Hanover, N.H.- For her part, established first-liner Alyse Ruff has seemingly reheated her acetylene twig, putting forth a goal-assist value pack in last night’s excursion to Dartmouth for a total of five points in her team’s first four ventures of 2009.
Fatalistic Friar Fanatics ought to have taken at least momentary comfort in Ruff’s scoresheet prominence as she abolished Dartmouth’s initial 1-0 lead late in the first, then aided linemate Laura Veharanta in forging a 3-3 tie one period later. After all, a tangible contribution from Ruff had been growing to spell a guaranteed win/tie night for PC, which entered Thompson Arena at 8-0-1 under that circumstance and 3-8-1 when she is stifled.
But much like goaltender Genevieve Lacasse’s near-immaculate tear through the first half of the season, that intriguing string of success was gunned down by a Cyclopean Big Green strike force last night. Ruff’s multi-point night was overwhelmingly eclipsed by seven like performances saturating the opposing column of the scoresheet.
The rundown: two goals by Kelly Foley, a 1-2-3 punch via Maggie Kennedy, one point of each kind for Sarah Parsons and Amanda Trunzo, and two helpers courtesy Julia Bronson, Jenna Cunningham, and Sarah Toupal.
Save for Parsons and Toupal, each of those Dartmouth strikers also garnered at least one pair of penalty minutes. Their starting right winger Trunzo, in particular, landed a curiously timed unsportsmanlike conduct infraction within the final 4:39, at which point the eventual 7-3 final was already up.
Meantime, Ruff and Veharanta led all 36 active skaters on the night with five and six SOG respectively while Dartmouth’s laser-beamed defense restricted the rest of the Friars to two apiece or less. Dartmouth’s slightly more balanced attack was led by four shots off the tape of Cunningham, Kennedy, and Parsons.
Other extensionsAshley Cottrell, Ruff and Veharanta’s inseparable centerpiece, was hushed on merely one shot of her own, thus halting her six-game point streak. But the likes of Veharanta, Erin Normore (goal), Kate Bacon, Katy Beach, and Jennifer Friedman (assist each) all sprinkled a point onto their nightly log for the second straight game.
Additionally, project defender Christie Jensen etched her first collegiate point with credit for the first assist on Veharanta’s goal.
Second period storm
Each team discharged precisely half of their night’s total of shots (PC: 13 out of 26, Dartmouth: 16 of 32) during the second period, wherein the Green outscored the Friars, 4-2.
Quick Feeds: Last night was the sophomore Ruff’s fourth multi-point performance of the season and eighth of her career. She is also now tied for second on the team, opposite Beach and Mari Pehkonen, with four power play conversions, the same number she had last year…Bacon posted a +1 rate on the night, enhancing her cumulative mark to a +4…The Friars tied a season-low in paying a mere three minor trips to the penalty box. They originally set that standard in a 2-1 OT loss at Yale two weeks ago…Barring any spontaneous postseason encounters, Dartmouth goalie Carli Clemis has closed her all-time series with the Friars a perfect 3-0, pushing away 85 shots and authorizing four goals over that span. Forward Maggie Kennedy moves on having pelted PC with a goal and five assists…PC coach Bob Deraney left his game night depth chart exactly as it was last weekend, only starting the defensive pair of Friedman and Brittany Simpson rather than that of Amber Yung and Colleen Martin…With Jen Smith’s brief season debut, PC has given three different goaltenders at least a sliver of regulation game action in five of their first seven years in Hockey East.
Al Daniel can be reached at hockeyscribe@hotmail.com
This article originally appeared in the Friartown Free Press
