Potsdam, N.Y.- Her volcanic bushel of six registered shots versus Maine a week to the date and her constant venturing into opponents’ corners must have been the foreshock. After all, when PC women’s senior captain Colleen Martin discharged her first of two bids in last night’s visit to Clarkson, it proved to set off a double drought-splashing tsunami as it tuned the mesh with 4:02 gone in the second period.
First off, it equaled a power play conversion, the Friars’ first on 12 whirls this regular season after they went a mildly toe-curling 0-for-9 in their two-game set with the Black Bears and missed on their first two opportunities in the opening stanza last night. But on a more jutting personal level, it was the once-routinely stay-at-home blueliner’s first strike since the stretch drive of her freshman season (Feb. 25, 2007 versus Connecticut), shattering a spell at the age of 74 games.
If there were any fertile offerings of solace in the eventual 3-2 overtime loss, that had to be the peak of the list. Elsewhere, the penalty killing brigade neutralized the Golden Knight power play all night, goaltender Genevieve Lacasse (27 saves total) stopping all six shots faced in those segments and her associates zapping four other attempts, including one block of a Carlee Eusepi shot attributed to Martin during one of Clarkson’s busier grinds late in the middle frame.
When it came to confronting the ever-familiar Dominique Thibault, the Friars, on the one hand, reiterated that they generally know the answers to the ex-UConn scoring beacon, restricting her to three shots and zero points.
However, Thibault’s left side linemate, Juana Baribeau, was allotted an overwhelming seven shots, two of which she lashed through for a 2-1 lead late in the second and the walk-off connection at 1:26 of the bonus round.
Solving the Saints
A full collegiate generation has run its course since the Friars last outdueled today’s adversary from St. Lawrence (3 p.m. face-off at Appleton Arena). Since a 5-1 home triumph Nov. 7, 2004, every annual reunion has been All Saint’s Night, especially PC’s last visit to Canton two years back when the Saints sledged out an 8-0 decision and yet another two years prior, when it ended with a vinegary 6-1 upshot.
A full collegiate generation has run its course since the Friars last outdueled today’s adversary from St. Lawrence (3 p.m. face-off at Appleton Arena). Since a 5-1 home triumph Nov. 7, 2004, every annual reunion has been All Saint’s Night, especially PC’s last visit to Canton two years back when the Saints sledged out an 8-0 decision and yet another two years prior, when it ended with a vinegary 6-1 upshot.
Over each of the last four meetings, the Friars have mustered no more than a single goal and have been aggregately blown away 19-3.
But ask PC head coach Bob Deraney, who was previously 3-2-2 in this series before the Saints issued the ongoing hex, and he’ll eagerly bank on another 180-degree tweak of luck.
“It’s a different year. That’s the best thing about it,” he said earlier this week. “Every year is a new year. It’s not like professional sports because people have to graduate after four years. You’re happy to see some of their great players go. We’ve also lost some good players, but it’s a different year with different personnel. We’re going to bring our best hockey and see what happens.”
Quick Feeds: Ashley Cottrell’s equalizer with 5:19 to spare in regulation granted her a team-best three goals on the year…Jessica Cohen, Jean O’Neill, and Alyse Ruff all picked up an assist apiece…Last night’s reported attendance at Cheel Arena was 346…Laura Veharanta, who tied fellow forwards Cottrell and Arianna Rigano for a team-best four shots on the game- was the only Friar with a positive plus/minus rating on the night. Seven other skaters finished even in that department…St. Lawrence faltered last night in its season opener versus UConn, spilling a 1-0 lead when it was barely five minutes old in the second and ultimately allowing the Huskies’ Amy Hollstein to finalize a 2-1 decision at 2:44 of the third.
Al Daniel can be reached at hockeyscribe@hotmail.com
This article originally appeared in the Friartown Free Press
