Women's Hockey | 2/18/2012 3:39:00 PM
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CORTLAND, NY – The No. 1 women's hockey team (23-1-1, 16-1-1 ECAC West) clinched the ECAC West regular season crown for the second straight season, blanking SUNY Cortland (5-16-1, 3-14-1 ECAC West) 8-0 at Alumni Arena on Saturday afternoon. RIT set a program record by winning its 23rd regular season contest.
With the regular season complete, RIT will receive a bye in the ECAC West First Round and will host the ECAC West Championship Tournament on Saturday, March 3 and Sunday, March 4.
RIT dominated throughout, scoring all eight goals in a span of just over 21 minutes over the second half of the first and first half of the second period.
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Hannah Epstein (Amherst, NY/Nichols School)# scored her first two goals of the season to lead the way offensively, while #
Kristina Moss (Webster, NY/Buffalo Bisons) and
Danielle Read (Brantford, Ontario/Hamilton Hawks) recorded three points apiece. (Drumbo, Ontario/Stoney Creek Sabres)Jamie Parhar (Calgary, Alberta) and
Lindsay Grigg (Oakville, Ontario/Oakville Hornets) tallied a goal and an assist apiece. (Drumbo, Ontario/Stoney Creek Sabres)Erin Zach (Elmira, Ontario/Cambridge Fury)#, #
Kolbee McCrea (Wawa, Ontario/Burlington Barracudas)#, and #
Kourtney Kunichika (Fullerton, CA/LA Selects)# also scored for the Tigers.
RIT goaltender #
Ali Binnington (Oakville, Ontario/Mississauga Chiefs)# stopped all 10 shots she faced to earn her ninth win of the season and second shutout. Binnington has a 0.94 goals againsta average and .940 save percentage this season.
RIT now has eight shutouts this season and lead the nation in lowest goals against average, allowing just 0.94 goals per contest.
The Tigers out-shot Cortland, 47-10 and were 2-for-3 with the man-advantage. Cortland was 0-for-4 with the power-play.
Kunichika got RIT on the board at the 12:40 mark of the first period, drilling a shot from the left face-off circle past Double for her 17th goal of the year, on the power-play. Moss and #
Ariane Yokoyama (Van Nuys, CA/LA Selects)# worked the puck at the blueline down to Kunichika, who tied a team record with her 10th power-play goal of the season.
Just 1:25 later, Moss wired a hard slap shot from the right side past double for her sixth tally of the season, with Brown and Read earning assists on the goal.
Parhar scored the first of her two goals on the afternoon at the 17:32 mark off a rebound, while Epstein recorded her first of the year 51 seconds later.
Zach made it 5-0 3:17 into the second period off assists from #
Julie Hall (Mississauga, Ontario/Mississauga Chiefs) and
Melissa Bromley (Aurora, Ontario/Aurora Panthers)#.
McCrea scored her team-best 19th goal of the season five minutes into the period with Grigg earning an assist. Just 1:29 later, Grigg netted her seventh goal of the year from #
Ali Hills (Honeoye Falls, NY) and
Tenecia Hiller (Brampton, Ontario/Brampton Thunder)#.
Parhar completed the scoring onslaught at the 8:33 mark of the second period with assists from Epstein and Read.
Kobar played in her 100th career game.
The Tigers now have 40 power-play goals this season and have allowed just eight for their opponents. Overall, RIT has outscored its opponents, 128-24. Fifteen different skaters have at least 10 points this season
RIT has now won 19 straight over the Red Dragons and leads the all-time series between the two schools, 19-8. RIT has outscored the Red Dragons, 134-14 during the streak.
The Tigers are now 23-1-1 this season and finished 16-1-1 in ECAC West play. Last season, RIT was 22-1-2 at this stage and finished 15-1-2 in the ECAC West standings.
The Tigers will play the lowest remaining seed in the first ECAC West Semifinal at Ritter Arena on Saturday, March 3 at a time to be announced.
