Colgate to Light Up Starr Rink Blue on Friday

HAMILTON, N.Y. (1/31/12) – The Colgate women's hockey team will host its second annual Light Up Starr Rink Blue event during its home game against ECAC Hockey opponent Union on Friday, Feb. 3 at 7 p.m.
 
The event will mark the beginning of the team's 2012 Autism Awareness Project. The Raiders are looking to have over 1,200 fans help them celebrate their Autism Awareness Project by wearing light blue to the game. The first 300 fans to arrive at Starr Rink will receive a free light blue special event t-shirt courtesy of Price Chopper, Crows, Oliveri's, the Colgate Bookstore, the Colgate Inn, the Hamilton Inn and Seven Oaks. Any fan wearing light blue, the color of autism, will get in for free.

The team will also wear special autism jerseys designed by Christian Mast, an 11-year-old from Upstate New York. Christian is an author, hockey player, student, friend, brother and son who has autism, a neurological disorder that affects the normal functioning of the brain, impacting development in the areas of social interaction and communication skills. It is characterized, in varying degrees, by difficulties in social interaction, verbal and nonverbal communication and repetitive behaviors.
 
The jerseys will be auctioned off through an online silent auction that will begin on Feb. 3 after the game.

In addition to other prizes, the Raiders will host their Inter-Greek Challenge once again, offering a prize to the Greek organization with the highest percentage of members wearing blue at the Union game. Gilligan's will also be selling blue ice cream with proceeds going towards the project.

The team created this project in support of Kati Williams, a local teenager from Norwich, N.Y. Kati has been an avid fan of Colgate women's hockey for several years and now works as the team manager. She has Asperger's Syndrome, which is an autism spectrum disorder that is characterized by significant difficulties in social interaction, along with restricted and repetitive patterns of behavior and interests.

For more information about the auction and the project's events please visit www.colgate.edu/autism.

Women's Weeknd Update

by Janet Schultz

Women's columnist

JDSchultz@gmail.com

Buffalo State takes on Oswego and Pink's the Rink for Breast Cancer Awareness. Proceeds benefit Roswell Park Cancer Institute. (Photo by Janet Schultz)

Orchard Park takes on Williamsville in WNY Girls Varsity Ice Hockey. Williamsville takes the win 3-1. (Photo by Janet Schultz)

It was a weekend of ice hockey at Buffalo State College with the men and women both holding their annual alumni games and then each playing a regular season game.

Maddy’s Game, the women’s alumni ice hockey game held in memory of Maddy  Loftus who was killed when Continental Flight 3407 crashed in Clarence in 2009, was held Saturday morning with two full teams playing competitive hockey. These girls don’t let fun get in the way of some serious hockey.

The white team beat the black team but there were several fun moments with the black team’s goalie also playing on defensive for several minutes.

During Friday and Saturday’s regular games, the Bengals wore pink uniforms to raise awarenss for breast cancer research. Proceeds from the game and the selling of tee shirts and baked goods was donated to Roswell Park Cancer Institute.

On Friday evening Buffalo State dropped to Oswego State 7-0. Oswego Coach Diane Dillon returned to her hometown and had her Lakers scoring early and often. Buffalo played both goalies Jordan Lee making 17 saves and Jessica Garland making 10 in an attempt to stop the Lakers.

The Lakers put in four power play goals with Senior MacKenzie Lee having two goals, including the eventual game-winner. Lauren Gilpin also had two goals, Chelsea Hunt had her first of the year and Kathryn Sbrocchi scored the fourth power play goal and a final even-strength goal by Megan Howe. Hamburg’s Bridget Smith made 17 saves for the Lakers.

On Saturday the Bengals came out strong with Brianna Murphy scoring the first goal at 7:55 into the first period. They held the lead into the second when Oswego’s Carly Henderson put one past Jordan Lee. Less than a minute later Kelly Collins put in another for the Lakers and Chelsey Drake put in an insurance goal taking the final score 3-1 in favor of the Lakers.

Oswego Laker Kelly Collins, Fairport, was named Oswego’s Athlete of the Week for January 29.

