Sports
Women’s hockey to host Bowdoin in first round of NESCAC playoffs
By Robert Fitzgerald ’20
February 23, 2017
Tags sports
After wrapping up the regular season with a 14-7-3 record, the Hamilton women’s ice hockey team is moving on to the NESCAC playoffs. Finishing as the #3 seed in the conference, the Continentals will host at least one game over the course of the playoffs, the first of which is upcoming this Saturday. The quarterfinal contest between Hamilton and sixth-seeded Bowdoin will be held at Russell Sage Rink at 4p.m. on Feb. 25.
Both Hamilton and Bowdoin are coming off losses to end the regular seasons and will be looking to avenge their recent defeats. Bowdoin lost at Trinity 2-0, who is seeded fourth, between the Polar Bears and the Continentals. As for Hamilton, the women traveled to New London, Connecticut last weekend to take on Connecticut College. Going into the road trip having won six of their last seven, the team could not have been much hotter heading into the two-game series with Connecticut. The series had extreme playoff seeding implications regardless of the results. The Camels and Continentals played to a 0-0 draw in the first game, while Connecticut got the better of the second game, beating Hamilton 5-1. This setback not only ensured that Connecticut would be seeded above Hamilton, but also led to the Continentals being dropped out of both Division III Top-10 polls. Connecticut secured the second seed in the playoff and will be matched up against seventh-seeded Williams College in the quarterfinals. Doubtlessly, the team is unsatisfied with how the regular season ended; however, that series will all be forgotten if the team performs well against the Bowdoin Polar Bears on Saturday and advances to the semifinals.
Having finished the season with a 9-5-2 conference record, Hamilton will likely be the favorite to win this Saturday, against a Bowdoin squad which only managed a 7-6-3 conference tally. However, one thing Bowdoin has in its favor is that they have already made the trip to Clinton earlier this season and fared relatively well in a two-game series with Hamilton. Earlier this month, Bowdoin battled Hamilton at Sage, winning the first game 2-1 and losing the second one by a score of 3-2. Because they were able to hang tough with Hamilton on Hamilton’s home ice, the Polar Bears of Bowdoin College must be decently confident in their ability to come into Russell Sage Rink and put up a solid fight.
That being said, for Bowdoin to win on Saturday, they must be able to contain forward Katie Parkman ’17, whose 21 points over the course of the regular season marks her as the highest scoring player on either roster. Leading her team in both goals and assists, Parkman has obviously been a focal point of the Hamilton offense, and will look to be a factor again on Saturday. Megan Ahern ’17 and Andrea Rockey ’19 join Parkman as the only Hamilton forwards with double-digit points on the season, sitting at 14 and 13, respectively. For Bowdoin, forward Julie Dachille ’18 will be a player that our defense must keep in control. Dachille led her team in points this year with 17, though she is closely trailed by fellow forward Brooke Solomon ’19, who had 15.
On the defensive end, Hamilton will rely on goalie Sam Walther ’18, as well as breakout first-year defensemen Michaela Giuttari ’20, to keep the Polar Bear attack in check this weekend. Giuttari leads all first-years on either team with 11 points so far this season. Meanwhile, Walther has played 22 out of 24 games for the Continentals, including all 16 in-conference games. She boasts a strong .949 save percentage for the year, including eight shutouts.
Kerri St. Denis ’19 will probably make the start in net. Having played 16 out of 24 games this season, including the majority of the in-conference matchups, she seems to be the coach’s choice for important contests. Her save percentage slightly edges that of Walther, with a mark of .953. She was able to record five shutouts. Bowdoin’s key scoring defender is Brigit Bergin ’18, who, like Giuttari, finished the regular season with 11 points.
Recent adversary Connecticut College looms just one seed above Hamilton. Obviously, neither side can afford to look past their games this weekend; however, the tournament bracket is lined up so that the Continentals will have the opportunity to get their revenge against the Camels if the top seeds win out. That potential matchup would certainly be a hard-fought contest, but will only happen if both teams win this Saturday. Hamilton plays in one of the most competitive, upper tier conferences in all of Division III hockey on both the men’s and women’s sides. Just because a team is a few seeds lower or has a slightly worse record does not mean they will be a pushover, especially in the playoffs. The game on Saturday at Sage will be an exciting close game, and if the Continentals play their best hockey, this contest could kick start a long and successful playoff run.