Women's hockey wins fourth straight league title, ready for ACHA National Tournament

02/28/07 - The University of Rhode Island women's hockey team continued its supremacy in the ECWHL after beating Nichols College 11-1 in a consolation game Saturday and defeating Norwich College 4-1 in the league championship game Sunday. Rhode Island won its fourth straight ECWHL title after going undefeated in league play.

Head coach Beth McCann said she wanted her team make a statement over the weekend against two quality opponents.

Rhode Island had been inconsistent in recent weeks and the weekend provided an opportunity for the team to work out some of the problems it has had, such as keeping the puck out of its own zone and not letting teams back into games because of lack of conditioning.

Sunday's game started out similarly to Saturday in that it was close early on before the Rams pulled away in the final two periods. URI was on top 2-1 with 4:30 left in the first period before scoring single goals in the second and third periods. Sophomore forward Kate Garcia, freshman forward Jolene Rambone (two goals) and sophomore defenseman Laura Braddock scored in the victory.

McCann was proud of the way her team performed against a team it will be seeing again in the ACHA National Tournament.

"We learned from the game against UConn when we let up at the end and gave away a lead," she said. "I emphasized holding our ground and staying hungry all game and the girls did that."

Garcia was named tournament MVP and along with sophomore forward Cara Murphy made the ECWHL All-Tournament team. Senior goalie Lynn Pecci also made the team because of her solid work in net.

"Kate [Garcia] has really come on strong in the last few weeks and brought a lot of intensity for this team," she said. "I hope her recent tenacious style of play carries on to the national tournament."

Saturday's game was a consolation for URI because its original opponent, Penn State, dropped out and the Rams automatically advanced to Sunday's ECWHL Championship. In a tune-up for Sunday's championship game, the Rams started out slowly against Nichols and had a 1-0 lead after one period. The team exploded in the second and third periods to cruise to the 11-1 win.

"That was a great win against Nichols," McCann said of the consolation game. "That first period was very competitive, but I was happy to see us take control of the game in the last two periods."

The Rams were able to get each of their goalies in between the pipes in the blowout. Senior goalies Pecci and Kelly Jourdain played the first two periods before giving way to sophomore goalie Keri Houhoulis.

"Keri has worked hard all year," she said. "As a team we played well in net and we were finally able to get Keri in there. It's tough for her because she has two strong, senior goalies ahead of her."

URI heads into the ACHA National Tournament as the fourth-ranked team and the Northeast Region Champion. The tournament runs from March 8 to 12 and will be at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Rhode Island plays a doubleheader on Thursday, March 8. The Rams start off the tournament against Western Michigan at 11:45 a.m. and will have a rematch against Norwich at 8 p.m.