Middlebury Earns Top Seed, First Round Bye

HADLEY, Mass. - The field is set for the 2006 NESCAC Women’s Ice Hockey Championship. While it was known since last weekend that Middlebury had earned the number-one seed and a first round bye in this year’s tournament, a few questions still needed to be answered this weekend for the remaining first round home ice slot and which teams would comprise the field. First round action for the seven-team tournament begins on Saturday, February 25 at Bowdoin, Colby and Williams.

Middlebury (22-2-0, 15-1-0 NESCAC) will host the semifinals and the championship for the first time since 2002, the first year that the tournament was held. The Panthers, the defending NESCAC Women’s Ice Hockey Champions, went wire-to-wire this season with a near perfect record, the only league loss coming on February 5 at home against Williams, 4-1. Middlebury will play in the first of two semifinal games scheduled for Saturday, March 4.

Bowdoin (15-7-1, 12-3-1 NESCAC) cemented the second-seed last weekend with a pair of home victories over Wesleyan. The Polar Bears, the only team besides Middlebury to win the NESCAC Championship (2002, 2004), finished off the NESCAC regular season on Tuesday with a 2-2 draw at Maine rival Colby, posting a 4-0-1 league mark during the month of February. It will be the first time since the 2002 season that the Polar Bears have hosted a first round game, after earning the number-one seed and a first round bye over the last three years. Bowdoin will host seventh-seed Connecticut College (6-12-4, 4-10-2 NESCAC) next Saturday. The Polar Bears won both meetings of the season between the two squads, 6-2 all the way back on November 19 in Brunswick, Maine, and 5-3 in New London, Conn., on January 20. Connecticut College is making its second appearance in the NESCAC Women’s Ice Hockey Championship, after last seeing action as the seventh-seed during the 2004 tournament, falling 6-0 to Middlebury that year.

Williams (13-10-1, 11-4-1 NESCAC) enters the 2006 tournament as the third-seed for the fourth year in a row. The Ephs have posted back-to-back shutouts in the two previous years during the first round and outscoring opponents 18-1 over the past three years in first round action. Williams will be very familiar with its first round opponent this season, as it will host sixth-seed Hamilton (10-13-1, 6-10-0 NESCAC), after the two teams squared off on Saturday, February 18, in Clinton, N.Y. The Ephs defeated the Continentals in that game, 1-0, and won the first meeting of the season between the two teams, 3-2 in Williamstown, Mass., on November 26. Both teams have advanced out of the first round in each of the last two tournaments, yet neither squad has faced one another in the NESCAC tournament. The last time Hamilton defeated Williams at Champman rink was on November 23, 1997, by a 6-5 score.

Fourth-seed Colby (14-7-1, 9-6-1 NESCAC) secured the final home ice slot on Friday evening with a win over Wesleyan, 4-2. The Mules completed the sweep of the Cardinals on Saturday, 4-2, to finish the regular season 4-0-1 in their last five. This season’s campaign showed improvement over last year’s for Colby, gaining four more league wins and a first round home game for the first time since 2002. Colby will host fifth-seeded Amherst (10-14-0, 6-10-0 NESCAC) this coming Saturday. Amherst finished tied in the standings with Hamilton, however the Jeffs hold the head-to-head tiebreaker after picking up two wins over the Continentals during the season. Colby won both meetings with Amherst during the 2005-06 campaign, a 2-1 victory in Waterville, Maine, on November 19, and a 5-3 decision in Amherst, Mass., on January 20.

2006 NESCAC WOMEN’S ICE HOCKEY CHAMPIONSHIP
First Round - Saturday, Feb. 25 at Higher Seeds
No. 7 Connecticut College at No. 2 Bowdoin - TBA
No. 6 Hamilton at No. 3 Williams - 1:00 p.m.
No. 5 Amherst at No. 4 Colby - 1:00 p.m.

Semifinals - Saturday, March 4 at Middlebury
Lowest remaining seed at No. 1 Middlebury - 1:00 p.m.
Remaining first round winners - 4:00 p.m.

Championship - Sunday, March 5 at Middlebury
Semifinal winners - 1:00 p.m.