On Hockey: PC Women's Program Faces Old Tasks In New Year

Pardon the umpteenth rerun of this Friar Puck edition of “Same Auld Lang Syne,” but the calendar Zamboni has just completed its latest big shift and left a sheet for the PC women’s hockey team not unlike what this collegiate generation is accustomed to.

 

Yet again, at 5-7-7 overall, Providence has to make up a little ground that it spilled in Part I of its campaign. More than anything, the Friars need to extract something tangible –and plenty of it- from the remainder of the interleague schedule so they can hustle through the Hockey East pennant race with less excess desperation and not feel like they have to depend on that unreliable automatic bid.

 

And the first two weekends of the second semester will be immensely critical in terms of sprucing up their national viability. Quite ironically, for tomorrow and Sunday, they are on the program’s first business trip to Minnesota since its last and lone NCAA tournament appearance in 2005. They shall lock twigs with St. Cloud State and Minnesota State-Mankato in the Husky-hosted Easton Holiday Showcase, gunning for their first win over a WCHA tenant in four years and eight tries (0-7-1).

 

Upon returning home, they will gear up for a two-night visit from a roundly braced Cornell team, which leaped somewhat out of the left corner and comfortably perched itself in the polls for the last six weeks of activity and shows little sign of recession any time in the near future.

 

The Friars are currently a discomfiting 1-4-3 in their nonconference slate. Versus nationally ranked opponents, they are 2-5-3, and where everything stands now, that is only good enough for a solitary honorable mention vote beneath the USCHO Top 10 board.

 

With all that in mind, and with one other interleague date at No. 5 Harvard coming near the end of this month, PC will need to derive something out of these next two weeks similar to what they cultivated back in the first two weeks of October, but preferably with a few more layers of tangible success.

 

If that happens, a surefire byproduct will be added –but preferably moderate- conviction for when the focus shifts solely to the turbulent Hockey East stretch drive. If not, only the hockey gods know what’s next.

 

In any case, recall the irreproachable launch this team had to their 2009-10 season, starting on a winning note for the first time in five years and going 3-1-1 with the lone loss requiring overtime to complete.

 

As far as schedule strength is concerned, the first two weeks of January pan out vaguely similar to the start of October. Like the Friars, the SCSU Huskies and MSU Mavericks are both thawing back out after a three-week respite from game action. And performance-wise, PC stands at least one notch above this weekend’s competition in every realm from records to offense to defense to goaltending to discipline to special teams.

 

Not unlike Dan Lichterman’s pupils from Maine, whom PC swept on opening weekend, both of the Minnesotan adversaries might be capable of pulling a surprise stinger here and there. And they might bank on a little conference quarterfinal playoff action in two months. But nothing more than that is likely.

 

Beyond a productive packet of seniors –Holly Roberts, Meghan Pezon, Caitlin Hogan, Felicia Nelson, and Danielle Hirsch- St. Cloud doesn’t have any double-digit point-getters. In fact, nobody else on the relatively young roster has any more than five points to their credit, and the five aforementioned have accounted for 43 out of the team’s 46 goals.

 

Translation: not a lot of depth in the 8-10-2 Huskies. And similarly, the 4-8-4 Mavericks are a little more balanced across their line charts, but the cumulative wealth is even slimmer with no reckonable producers beyond Ashley Young (13 points), Emmi Lahtonen (12), and Lauren Smith (12). Worse still, they brandish a tandem of goaltenders, Alli Altmann and Paige Thunder, each with a sub-.900 save percentage.

 

Naturally, none of the said data automatically amounts to PC’s first winning streak since -guess when- the opening Maine series. But it would be advisable to pounce and start snowballing some confidence, for two dates with a certified ECAC power will be lying in wait afterward, as was the case circa October 9. Last time around, after bumping the Black Bears, it was a soul-sharpening excursion to Clarkson and St. Lawrence, both of whom the Friars never trailed by more than a goal for 60 minutes and loose change.

 

Of course, the then and now also have their distinct differences. Head coach Bob Deraney figures to field a fuller, healthier roster than he had in October, thus shortness of stamina need not be any more of an excuse than letting a hypothetical hot start get to everyone’s head.

 

Been there, learned that, right?

 

Furthermore, there is a team identity somewhere beneath a pile of snow that has already been partially cleared by the furious forking of Nicole Anderson, Ashley Cottrell, and Laura Veharanta.