Niagara University’s Sophomore Goalie Sarah Moses made 26 saves to earn her first career shutout, helping the Purple Eagles beat Robert Morris 1-0. Freshman Kalli Funk put in her sixth goal of the season for the victory.

Not the same story in Pennyslvania on Saturday night when Robert Morris answered back and beat the Purple Eagles 1-0. Moses returned to the net pushing aside 30 Colonial shots but Brianne Delaney got one past her in the third period to give the Colonials the win.

Niagara returns home to face Mercyhurst at 7 p.m. on Friday during the “Pink the Rink” initiative on Monteagle Ridge.

The Big Red of Cornell started the weekend off with a 6-4 win over St. Lawrence University. But Clarkson had other ideas the next night.

Clarkson upset the Cornell 5-3. With Cornell down 4-1 in the third, Erin Barley-Maloney and Chelsea Karpenko cut Clarkson’s lead to 4-3. Clarkson’s Juana Baribeau had a hat trick taking Clarkson to victory.

Cornell holds a five point lead over Harvard in the ECAC, moving Harvard to second and Clarkson tying with Quinnipiac for third.

Cornell is home to RPI and Union College this coming weekend.

Cortland Senior Goalie Katie Double, Farmington, stopped 30 goals as Cortland finished a sweep of Chatham on Saturday. It was a 2-0 victory with Erika Osborne, Sharon Springs, and Brianna Rossi, Stormville, getting the puck in the net.

Union College fell 3-1 to RPI on Friday when RPI’s Eleeza Cox, scoring with less than seven minutes to play in the first period, put in the winning goal. Union’s only goal came from Maddy Norton in the third period. RPI repeated the win on Saturday with a 3-0 shutout.

In WNY Girl’s Ice Hockey Federation last week Kenmore beat Amherst/Sweethome 5-2; West Seneca beat Kenmore 3-2; Williamsville beat Orchard Park/Frontier 3-1; West Seneca took Lancaster 13-0; it was Monsignor Martin over Amherst/Sweethome 7-0 and Williamsville over Kenmore 5-2.

Upcoming games see Kenmore facing Monsignor Martin and Amherst/Sweethome facing West Seneca on Tuesday, January 31.

Monsignor Martin taking on Williamsville on Wednesday; Kenmore vs West Seneca and Williamsville vs Lancaster on Thursday, February 2.

West Seneca leads the league followed closely by Monsignor Martin. Williamsville is in third followed by Kenmore, Amherst/Sweethome, Frontier/Orchard Park and Lancaster.

Leading the player stats are Erin Gehen, Nicole Kirchberger, both of West Seneca; Rachel Lenard and Tara Barnhardt, both of Monsignor Martin and Molly Siolorski of West Seneca. Gehen leads with 30 points., Kirchberger, 32; Lenard 22, Barnhardt and Silorski each have 21.

Danielle Trolli of Monsignor Martin leads the goalies with a 0.94 goals against average after winning four games and tying one. Teammate Courtney Wesolowski is second with 7 wins, 1 loss and a GAA of 1.44.

Hockey New York State Girl's UPDATES

First a reminder for all hockey organizations that Hockey Across America will be presented by Reebok February 17-19 nationwide. Let us know what your organization is doing so that we can publicize is through Hockey New York State and Western New York Hockey Report (for those in WNY).

Friday is Wear Your Favorite Hockey Jersey Day; Saturday is Try Hockey Day and Sunday is Celebrate Local Hockey Heroes. Fans will be directed to USA Hockey’s Facebook page on February 17 to post photos of themselves or friends in their favorite team’s jersey.

Rinks across America will be hosting Try Hockey For Free Clinics. If you are one, please let us know and on Sunday, fans are asked to post photos of their favorite hockey heroes to the USA Hockey Facebook page.

Now for the weekend wrap on women’s ice hockey.

Plattsburgh 5   Oswego  0

Nationally-ranked Plattsburgh scored three special teams goals on their way to a 5-0 win over Oswego State on Friday (Jan. 20). Justine Fisher took a rebound from a shot by Chelsea VanGlahn at 2:35 into the game. The Cardinals took a two goal lead at the end of the first when Ashton Hogan scored her fourth of the season. Alyssa Parke had two goals and two assists in the game. She scored again in the second and then passed one to Teal Grove in the third that took the Cardinals up 4-0. It was then Parke landed her second of the night.

