Women’s Ice Hockey in Tough Slump

Women’s Ice Hockey in Tough Slump

Weston Atwood
For The Clock

wja2000@plymouth.edu

It’s been a tale of two months for the Women’s Ice Hockey team. They went 4-0 in the month of December, outscoring their opponents 18 to 1, including a game against Johnson and Wales where the Panthers outshot the Wildcats 82-5. It was a much different story after the holiday break as now the Panthers are on a 7 game losing streak dropping games against Sacred Heart, Hamilton, Castleton, Saint Anselm, Manhattanville, Norwich, and University of New England. Currently 6-13 overall they are 2-9 in conference play. Kelsey Lynch, (Collegeville, Pennsylvania) is the leading point scorer on the squad with 11 this season. Freshman goalie Emelie Lindqvist (Gullerasen, Sweden) has 328 saves and a .916 save percentage as she’s been fantastic in goal this season for Plymouth. Freshman Kelsey Roy (Ft. Collins, Colorado) has also impressed, with 3 goals and 5 assists she has 8 points on the season so far.

Despite the recent loses the Panthers have played very hard. When nationally ranked Norwich came to Hanaway Rink, many had written the Panthers off before puck drop. Their suspicions only increased when Norwich scored three goals in the first period. After Norwich scored one more near the end of the second the Panthers turned it on. Sophomore Shannon Hickey (Arlington, Mass) scored the Panthers first goal a minute and a half later off of assists by senior Olivia Leon (Natick, Mass) and junior Haley Branovan (Canandaigua, NY). The Panthers would be the only team to score in the third off of a nice steal by freshman Taylor Jackson (St. Albans, NY) who took it all the way to the other end to pick up her third goal of the season.

The most recent contest saw the Panthers travel to the University of New England who they had beaten 3-2 in overtime earlier this season. They would unfortunately fall in this one, 2-0. The first two periods were back and forth neither team scoring. The third period was where the game swung. 10 total penalties 6 for the Nor’easter’s, 4 for the Panthers. University of New England scored early in the first minute before notching a power play goal around the 8 minute mark. Plymouth State would go 0-5 on the power play, despite three opportunities in the last 8 minutes including a 6 on 4 advantage with the empty net for the Panthers.

Panthers will look to end their season strong, with only six games left the Panthers host Southern Maine in their next game Friday, February 5th at Hanaway Rink.

CLOCK PHOTO/ALEX CROSSLEY