 

Assuming the elements of their chemistry have not wilted from inactivity, they might, as both a full-time even-strength trinity and power play unit, be a slightly earlier second coming of the PRO Line (Mari Pehkonen, Alyse Ruff, and Jean O’Neill, for any rookie readers) from two years back. Or they might be redeployed to help some of their mates rekindle their own torches.

 

The reliable Anderson-Cottrell-Veharanta combo is not a bad start, not unlike a few statistically and spiritually invigorating weeks’ worth of game action. But in both cases, the Friars’ 2010 resolution must be to build on what they have and never leave the foundation unattended. Like one’s house plant, it will either flourish through daily watering or wither through inconsistent care.

 

This has the deceptive look of a do-over, but it’s more of another make-up cramming session. Best-case scenario, PC learns from its past and doesn’t let the issue get any tougher. After all, the 18 veterans have confronted this issue before.

 

Again: been there, learned that.

 

Al Daniel can be reached at hockeyscribe@hotmail.com

 

This article originally appeared in the Friartown Free Press

PC Women's Hockey Midseason Player Reports

Nicole Anderson- While not quite an instant hit, the rookie Anderson has bolted out of the left corner to make her towering stature and supreme wingspan an overwhelming power play mace. In all, she has slugged home nine goals, six of them during 5-on-4 segments and nearly all of them executed in a fashion that pays homage to Phil Esposito and Ryan Smyth. Also, other than classmate Jessie Vella, who has played but five games and scored on each of her two shots, Anderson boasts a team-best .196 accuracy rate.

 

Kate Bacon- Still thawing out after two separate bouts of injury sidelined her for a total of seven games, Bacon finally tuned the mesh for the first time this season at Boston College just before the break. Part II of the season might make a better measuring pole for the progressing sophomore.

 

Jess Cohen- A stimulating October (six points in her first six games) has rapidly given way to a rut of frustration (two points in her last 13 games). In her four most recent outings, she has not so much as recorded a shot on goal. While head coach Bob Deraney insists that the break is somewhat untimely for the team, some individuals could use the respite for psychological retooling. The rookie Cohen would be definitely one of them.

 

Ashley Cottrell- She’s putting the puck in the net. She’s making plays. She’s blocking shots and getting right back up from it. She bears one of the team’s better plus/minus ratings. She’s victorious at the face-off dot more often than not. What more can be asked of this sizzling sophomore that she hasn’t been doing already?

 

Lauren Covell- A defensive convert from forward, Covell has pitched in a pleasantly surprising five points so far, although they’ve been coming at a slightly lesser rate than they were in October.

 

Jackie Duncan- Continuing her career-long bout with off-and-on ailments, Duncan missed the first 12 games and has since taken her time thawing out through seven appearances. Like most of her associates in both the grinders’ department and the fresh-off-the-sideline committee, Duncan’s second half task is to adopt consistent health and help to deepen the Friars’ charts by sculpting a formidable fourth line.

 

Christina England- The junior stopper finally got a slurp of regular season NCAA action, even if it was only four minutes and 48 seconds worth of firefighting duty in the Mayor’s Cup. What can she do? Genevieve Lacasse is just playing up to her lofty standards.

 

Jennifer Friedman- The data doesn’t lie. Friedman bears the lone positive plus/minus (+4) amongst all of her blue line peers and, behind Amber Yung, is the most regular point-based puckslinger with 32 registered shots, including 13 on the power play. Although, those shots have been a tad less frequent of late than they were in October.

 

Abby Gauthier- On a team that has only recently perked up its offense, Gauthier is still one of the less frequent shooters and scorers and, more frightfully, is enduring a minus-7 rating. In the last two games before her well-timed respite, she found herself linked up with senior grinders Jackie Duncan and Pam McDevitt. No telling who she’ll be working with on the other side of the 2010 ball-drop, but she can consider everything a fresh start.

 

Emily Groth- Only one appearance so far, chiefly owing to a prolonged injury, so there really isn’t much yet to gauge on the rookie’s progress. Expect her to be worked in at least periodically when

other personnel need a breather.

 

Christie Jensen- If nothing else, Jensen could stand to spruce up her minus-8 rating. She has pitched in a little more in the attacking zone, taking 20 shots and scoring two assists to already exceed her freshman totals. But she needs to attend to her day job on the home front, first and foremost.