Oswego goalie Catherine Cote ended with 28 saves on 31 shots and Plattsburgh’s Sydney Aveson recorded 19 saves for her fifth shutout of the year.

Oswego State women’s hockey team was unable to stick with sixth-ranked Plattsburgh in a 6-0 loss on Saturday. Bridget Smith (Hamburg, NY) made 28 quality saves in the losing effort.

Jordan Caldwell put the first puck in at 9:15 in the first period. In the second Kylie Klassen skated into the offensive zone and her backhand shot was stopped by Smith only to give the rebound to Jenny Kistner, who tapped it in.

The Cardinals took a 3-0 lead when Shannon Stewart hot one in and then Allison Era sent a knucklepuck on goal taking them up to 4-0. The final two goals came from Alyssa Parke and Morgan MacInnis.

Oswego takes on Buffalo January 27 and 28 and Plattsburgh travels to Elmira for January 28 and 29 games.

Union 2; Brown 2

Union College tied ECAC opponent Brown University 2-2 on Friday. The Dutchwomen didn’t trail once throughout the contest, despite being outshot 38-22. Union is now 3-18-4 overall.

Senior Emilie Arseneault put the puck in first after it deflected off freshman Christine Valente. Freshman Kelly McGrath wasted no time in taking a shot from the point, which found Valente waiting in front of Brown’s goalie. With a smart move she got the puck to Arseneault who went top shelf on Netminder Aubree Moore.

Arseneault and Valente continued to ramp up energy for the Dutchwomen. Brown came on strong and in the second tied the score when Sarah Robson took the puck that had ricocheted across the net and sunk it in.

They went to the locker room at 1-1. In the third it was Valente taking Union to a lead but only to be answered back by Jessica Hoyle.

The game was sent into overtime. Union’s offense fired up as Panchuk quickly sent a shot towards Moore. Yang was there to protect her goaltender, sending the puck up the boards. Arseneault regained possession, flying down the ice on a breakaway. Moore made the save on the senior’s backhand and the game stayed at two a piece. With only two minutes left to play, Hoffman and Valente sent back-to-back shots at Moore. Soon after, Gallagher was tested with two shots from the Bears. Neither team let up, however, and time ran out as Norton and senior Chelsey Heinhuis each had shots blocked by Brown. Both squads left with an ECAC Hockey conference point as the game ended tied 2-2.

On Saturday, January 21 Union hosted their Fifth Annual Pink at the Rink Day against Yale University.

Potsdam 4; Utica 4

The SUNY Potsdam women’s hockey team jumped off to a 3-0 advantage over Utica, but ended in a 4-4 tie on Sunday.

Freshman Forward Emiliee Hazelden (Bloomingdale NY/Northwoods School) had hr first two career goals and Senior Captain Annmarie Lewis recorded a goal and an assist.

The Bears return to action against Neumann on February 3.

Cornell 2; Harvard 0

With an important Ivy League contest against Harvard the #3 Big Red of Cornell came away with a 2-0 victory. Rebecca Johnston and Brianne Jenner had Cornell’s goals and Amanda Marzotta earned her third shutout of the season, saving all of the Crimson’s 22 sots.

Cornell 1; Dartmouth 0

The Big Red then faced Dartmouth the next day, going 60 minutes with no scoring. So did the first four minutes of overtime. That’s when The Big Red struck.

Erin Barley-Malone netted a puck for a 1-0 victory. Goalie Amanda Mazzotta earned her second consecutive shut-out making 31 saves.

Cornell is now 18-2 and 13-1 in ECAC play.

The Big Red now travel to St. Lawrence and Clarkson on January 27 and 28, respectively.

Niagara University 3; Syracuse 3

The Niagara Purple Eagles rallied late in the third on Friday evening to come out with a 3-3 tie with Syracuse. Putting the Purple Eagles on the scoreboard were Jenna Hendrikx, Kaleigh Chippy and Kayla Raniwsky.

