Dartmouth Women Earn Tie in Penalty-Filled Contest at UConn

Sunday, January 3

Storrs, Conn.

1:00 PM

Dartmouth College

Connecticut

Nanji Named Dartmouth Female Athlete of the Week

Dartmouth Women Earn Tie in Penalty-Filled Contest at UConn

1/3/2010 3:00:00 PM | Women's Ice Hockey

By: Dartmouth

Box Score

STORRS, Conn. – After killing off a five-minute major penalty, the Dartmouth women's hockey team got a game-tying goal from freshman Sasha Nanji (Markham, Ont.) on the power play and earned a 3-3 tie with UConn in a game with 47 total penalty minutes.

The Big Green (6-6-2) got goals from Nanji, junior Amanda Trunzo (Andover, Minn.) and freshman Camille Dumais (Beaconsfield, Que.). Dartmouth also had three different players earn assists. Freshman Whitney Woodcox (Oshawa, Ont.) stayed unbeaten with her second tie of the season and she is now 2-0-2 on the season after pushing aside 19 shots. The Big Green didn't help itself with 31 minutes of penalties, which translates into being a skater down for half of the game.

Connecticut's (9-6-5) Michelle Binning led the way with a game-high three points on two goals and an assist. One goal came on the power play with the other giving the Huskies a 3-2 lead in the second period. Monique Weber contributed two assists, while Amy Hollstein continued her hot streak against the Big Green. Alexandra Garcia played a great game for Connecticut, making 28 saves.

Dartmouth jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead with 11:33 left in the first period. Dumais netted the first goal of the game with her fifth of the season. Sophomore Jenna Hobeika (Alpine, N.J.) assisted on the play. Connecticut got whistled for its first penalty of the game and on the first Big Green rush Trunzo gave Dartmouth a 2-0 lead with her ninth of the year. Senior co-captain Jenna Cunningham (Medicine Hat, Alta.) recorded her sixth assist this season on the play as well. The Huskies didn't know what hit them as the goals came 1:24 apart from each other.

Connecticut cut the lead to 2-1 with 1:24 left in the opening period. Hollstein once again came through for the Huskies and gave the Huskies its first goal after tallying a goal and an assist yesterday afternoon. Weber was given the assist for UConn.

The Big Green had a 10-8 shot advantage in the opening period, but the difference came on the power play as Dartmouth scored one goal in two chances, while Connecticut failed on its only opportunity of the first frame.

The Huskies dominated the second period and in addition to the final goal of the first period, they added two more in the second to take the lead with three unanswered goals. The two goals in the middle frame came on the power play and both from Binning. Weber assisted on the first goal for her second of the game and Sami Evelyn also added a helper on the score. The game was tied at 2-2 with 5:47 left in the period.

Binning was at it again and thanks to both a two-minute minor and a five-major on the Big Green, she capitalized on Dartmouth's mistake to give Connecticut its first lead of the game. She was out in front of Woodcox and Cristin Allen found her and she beat the Big Green netminder for the score.

Dartmouth actually won the shot battle with an 8-6 advantage, but UConn made their shots count. The Huskies had four opportunities on the power play and scored twice.

The Big Green got the momentum back and tied the game on the power play. Dartmouth first did a great job killing off the final minutes of the major penalty that continued into the third period. After the Big Green killed the penalty, Connecticut committed its own penalty and Dartmouth took advantage. Sophomore Geneva Kliman (Toronto, Ont.) pushed the puck to Nanji and she fired a shot that deflected off a defensive stick and past Garcia to tie the game at 3-3.

Woodcox came up big following the goal from the Big Green as she made a couple of saves as UConn went back on the power play. She saved the game for the moment with a glove stop on a 2-on-1 break for the Huskies.

Dartmouth won the shot advantage for the third-straight period with 10 shots to seven by the Huskies. The Big Green won the overall shots battle with 31 to UConn's 22 on the afternoon. Dartmouth finished the night with two power play goals in six chances, while the Huskies also tallied two goals with extra skater in eight opportunities.

ECAC Hockey play is back for the Big Green this coming week as Dartmouth travels to Princeton and Quinnipiac this coming weekend.