 

Genevieve Lacasse- Her stats aren’t as sparkling as they were during her rookie season, but Lacasse has responded favorably to the extra demand that comes with having one unripe backup as opposed to the three backups she had last season –one of whom was a senior. The Scarborough Save-ior has played in all but 9:48 of the total crease time and has battled through eight overtime periods and six shootouts. The more she keeps PC afloat every night, the more minutes she is going to consume.

 

Colleen Martin- The defensive captain was rather adventurous at the start of the year, and it seemed to work to a benefit. Through her first seven games, she dropped 15 shots on goal –and not all of them were from her blue line perch- pitched in a goal and three assists, had a plus-2 rating, and the team was a satisfactory 3-2-2, with only one regulation loss. Since Thanksgiving, Martin has regained a little of that touch with another two helpers, but not before a cold spell that coincided with a uncharacteristic plus/minus plunge and a nearly-winless November for the team.

 

Pam McDevitt- The senior Southie’s stick has slept all through the first half, landing but four shots on net in 18 games. Given that she now has, at best, two full months left to work with in her career, it will be interesting to see if McDevitt gets a boost from the emotional sparkplug.

 

Jean O’Neill- Not unlike the team in general, O’Neill would like to return to the type of game she was submitting in the first three weeks of the season. She bolted right out for five points in as many games, but has since sprinkled an identical five markers over the last 14 ventures. But this too should be mentioned: amongst all of PC’s game day mainstays, O’Neill has a team-low three minor penalties.

 

Arianna Rigano- Rigano has already surpassed her 2008-09 output, virtually fastened permanent membership in the top six half of the depth chart, leads the team with 63 shots on goal, and is tied with Friedman in the plus/minus category. Still, there’s room for improvement. If she can continue to shoot with as much frequency but with some added accuracy, that plus/minus will climb higher, and so too might the Friars’ viability.

 

Leigh Riley- The junior defender is right on the even fence under the plus/minus heading and has generally hovered right around that radius for the better part of the season. It’s a number certainly better than what most of her teammates have been achieving, but it could stand to escalate.

 

Alyse Ruff- The durable Ruff has adjusted nicely to her added responsibilities as a center –especially on the power play, where five of her 10 points have been cultivated thus far. But she is still on pace to finish with about the same scoring totals as in her freshman and sophomore years rather than excel that output. Therefore, Ruff –especially being a veteran anchor on a still quite youthful scoring brigade- should vie to tune up her productivity rate a notch or two in the second half.

 

Bre Schwarz- No goals, no assists, not even a shot on net in 14 appearances. For lack of a gentler assessment, somebody has a few holiday wishes/New Year’s resolutions to make before Part II of the season.

 

Laura Veharanta- Veharanta’s case of Deadened Stick Syndrome seemed to carry all the over from about last Groundhog Day to Halloween. Since then, though, she has rapidly reignited. The sophomore winger has planted seven points in her last 10 games and in an active six-game scoring streak has had a hand in five power play goals. Friartownies naturally hope the December deceleration doesn’t refreeze her game.

 

Jessie Vella- Right from her long-delayed debut –which was pushed off for 14 games due to injury- Vella has made an encouraging impression with a 2-2-4 transcript in just five appearances. If she can come back to start Part II and continue with her venturesome playmaking tendencies and fire a little more at the net, it might go a long way towards the continued revival of PC’s long-middleweight offense.

 

Amber Yung- The junior defender is showing a little more of her freshman self, already with seven total points, including four assists and 20 shots on net charged up on the power play. Now if only she, like so many of her mates, can do something to elevate that negative-5 plus/minus rating.

 

This article originally appeared in the Friartown Free Press

On Women's Hockey: One Week After Injury, Cottrell Hardly Hampered

Report based on Gametracker

 

Chestnut Hill, Mass.- Confined to crutches for the first half of the week after a bang-bang succession of blocked shots yanked her out of action in last Saturday’s visit to New Hampshire, Ashley Cottrell clouded any remnants of bruises in last night’s 2-2 tie/1-0 shootout loss to Boston College.

 

By night’s end, the sophomore center’s transcript read mostly like the conventional Cottrell who has anchored most every plus sign in the first half of the Friars’ 2009-10 campaign. For starters, she along with linemates Laura Veharanta and Nicole Anderson collaborated on yet another power play goal –the fourth time that entire trinity has had a hand in the same scoring play since they were assembled six games ago.

