 "Photo: Jen Stiles")
The Plattsburgh State women’s hockey team has advanced to the ECAC-West tournament nine straight years. But the Lady Cardinals have won it just twice, and neither win has come in the past two seasons, despite hosting the 2008 tournament.
The last time they won the conference tournament was the 2006-07 season when they hosted the tournament. Only three players remain from that year’s squad, leaving 22 of 25 players on this year’s team without an ECAC-West championship.
After winning the tournament in 2006 and 2007, that streak has given some players a little extra motivation this weekend.
“We haven’t won it for two years in a row, so it’s kind of frustrating,” junior center Kate Fairfield said. “We really want to win it.”
Elmira bested the Lady Cards in the championship game each of the last two seasons — a 1-0 win at Stafford two years ago and a 3-0 win at home last season.
Elmira enters this year’s tournament as the No. 2 seed and faces No. 3 seed RIT in the second semifinal 7 p.m. Saturday at Stafford Ice Arena after also getting a bye last weekend.
PSUC is the No.1 seed, playing host to No. 4 seed Utica at 4 p.m. Saturday.
The veteran players have been trying to tell the freshmen they won’t want to lose in the conference championship game and leave it up to a committee to decide their fate in the NCAA tournament.
“They say, ‘We don’t want to experience that again,’” freshman forward Jordan Caldwell said. “They keep saying, ‘Remember that feeling. The freshman, we know you haven’t had it, but it was awful.’
“It motivates us not to ever have that feeling.”
PSUC finished out the regular season with eight games in 16 days, posting a 7-0-1 record. Those eight games extended the Lady Cards’ unbeaten streak to 17 games, the longest active streak in the nation.
The past two years, the Lady Cards have entered the postseason on unbeaten streaks of 11 and nine games before falling in the conference championship.
The last time they entered on a streak of at least 17 games was, coincidently, the same year they won the ECAC-West tournament. They went unbeaten that year en route to their first national championship in 2007.
Before the Lady Cards have a chance to avenge their recent championship-game woes, they must first deal with a pesky Utica team that has played them tough in the last few matchups.
Last season, the Pioneers beat PSUC, 2-1, in overtime on the Lady Cards’ home ice in regular-season play.
This season, PSUC won the first game at Utica, 6-1, but tied, 3-3, in the second. The tie was the only conference game the Lady Cards failed to win this season.
PSUC outshot Utica, 52-22, in that game, including 18-0 in the third period, but a 12-minute nap to start the second period cost the Lady Cards two points, PSUC Head Coach Kevin Houle said.
The Pioneers scored twice in the first 11:36 of the second period to take a 3-2 lead, forcing PSUC to dominate the third just to earn a tie.
As she was in that game, Utica goalie Jill Doherty figures to be the determining factor in her team’s fate Saturday.
“She’s without question, especially against a team of the caliber of Plattsburgh, going to be our most important player on our team,” Utica Head Coach Dave Clausen said. “Either she’s going to give us a chance or she’s not. That’s the kind of offensive firepower that Plattsburgh has.”
In the lose-and-you’re-out playoff format, a goalie on a hot streak can do wonders for a team. And as Doherty has already shown, she can do just that.
“You have to fight through to make sure you get to those tough areas to play, get those rebound goals,” Houle said. “You have to score on transition, too. What happens a lot of times is we play a lot of the game in another team’s end and we don’t have those 2-on-1 and 3-on-2 opportunities on the rush. So, when we do get them, we have to take advantage.”
PSUC and Utica are the least penalized teams in the conference this season, averaging 8.8 and 10.7 penalty minutes per game, respectively. Opportunities figure to be at a premium.
The Lady Cards made the most of their power-play opportunities in the two meetings this season.
Utica took just nine penalties through two games, and while PSUC scored on five, Clausen said if his team can be that disciplined Saturday, they’ll have a chance. If they can’t, Doherty will be called upon even more.
For the Lady Cards, getting the chance to win the tournament on home-ice is a luxury they’ll savor.
“You play the regular season to put yourself in position to host,” Houle said. “We’ve done that this year. We had to do everything on the road last year. It’s a tough road, but obviously you want to finish things off with that conference championship.
“We weren’t happy (last year), but this is a different team.”
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