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Women's Hockey Returns to Action at No. 10 Princeton and No. 4/4 Quinnipiac
12/31/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Ice Hockey
PROVIDENCE, R.I. – The Brown women's hockey team will open the second half of the season with road ECAC games at No. 10 Princeton, on Friday, Jan. 1 (7:00 p.m.) and at No. 4 Quinnipiac on Saturday, Jan. 2 (4:00 p.m.).
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at Princeton: Live Stats | Video
at Quinnipiac: Live Stats | Video
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Complete Game Notes (PDF)
SCOUTING PRINCETON
The Tigers enter Friday's game having won six-straight en route to a 11-4-1 overall record and a 5-4-1 mark in the ECAC. Princeton closed out the first half of the season with a pair of non-conference games against Penn State (Dec. 11-12) winning the first, 4-0, and the second, 3-2. Freshman Katie Lund leads the team in points with 18, on seven goals and a team-high 11 assists. The rookie leads the ECAC freshmen in scoring with eight points on five goals and three assists. Two of her five goals were game-winners. Lund has been named ECAC Rookie of the Month (Nov.) and Rookie of the Week three times (Oct. 27, Nov. 17, Dec. 15). Junior Kelsey Koelzer has a team-best eight goals on the year to go with four assists for 12 points. Senior goalie Kimberly Newell leads the team with a 1.49 goals against average and a .947 save percentage for a 8-3-1 record, which includes two shutouts. Newell was recently named ECAC Goaltender of the Week in back-to-back weeks (Dec. 8, Dec. 15). She ranks top-five in the league in save pct. (.947-2nd), GAA (1.49-4th), win pct. (.708-4th) and saves (323-5th). As a team, the Tigers rank first in the ECAC on the penalty kill, at 95.6%.
SCOUTING QUINNIPIAC
The Bobcats enter Saturday's match-up unbeaten in their last 10 games (9-0-1) and will play Yale on Friday, Jan. 1, bringing a 14-1-3 record on the year and a 7-1-2 record in the league into the game. Quinnipiac's lone loss on the year came at Yale on Oct. 31 in a 4-3 defeat. The Bobcats wrapped up first half play with a non-conference game against New Hampshire (Dec. 11) winning the contest, 6-0. Sophomore Taylar Cianfarano leads the team and is tied for the ECAC lead in scoring with 30 points, on a team- and league-best 17 goals and 13 asssists. So far this year, she has been named ECAC Player of the Week twice. Cianfarano's 17 goals places her fifth in the nation. She also tops the league in +/- with a +29 rating. Junior Emma Woods is tied with Cianfarano with the team-lead in assists with 13, also tying them for second in the ECAC. Junior Sydney Rossman has been the backstop for all of Quinnipiac's games, putting together a 1.04 goals against average, which ranks first in the league, and a .941 save percentage, to place fourth in the ECAC. Her win percentage of .861 is second in the league. Rossman is a three-time ECAC Goaltender of the Week and was named Goaltender of the Month for November. As a team, QU ranks second in the nation in scoring defense (1.04) and second in the ECAC on the penalty kill (93.5%).
THE SERIES VS. PRINCETON
>Series Record: Brown trails, 32-46-2
Current Streak: L11
First Meeting: Feb. 18, 1975 (at Princeton, Brown win, 2-1)
Last Brown Win: Feb. 19, 2012 (at Princeton, 4-3 OT)
Last Princeton Win: Oct. 31, 2015 (at Brown, 3-0)
Last Tie: Feb. 9, 2008 (at Brown, 2-2 OT)
THE SERIES VS. QUINNIPIAC
Series Record: Brown trails, 6-13-4
Current Streak: L8
First Meeting: Jan. 8, 2002 (at Brown, Brown win, 6-1)
Last Brown Win: Feb. 21, 2009 (at Brown, 3-1)
Last QU Win: Oct. 30, 2015 (at Brown, 4-0)
Last Tie: Nov. 5, 2011 (at Quinnipiac, 2-2 OT)
BROWN 'S LAST MEETING VS. PRINCETON
The Bears played the Tigers on Saturday, Oct. 31, falling 3-0. Princeton scored two goals in the first period to claim a 2-0 lead heading into the first intermission, with tallies from Cassidy Tucker and Kelsey Koelzer. The second period saw a scoreless stance by both teams, with sophomore Julianne Landry recording 12 saves to keep a clean slate in the period. Princeton's Morgan Sly scored in the third to further seal the Tigers' victory and end the scoring for the game. Landry registered a total of 25 saves in the game while Princeton's Alysia DaSilva turned away 16 shots.
BROWN 'S LAST MEETING VS. QUINNIPIAC
The Bears played the then No. 5/5 Bobcats on Friday, Oct. 30, in their third game of the season and home-opener at Meehan Auditorium, losing 4-0. To open the first period, the Bears had two quality chances to score with both junior Maddie Woo and senior Kelly Micholson getting off shots in the slot. Quinnipiac later responded by adding its first tally of the game by Melissa Samoskevich. Junior Monica Elvin recorded 13 saves in the period. In the second period, Taylar Cianfarano and Nicole Brown scored in the stanza for the Bobcats to take a 3-0 lead. Cianfarano added her second goal of the contest in the third period to close out the scoring and give Quinnipiac a 4-0 win. The Brown penalty kill was a perfect 4-for-4 on the night, including 2-for-2 in the third period, against a tough Quinnipiac offense. For the game, Elvin made 33 saves in net while Rossman recorded three stops for Quinnipiac.
CURRENT BROWN GOAL LEADERS VS. PRINCETON AND QUINNIPIAC
Three current Bears have registered a goal against the Tigers, with junior Maddie Woo, junior Erin Conway and sophomore Sam Donovan all registering one tally. No current Bear has scored a goal versus the Bobcats.
LAST TIME OUT
Brown split its final weekend of the 2014 campaign as the Bears defeated Union, 2-0, and fell to RPI, 2-0, in ECAC action.
At Union, the Bears were led by sophomore Julianne Landry who recorded her first-career shutout with an impressive 38 saves in the contest and goals by junior Erin Conway and sophomore Samantha Swanstrom. Conway got the Bears on the board with a power-play tally in the second period. Swanstrom added a security goal for Brown in a power-play goal in the third, giving Brown a 2-0 lead. The third period saw Brown's defense fight off a penalty to preserve the shutout win. Landry contributed 14 saves in the final period. Overall the Bears were 2-for-5 on the power play while their penalty kill was a perfect 3-for-3 in fighting off infractions. With the game's power-play goals, Brown brought its extra-man tallies to at least one power-play goal in its last five games.
At RPI, the Engineers got on the board early in the first period, when Alexa Gruschow scored an unassisted goal. Both teams skated to a scoreless second period, as RPI carried a 1-0 lead into the third period. The score remained 1-0 late into the third when junior goalie Monica Elvin was pulled in favor of an extra skater at 18:42, but at 19:05, the Engineers were able to seal their victory with an empty net goal by Makenna Thomas. Elvin saved 33 of the 34 shots she saw on the day while Lovisa Selander made 19 saves. Both teams were 0-for-2 on the power play in the contest.
ELVIN APPROACHES 1,000 SAVES
Junior netminder Monica Elvin needs 20 saves to reach 1,000 for her career. In 36 career games, Elvin has tallied 980 saves and averages 27 per game.
NEXT UP
The Bears will return home to Meehan Auditorium for the first time since early November and host St. Lawrence on Friday, Jan. 8 at 7:00 p.m. and Clarkson on Saturday, Jan. 8 at 4:00 p.m. in ECAC games. The match-ups are the first meetings of the season for both teams.
