February 4, 1999
FROM THE BLUE LINE
With Maine head coach Rick Filighera and Deron Treadwell
(Note to readers: Each week for the rest of the season I m going to put
together this column on University of Maine Women s ice hockey and
distribute it across the Internet around mid-week to promote women s
hockey at UMaine and across the country. Constructive comments are
always welcome.)
The University of Maine Lady Black Bears earned their first ECAC league
sweep with a pair of wins over in-state foe Colby College. Maine beat
the White Mules 5-0 on Saturday in Waterville and doubled that the next
afternoon in Orono with a 10-0 victory.
Maine went after the outmatched Mules right from the opening faceoff.
Despite only scoring five goals on Saturday, the fewest Colby has
allowed all season, Maine dominated the game outshooting Colby 66-11
for the contest. On Sunday, the Black Bears never let Colby in the game
jumping out to a 4-0 lead before the first stanza ended.
Black Bears head coach Rick Filighera was quite satisfied with the
effort.
I felt this weekend our forecheck has been the best it has been all
season, Filighera said. We played with more confidence on Sunday than
Saturday. We scored some power-play goals and seemed to play a better
team game. We used our speed and were able to use all four lines.
But a scary moment in the period dampened the excitement. While in the
offensive zone, first-year forward Amy Van Vuren fell into the boards
headfirst and laid basically motionless on the ice with about 12
minutes remaining in the first. Van Vuren was eventually immobilized
and carted to the hospital on a stretcher. Van Vuren was treated and
released from the hospital that evening.
Amy has a separated shoulder and will be out for at least two weeks or
probably more, Filighera said. I did not have a good look at it and
we don't have a replay. I think she lost her footing and fell into the
boards awkwardly.
The star of the weekend was once again Germany s Raffi Wolf. The
first-year Rookie-of-the-Year candidate had three goals on Saturday and
added four goals on Sunday for seven goals and eight points total on
the weekend. Wolf earned ECAC/Louisville Player-of-the-Week honors for
her performance. Wolf now has 22 goals and 11 assists for 33 points in
just 21 games and is tied for the league lead in overall goals with
Harvard sensation Tammy Shewchuk. Wolf is in seventh-place in ECAC goal
scoring with 13 goals and is tied for sixth-place in the ECAC in
freshmen league scoring.
Raffi at any given time could be the best player on the ice,
Filighera said. This weekend she proved that.
Perhaps the largest surprise of the weekend was Maine s other ECAC
award winner of the week, Chatham, N.J. native Colleen Baude. Baude,
who was moved back to Maine s top line prior to the first game, had an
eight-point weekend of her own with three goals and five assists and
earned ECAC Rookie-of-the-Week honors. Baude now sports a 6-8--14
scoring line on the season.
Colleen has been working extremely hard, but her role has mainly been
defensive, said Filighera. We felt that Amy [Van Vuren] may have been
a bit overwhelmed on the line with Wolf and [Kira] Misikowetz and is a
better center. Colleen, we felt, would be able to work hard in the
corners and get the puck to Wolf or Misikowetz. She had some scoring
chances and capitalized on them.
Not to be outdone, Misikowetz was an Honor Roll mention for the ECAC
Awards this week with her 1-7--8 line. Misikowetz now has 9 goals and
18 assists for 27 points on the year.
Each week in this space Coach Filighera will pick the Unsung Hero of
the Week . It is easy to lump praise on the women who light the lamp,
but to be a solid hockey team it takes players who are quietly getting
the job done behind the scenes. This week s winner is first-year
defenseman Jessica Stachiw. Filighera said Stachiw played a very smart
physical game and made good decisions all weekend against Colby.
Stachiw, a 5-7 mainstay from Mississauga, Ontario, has played in all 21
games to date with a goal and an assist. She played defense for the
Brampton Canadettes Intermediate AA team before coming to Maine and is
majoring in Mass Communication and Journalism.
Maine faces a tough test this weekend as it hosts nationally ranked
Dartmouth College for a pair of games at the Alfond. Face-off is set
for 7 p.m. on both nights and admission is free.
Dartmouth enters the contest ranked as the No. 7 team in the nation
with a 10-6-4 record and also in seventh-place in the ECAC. If the
season ended today, Dartmouth would be forced to travel to Durham, N.H.
to play the high-flying Wildcats or to Boston to face the equally
frightening Crimson from Harvard. This is not the pretty picture the
Big Green have for the playoffs, so they won t be looking past the
first-year Bears.
Dartmouth is led by senior forward Kathleen O Keefe, who has notched
six goals and 18 assists for 24 points, sophomore forward Jennifer
Wiehn with 12 goals 11 assists for 23 points and sophomore forward
Lauren Trottier with 10-1121. In goal, sophomore Meaghan Cahill has
been receiving the majority of playing time with a 7-6-4 record and a
2.28 goals against average, and a .902 save percentage. Dartmouth has
apparently been playing very disciplined hockey as they only average
7.6 penalty minutes per game, which is second best to Colby in the ECAC.
Dartmouth has been hanging around the last playoff spot all season long
and this weekend Maine will get a taste of what it will take to play
hockey at the playoff level.
If we want to make a run at the last playoff spot we need to get four
points, Filighera said. This is a team we can play with but they have
experience and discipline. [It] Should be a tight series similar to
Providence.
Maine played the Friars tough losing 3-1 and 2-0. The long trip to
Orono could slow down the Big Green and the young Black Bears will look
to cash in and continue their climb up the ECAC ladder.
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