 

That goal, potted at 9:03 of the first period, drew first blood in the game and granted Cottrell point No. 21 on the year, thus equating her total output in 36 games as a frosh. At this rate, by the close of the regular season, she figures to charge up at least 37 points.

 

Later on, in midst of a third period power play with a 2-1 advantage at hand, Cottrell thrust three successive shots at BC stopper Corrine Boyles without letting the goalie summon a whistle at any point in between. The only little thing missing there, of course, was a conversion that might have wrested the game entirely from the Eagles’ reach.

 

Which brings us to the other moderate drawback. After BC knotted things up and spilled the game over to a shootout, Cottrell could not come through the way she ordinarily does –like, for instance, when she salvaged home ice for the 2009 playoffs by scorching Molly Schaus last February during the Friars’ previous visit to Conte Forum.

 

Last night, the radiant rookie Boyles snuffed Cottrell, and then did likewise to Veharanta and Alyse Ruff, enough for Allie Thunstrom’s one-on-one netter to grant Boston the extra point and full claim to first place in the Hockey East standings for Christmas break.

 

If Friartownies are still looking for a little more positive perspective, it may as well be noted that Boyles and Co. have mastered the shootout even more than PC, which is now a decent 4-2 in the lightning round this season when you combine conference and interleague action. The Eagles, meanwhile, have played in four league shootouts this season and have grabbed the bonus booty every time. Their last three shootout wins have been 1-0 decisions and Boyles has blocked all six attempts she has dealt with.

 

That aside, it would not be so precarious to bet that the Friars got the invaluable single point last night, in part, because their most consistent player was available and did not submit to any sores in her legs. Cottrell totaled four shots on net in regulation, all of them on power plays, and won 14 out of her 27 face-offs. Her line combined for 11 of PC’s 23 regulation stabs at Boyles.

 

With the assist on Anderson’s icebreaker, she appeared on the scoresheet for the sixteenth time in 19 opportunities and the eighth in her last nine. The only time she has been held pointless in that stretch was last week, when she missed roughly half of the game in the aftermath of the Courtney Birchard mini-bombardment.

 

Theoretically, the no-excuse Friars could have gotten along just as fine last night had Cottrell been advised to sit out and/or opted to take precautionary leave and miss a full game for the first time in her college career. But given the sequence of last night’s outcome, there would have been no guarantees.

 

A mere 33 seconds after Anderson’s goal –which was, after all, executed in a way only Anderson, Cottrell, and Veharanta seem to know how to do together- PC swiftly augmented its lead to 2-0 courtesy of Kate Bacon (assists: Colleen Martin and Jessie Vella). The Eagles gave nothing up afterward and ultimately deleted the deficit en route to their virtual victory after the five-on-five ice chips settled.

 

Under other circumstances, Friars’ head coach Bob Deraney would have taken no discomfort in simply summoning someone along the lines of Ruff or O’Neill or even Vella to plug the void on his top power play unit. But what if the new threesome didn’t gel fast enough? What if they didn’t get that momentum-swinging conversion? What if PC didn’t have that point-salvaging cushion at hand when the Eagles perked up in the third period?

 

Besides, Cottrell’s output on the year is still twice what any of her mates have kindled. Well, not technically, seeing as Anderson upped her point total to 11 last night, but the point is still explanatory.

 

Likewise, last night’s shootout point should be well taken on the Friars’ part. They will now hit their three-week respite with a 5-7-7 overall record, concomitant with a 4-3-4 conference transcript and 14 points for third place on the WHEA leaderboard.

 

Maybe they would have had the same result without Cottrell –in which case the obvious sentiment would have been, “Well, at least it was just one game, and she has a good three weeks to recover.”

 

Or, maybe they would not have.

 

But, for lack of a fresher sine qua non, what’s done is done for Part I of the season. Cottrell is pretty well the team’s first half MVP for her peerless consistency and, as was displayed last night, her determination.

 

And as a whole, the Friars will have a welcome fresh sheet awaiting them 21 days from now.

 

And maybe by then, as has already been hinted in recent weeks, the reliable likes of Cottrell will be more prominent in the Andersons, Bacons, Ruffs, Veharantas, Vellas, etc.

 

Al Daniel can be reached at hockeyscribe@hotmail.com

 

This article originally appeared in the Friartown Free Press