For Syracuse it was Margot Scharfe, Allie Lacombe and Shiann Darkangelo.

Overtime heroics from Sophomore Kristin Richards pushed the Niagara women’s hockey team to a 2-1 victory over the Syracuse Orange on Saturday.

With less than two minutes left in overtime, Syracuse freshman Shiann Darkangelo was called for high sticking, giving the Purple Eagles their second powerplay in OT. Thirteen seconds later Erin Burns connected with Richards, who ripped on past Orange Goalie Kallie Billadeau.

This is Niagara’s second overtime win of the season and puts them one behind its record of three set in 2007-08.

Niagara 2; Syracuse 1 (OT)

The Purple Eagles got on the board first when Jessica Hitchcock put in her 11^th goal of the season. The Orange tied midway through the contest when Defender Kaillie Goonough got one past Sarah Moses.

The game was tied at one heading into the final period.

Kaleigh Chippy and Hitchcock both finished the weekend with a goal and an assist.

Niagara now faces Robert Morris at home on Friday and at the Island Sports Center on Saturday.

Cortland 0; Neumann 4; Cortland 0, Neumann 7

Amanda Simpson scored two goals and assisted on another as Neumann swept Cortland in a two-game set this weekend. Neumann beat Cortland 4-0 on Saturday afternoon and 7-0 on Friday.

Cortland faces Chatham on January 27 and 28.

Information supplied by college sports information departments. If you want your game news posted, please forward to Janet at jdschultz3663@gmail.com.

On the WNY Girl’s Varsity Ice Hockey scene; West Seneca has pulled out in first over Monsignor Martin. West Seneca is 10-2-0 while Monsignor Martin is 9-1-1. In third is Kenmore followed by Amherst/Sweethome, Williamsville, Frontier/Orchard Park and Lancaster.

West Seneca’s Erin Gehan and Nicole Kirchberger each have 28 points on the season. In goal West Seneca’s Alyssa Gates has seven wins on the season followed by Courtney Wesolowski with 6 wins and one loss for Monsignor Martin.

Games continue this week with Williamsville at Lancaster at the Time Warner Rink on Tuesday (Jan 24). Amherst/Sweethome also plays on Tuesday against Kenmore at Lincoln Arena. On Wednesday its Kenmore vs W. Seneca at Hockey Outlet; Orchard Park/Frontier vs Williamsville at Northtowns; Thursday it’s W Seneca vs Lancaster at Time Warner and Amherst/Sweethome vs Monsignor Martin at Holiday and on Friday it’s Kenmore vs Williamsville at Northtowns.

In Section X Girl’s Ice Hockey Potsdam is in the lead followed by St. Lawrence, Canton, Massena and Salmon River.

Section VII: Beekmanton, Albany Academies, Lake Placid and Saranac Lake.

Section III: Alexandria Bay, Ithaca, Skaneateles and Oswego.

Any girl’s tams wanting additional news posted should email jdschultz3663@gmail.com.

(Photo: Orchard Park/Frontier take on West Seneca. Photo by Janet Schultz)

WNY Girl's Varsity

In the WNY Girls Varsity Ice Hockey Federation its Monsignor Martin in the lead with an 8-1-1 record followed closely by West Seneca with an 8-1-0 record. Amherst/Sweethome take third followed by Kenmore, Williamsville, Orchard Park/Froniter and Lancaster.

West Seneca's Erin Gehen and Nicole Kirchberger are sharing the top player honors this week with 19 points each. Goaltending goes to Kenmore's Lauren Pray with a .930 save percentage and 1.17 goals against average.

Upcoming games include Frontier/Orchard Park at Lancaster, Amherst/Sweethome against Williamsville; Monsignor Martin at West Seneca and West Seneca at Orchard Park/Frontier.

Women's Weekend News

Here's a short round up of what happened on the ice this weekend.

The Big Red came from behind twice to beat the Orange 6-3. Cornell has now won six in a row against Syracuse. Freshman goaltender Lauren Siebonick was named ECAC Goaltender of the Week for her two shutouts in four games since the New Year. In addition she only gave up one goal in each of the other two games. Cornell is headed to Harvard and Dartmouth this weekend.

