Women's Ice Hockey Championship Field Set

Two-Time Defending Champ Amherst Finishes Perfect Regular Season, Claims Top Seed

HADLEY, Mass. - Two-time defending NESCAC Women’s Ice Hockey Champion Amherst College has earned the top seed in the 2009 NESCAC Women’s Ice Hockey Championship. The Jeffs will join Middlebury, Trinity and Colby in hosting a quarterfinal contest on Saturday, Feb. 28. The 2009 NESCAC Women’s Ice Hockey Championship features an important change this season, as eight teams instead of seven have qualified for the tournament for the first time ever.

Amherst (19-4-0, 16-0-0 NESCAC) locked up the number-one seed over a week ago, as a 5-0 win over Middlebury on Saturday, Feb. 14 guaranteed the Jeffs the top seed for the first time in tournament history. Amherst also achieved a feat that only one team, Middlebury, had been able to accomplish before - finishing the conference slate a perfect 16-0-0. The Jeffs did this with a pair of home-and-home wins against Connecticut College over the weekend, 6-0 in New London, Conn. on Saturday and 1-0 at home on Sunday afternoon. Amherst will begin its quest to become the first team ever to win three titles in a row on Saturday against eighth-seeded Hamilton (9-13-2, 3-11-2 NESCAC). The Continentals enter the tournament looking to get back into the win column after dropping a pair of 4-1 road losses at Williams and Middlebury this past weekend. After going unbeaten over a six-game stretch midway through January, Hamilton fell in its final six conference contests, the lone win for the Continentals in February coming at Utica in overtime, 4-3. In conference play this season, Amherst won the initial match 6-2 on Jan. 9 at home before posting a 6-1 victory at Hamilton on Jan. 31. This will be the third first round meeting between the two squads. Hamilton took the previous two 6-1 in 2004 and again in 2005.

After falling at Amherst on Feb. 14, second-seeded Middlebury (16-3-4, 12-2-2 NESCAC) rebounded by putting together a three-game winning streak, most recently earning a 7-2 victory against Wesleyan on Friday and a 4-1 decision over Hamilton on Saturday. The Panthers’ four conference crowns are the most by any team, however they have not claimed the NESCAC championship since 2006 as they fell to Amherst 2-1 in triple-overtime in 2007 and bowed out to Colby 3-2 in overtime in the 2008 semifinals. Middlebury will hit the ice in the quarterfinals against seventh-seeded Williams (8-15-1, 6-9-1 NESCAC). Like the Panthers, the Ephs also finished the regular season with wins over Hamilton (4-1) and Wesleyan (2-1) this past weekend to break a seven-game losing skid. The two league outings between the two this year went Middlebury’s way, a 5-1 season-opening victory all the way back on Nov. 15 in Williamstown, Mass. and a 3-0 win in Middlebury, Vt. on Feb. 11. The Panthers hold a 3-1 record over the Ephs in conference tournament play, winning three straight semifinal showdowns from 2003 through 2005. Williams’ lone victory came in the semifinals of the inaugural 2002 championship, the only time the Ephs have reached the title game.

Trinity (13-9-2, 8-7-1 NESCAC) secured the third seed for the second year in a row. The Bantams closed out the regular season with a split weekend at Colby, winning 6-4 on Friday to guarantee a home quarterfinal contest but falling 3-2 in overtime on Saturday afternoon. Reaching the semifinals for the first time in tournament history a year ago, Trinity will look to repeat the feat when it hosts sixth-seeded Connecticut College (8-13-3, 6-8-2 NESCAC). The Camels fell in the final three games of the regular season, 7-1 to Middlebury on Feb. 15 and the aforementioned set to Amherst this past weekend. The season series went to the Bantams just over three weeks ago, as they posted a 3-1 win on Feb. 6 and a 4-0 victory on Feb. 7 in New London, Conn. While Saturday’s quarterfinal contest will be the first meeting between the two teams in the playoffs, fans of both the Bantams and the Camels will be in for a treat as Trinity will also be hosting a men’s ice hockey quarterfinal contest against Connecticut College at 1:00 p.m.

The final first round game will feature fourth-seeded Colby (11-10-3, 7-7-2 NESCAC) facing Maine rival Bowdoin (11-10-1, 7-8-1 NESCAC), the fifth seed. The Mules snatched the last quarterfinal home contest up for grabs away from the Polar Bears with a 3-2 overtime victory over Trinity on Saturday. Colby finished the regular season with a 4-4-0 record during February. Bowdoin, meanwhile, held a 5-10-1 record entering February before reeling off eight straight victories, most recently a set of non-conference victories over Potsdam St. this past weekend. Bowdoin has won two NESCAC titles, the inaugural championship in 2002 and the 2004 crown, but has not reached the final since 2006. Colby made its way into the championship contest for the first time ever in 2008 with a 3-2 overtime win over Middlebury before falling 7-1 to Amherst. These two squads have met twice in tournament history, both times in the semifinals and both games going to the Polar Bears. Bowdoin downed Colby 5-1 en route to the 2002 championship and again in 2003 by a 5-0 score.

2009 NESCAC WOMEN’S ICE HOCKEY CHAMPIONSHIP
Quarterfinals - Saturday, Feb. 28 at Higher Seeds
No. 7 Williams at No. 2 Middlebury - 1:00 p.m.
No. 5 Bowdoin at No. 4 Colby - 4:00 p.m.
No. 6 Connecticut College at No. 3 Trinity - 4:30 p.m.
No. 8 Hamilton at No. 1 Amherst - 7:00 p.m.

Semifinals - Saturday, March 7 at Highest Remaining Seed
Highest remaining seed vs. Lowest remaining seed - 1:00 p.m.
Remaining first round winners - 4:00 p.m.

Championship - Sunday, March 8
Semifinal winners - 2:00 p.m.