Women's hockey wins fifth straight ECWHL championship
Brett McDermott
Issue date: 2/28/08 Section: News
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The University of Rhode Island women's hockey team won its fifth straight Eastern Collegiate Women's Hockey League championship with victories this weekend over the University of Massachusetts and the University of Connecticut.
The four-team tournament kicked off Saturday when the top-seeded Rams battled the UConn Huskies. Rhody had obliterated the Huskies in both regular season matchups by an astounding total score of 26-1. Senior goalie and captain Lynn Pecci had supreme confidence in her team's chances.
"We pretty much dominated them earlier in the season," Pecci said. "We saw them as a bump in the road on our way to the championship game."
Pecci's faith in her team held true when Rhode Island's season-long drubbing of UConn continued to the tune of an 8-0 win on Saturday.
Rhody's first round victory was driven by a spread out scoring attack that baffled the Huskies. Sophomore defenseman Christina Ferencevych got the one-sided shootout started with a goal in the very first minute. This set the tone as seven other Rams slid one into the net before the contest was over.
Head coach Beth McCann was not surprised with the result.
"We faced them before and knew what to expect," McCann said. "Our main focus was to try and protect our plays."
The championship game Sunday would not be won with the same ease with which UConn had been beaten on the previous day. UMass had earned its way to the big game by defeating Penn State, and were in no mindset to roll over and let Rhody take its fifth straight championship without a fight.
The first period though, was all Rams. The team must have thought it was still playing the Huskies as they scored three unanswered goals before the first intermission.
This rollercoaster ride was only beginning and whatever similarity this game had to the previous night's contest would soon be forgotten. Just as the Rams had owned the first period, the second and most of the third belonged to the UMass Minutemen.
The next four pucks to hit the back of the net were all UMass scores, and suddenly the Rams were looking at a 4-3 deficit with 15 minutes left on the clock. The Rams kept its chin up though, as it had beat UMass in a come from behind victory three weeks earlier.
"We had to come back to beat them earlier in the season," said McCann. "I brought the team back to that scenario."
It would be with 3:25 left that a Rhody hero would emerge. Freshman Rachel MacDonald scored the game-tying goal and sent the championship game to overtime.
It took three overtimes to settle this instant classic and once again a freshman would step up to the plate. Forward Justine Ducie had seen enough when she scored in the sixth minute of sudden death triple overtime, sending the Rhody bench into a frenzy. Goal keeper and fifth year senior Pecci had seen a lot in her years at URI, but nothing like this.
"That was definitely one of the craziest games I've been in," said Pecci. "Winning five championships in five years is an unbelievable feeling."
URI will try and keep the momentum flowing for the upcoming American Collegiate Hockey Associate national tournament when they host Nichols College this Saturday at 7 p.m.
