked to finish ninth in the ECAC preseason poll that was released on Sept. 16. The defending regular-season and tournament champion Cornell, was picked to finish first with a total of 121 points and 11 first-place votes. Following the Big Red were Clarkson (105, one first-place vote), Harvard (103), Quinnipiac (79), St. Lawrence (77), and Princeton (73), with Rensselaer (70) and Dartmouth (52) rounding off the top eight spots. Colgate (43) along with Yale (34), Brown (24) and Union (11) were the four teams picked to miss out on this season's tournament.