Oswego held on to a two-goal lead but in the end it was the Hamilton Continentals that took the 3-2 win. Kelly Colllins, Fairport, scored for the Lakers first.

Kelsey Gunn of Niagara University was named CHA Rookie of the Week for January 16. The honor was given to her for her key offensive cotributions and a two point game in a 5-4 loss to Mercyhurst.

Niagara, who is 8-14-2 overall is playing Syracuse this weekend.

Jamestown to Host Chicks With Sticks Tourney

The Jamestown Savings Bank Ice Arena ( JSBIA) would like to extend our most sincere invitation for you to participate in the 1st Annual Chicks with sticks tournament on Feb 10-12,2012 at The Jamestown Savings Bank Ice Arena in Jamestown NY. This yearʼs tournament will be our First ever tournament at the arena that caters to and was created specifically for girl hockey players from across the United States and Canada. We envision that this tournament will foster a strong bond between the community and girls hockey teams, players, coaches and associations through the camaraderie of sportsmanship and fair competition.

This year, teams will compete in 8 divisions (u12, u14,u16,u19 house and travel divisions) for a series of 3-4 games in a weekend of fun and action.We will add a u10 and u8 division if interest dictates that we do.
. Application form and the rules & regulations ofthis tournament are attached with this invitation letter.

On behalf of JSBIA and the community of Jamestown NY, we would like to express our most sincere thanks to for considering our event, and hope that we will see each and every one of you in February.

Thank you and we look forward to hearing from you very soon!
Sincerely,

Lorie Michalak-Herman
Tournament director
716-484-2624 EXT 206
lorie.michalak@jamestownarena.com

Women's Weekend Wrap!

Instead of posting a million long press releases I thought I'd just share the highlights from this weekend's collegiate and youth hockey.

First, congratulations to the Amherst Knights who defeated Kentwood (Canada) 3-2 in double overtime to win the Detroit Motown Classic. To make it to the finals they beat the Geauga Maple Leafs 3-1. Thanks to Jody Rosen's Facebook post for this news.

And a shout out to Liz Dionto for sharing the 6-0 Buffalo Stars win over Perinton Edge on Sunday.

Now on the some College news.

Cornell continues on its winning ways with a 4-1 win over Quinnipiac on and a 1-0 shut out over Princeton. The Big Red outshot Princeton 39-14 with the lone goal scored by Rebecca Johnston, assistd by Brianne Jenner and Jillian Saulnier.

Potsdam swept Cortland with a 5-2 win on Friday and a 3-1 win on Saturday. Jenn Crawford and Issy Fayerman had a goal and an asisst on Saturday. Cortland's Brianna Rossi tied the game in the first, which lasted until Jessica Silveira scored the game winner.

On Friday Brittany Lucky had two goals and one assist.

Niagara lost to #5 ranked Mercyhurst in a doubleheader this weekend.

On Friday NU had a two goal lead and lost to the Lakers 5-4 in overtime. On Saturday the game was tied in the first period with the Lakers scoring in the second to take a two goal lead. Kaleigh Chippy, assisted by Kelsey Gunn,  brought NU within one but Mercyhurst scored in the final four minutes of the game. NU Goalie Abby Ryplanski made 25 saves.

Oswego took two from Chatham with a 10-0 win on Friday. Caledonia native MacKenzie Lee had two goals and Fairport's Kelly Collins took them to a 6-0 lead at 14:03 in the second.

On Saturday the Lakers, now 7-5-2 overall, beat Chatham 9-3. Lee scored a short-handed goal taking Oswego to a 3-0 lead in the second.  Collins put in one in the third. Bridget Smith took the win allowing one goal on six shots.

Over at Buffalo State College, the Bengals lost to Trinity 3-1, ending a three-game unbeaten streak. The lone goal came from Buffalo's Brianna Murphy tying the game in at the end of the first.

Trinity's Brigitte Collins,  a native of Buffalo, had two assists.

Don't forget to check this website for continuing updates on what's happening in women's hockey in New York State. Submit your comments, articles and story ideas to  hockeynys@gmail.com.