Opening a season against one of the best teams in the country was a win-win situation for the women’s hockey team. The Engineers played Boston College in a close game that should have been a tie going into overtime. Even though Rensselaer did come away with a loss, it is a learning experience that the coaches and players know will help in each of the more than 30 games they have left in the season. “That’s a top ten team in the country and we played extremely well; it was a game that could have gone either way,” said Head Coach John Burke after the close loss.
For the seven freshmen, their first steps onto the ice was a thrilling moment in-and-of itself. “It was amazing—the best thing ever” glowed Whitney Naslund of Bloomington, Minn. She went on to say, “Lining up on the ice, seeing all the people in the stands … I’ll never forget it, I don’t think anyone ever forgets their first game.”
The opener was the Red Army’s first hockey event and it brought an energy to the Houston Field House not often felt at the women’s games. “The crowd and the students were unbelievable and on behalf of the whole team we appreciate their effort tonight, it was outstanding” the coach said. “Hopefully they enjoyed our product and will be back for more games, because they definitely gave us a lift,” he said appreciatively.
Also back on the ice for the first time in well over 500 days was junior Julie Aho. She returned from a year-long Co-op experience, as the leading goal scorer from the 2004-05 season with 22 points to her name. Along with last year’s leading scorer, sophomore Nicole McDonald, who had 17, the team has two top goal scorers returning this year.
Although Aho admitted to feeling nervous before the game, you wouldn’t have known it from watching. She’s returning to form and will again contribute to this and next season’s teams.
The Engineers are still mixing it up and searching for the lines that click. When that happens, the team should perform very well this season. “We played around with some different line combinations,” said second-year captain Sarah Daniel of the changes made during the game.
“They’ve been playing together for a bit and we had to juggle some lines at times just because of all the special teams and the kids did a great job adjusting, didn’t make a big deal of it, they just played,” said Burke of the different match-ups.
In Friday night’s game, the first goal came late in the first period when BCs freshman Anna McDonald got her stick on a loose puck in front of the net and slipped it past RPI’s sophomore netminder Ashley Mayr. Just after the second period began, the Engineers stormed back with a power play goal from sophomore Jamie-Lynn Stewart. She received the puck from junior Ellen McNamara, who found it after a shot from classmate Mel Guillemette got hung-up in a crowd of skaters in front of the net.
The game was then tied at one a piece, but just before Stewart’s goal, a previous goal by (maybe Blake knows) was disallowed by the referee citing the that net had been moved. It was clear that most in attendance did not agree with the call and wanted it reversed.
“From our perspectives, the puck was in the net well before the net was knocked off” said Daniel, “it definitely got all of us riled up … made us determined to make the next one count.”
“What can you do, I thought it went in first … but we’re over a hundred feet away on the bench—she said she had a good look at it, what can you do,” shrugged Burke. “We had a couple chances to bury it and we didn’t bury it.”
Although Rensselaer was playing at BC’s speed with ease by the third period, a slight mishap near the net proved why the Eagles are among the best in the nation. Allie Thunstrom, another freshman from BC, was able to flick a backhanded shot past Mayr for the game-winning goal. Although there were nearly seven minutes left in the game, the Engineers couldn’t find the back of the net in the few shots they took.
Although Mayr was credited with a loss, she saved 22 shots, including seven in the final period. “Their kid made some key saves at key times and Ash made some key saves at key times to keep it there. Just a little break on their goal and their kid made a great play” was how Burke saw it.
There weren’t any stand-out players in the game, but that’s not a bad thing according to him. “We got contributions from everybody, everyone stepped up, some kids are in different roles and they did a great job at that.”
“I was extremely happy with our effort, I thought we competed extremely hard for sixty minutes and that’s an effort we’ll need night in, night out,” said Burke of the team’s play.
Naslund agreed, “We had a really good game today, it just didn’t bounce our way. We’ll just keep building on that and if we work hard every game like today we’ll win.”
The Engineers found out quickly how to handle the notoriously fast BC team, and once they did, “we put them on their heels,” said Daniel. “Once we settle down, I feel the goals will come,” she remarked on the adjusting that will happen throughout the year.
Working through first-game jitters, Naslund says she’s still adapting to the speed of the game, citing quicker shots, faster reflexes, and learning to think faster as the top priorities in her game.
This week the team will have quality film sessions to figure out exactly where the breakdowns were; once they figure out everything that went wrong, “we’ll be building off it and working to get ready for the West,” said Daniel. The team now focuses on the next big challenge at hand.
The University of North Dakota’s Fighting Sioux hosts the Engineers next weekend for a two-game set in the Ralph Engelstad Arena in Grand Forks a modern cathedral where only hockey is worshipped, the floors are solid granite and all the seats are leather and cherry wood.
