lets cheer again for the womens team...
U.S. COLLEGE HOCKEYS.....DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Defensive Player Of the Week
                                  Kathleen Hedges, Maine
                                  This weekend, the University of Maine
                                  crossed a milestone, earning its first ever
                                  Division I and ECAC win with a 3-2 decision
                                  over visiting St. Lawrence. Shining in the win
                                  was goaltender Kathleen Hedges, who
                                  stopped 41 shots and allowed just two goals
                                  for a 2.00 goals against average and a 0.954
                                  save percentage.
 
> ----------
> From:         Zolt, Jeff
> Sent:         Monday, December 07, 1998 11:14 AM
> To:   'The Maine Hockey Discussion List'
> Subject:      RE: Bears Win First League Game
>
> CONGRATS...TO THE MAINE WOMENS HOCKEY TEAM....GREAT JOB!!!
>
>       ----------
>
>
>       Black Bears win first league game
>
>       by Dave Bailey
>       Maine Campus Staff
>
>       To some, it might be just another puck. But to Maine women's hockey
>       coach Rick Filighera, it
>       was the perfect birthday gift.
>         Filighera celebrated his 31st birthday in style Saturday as Maine
>       downed St. Lawrence 3-2 at
>       Alfond Arena for its first conference win of the season.
>         "I can be real happy about this one," said Filighera, holding the
>       puck the way a child grasps a
>       piece of candy. "We are loving life right now."
>         Raffi Wolf tallied two goals for Maine, while Kira Misikowetz had
>       one, which proved to be the
>       difference-maker.
>         Penalty killing was the key to victory for the Black Bears, as Maine
>       shot down five St.
>       Lawrence power plays, including two when the Saints had two-skater
>       advantages.
>         Maine (5-5-0. 1-5-0 ECAC) also had to cope with some line shuffles.
>       With Alison Lorenz out
>       with a twisted ankle and Colleen Baude under the weather, Amy Van Vuren
>       was inserted into
>       the left wing position alongside scoring powerhouses Wolf and
>       Misikowetz.
>         And it didn't take long for the move to pay big dividends.
>         Just 37 seconds into the game, Van Vuren, who was to the right of
>       Saints goaltender Emily
>       Stein (19 saves), flipped the puck to a waiting Wolf in front of the
>       net. Wolf then banged it high
>       to Stein's left to put the Bears on the board.
>         "It was the most important goal, [being] right at the beginning,"
>       said Wolf, who now has 13
>       goals on the season to lead Maine. "We have to play with everyone. The
>       whole team has to get
>       along."
>         Five minutes later, Maine was put to the test when two quick
>       penalties put the Bears at a
>       two-skater disadvantage.
>         But with the crowd of 187 shouting "Dee-fense!" and Wolf clearing the
>       puck out of the Maine
>       zone, the Bears were able to kill the penalty.
>         "When [Wolf] gets a hang of the puck, it's gone," Filighera said.
>       "That's why she's out there."
>         With her defensive credentials well-established, Wolf exhibited her
>       offensive skills again in the
>       second, rebounding her own shot and stinging the puck to Stein's right
>       for a power-play goal.
>         But St. Lawrence wasn't about to lie down just yet. Midway through
>       the second, Nicole Kirnan
>       and Caroline Trudeau scored two goals for the Saints in the span of
>       2:35 to knot the score.
>         After surving another two-woman disadvantage, Maine took the lead for
>       good, when
>       Misikowetz took a loose puck and stuck it in the net for an unassisted
>       goal at 3:38.
>         "It wasn't a spectacular goal," Misikowetz said. "It was just a
>       "cross the net, jam it in' goal.
>       Amy Van Vuren was behind the net and she worked hard to get it out
>       there, and I just smashed
>       it in."
>         Kathleen Hedges made 41 saves in the net for Maine, upping her record
>       to 3-3-0. Among the
>       sweet stops was a sweeping glove save off Meghan Maguire's dead-on shot
>       with 10:26 left in
>       the second, not to mention a plethora of saves in the third when Maine
>       was unable to get the
>       puck out of its zone (The Bears had only one shot in the second half of
>       the third).
>         St. Lawrence outshot Maine 43-22 overall.
>         "We just kept on saying we thought we were better than them,"
>       Misikowetz said. "We thought
>       if we kept giving it to them that we would come out on top. No matter
>       what they did, we just
>       kept on saying, "C'mon guys, let's go.'"
>         Friday - Polar Opposite
>         Saturday's triumph helped wash out the bad taste of Friday's debacle,
>       as a sluggish Maine team
>       was corralled 3-0 by an equally sluggish St. Lawrence squad at the
>       Alfond the third time this
>       season the Black Bears have been shut out.
>         Filighera was in a less-than-jovial mood following a game in which
>       the Bears failed to take
>       advantage of the subpar Saints.
>         "We played with no enthusiasm," Filighera said. "We weren't going to
>       the net. "
>         Filighera also said that such inconsistencies can be expected from a
>       young team like Maine.
>         Maine defenseman Jessica Stachiw noted Maine's sluggishness on the
>       ice.
>         "Our energy was kind of low," Stachiw said. "We were trying to pick
>       it up, but I think we know
>       what we have to do."
>         St. Lawrence coach Ron Waske suggested that Maine's lack of depth was
>       a factor in the
>       Saints' victory.
>         "Unfortunately, the depth isn't going to be there," he said.
>       "[Maine's] first line is as competitive
>       as many of the first lines in the [ECAC], but the depth after that is a
>       little weak."
>         St. Lawrence got on the board 3:14 into the game when Suzanne Fiacco
>       one-timed a Nicole
>       Kirnan pass past Hedges.
>         The score was 1-0 until the third, when St. Lawrence scored two more
>       to blow the game open.
>         "The third period, we just sleptwalked through it," Filighera said.
>         Stacy Boudrais gave the Saints the two-goal lead, sticking the puck
>       to Hedges' left.
>         Christa Talbot capped the scoring for St. Lawrence with a powerful
>       slap-shot goal from just in
>       front of the blue line.
>         Hedges made 21 saves for Maine, while Caryn Ungewitter made 18 for
>       St. Lawrence to run
>       her record to 3-5-0.
>
>