After being shutout 4-0 in its last game, No. 12 women’s hockey wanted to revitalize an offense that has been hot and cold at times this season. A matchup against a struggling Dartmouth team (4-18-3,2-12-3 ECAC), which entered ranked 38th in the nation in average scoring margin, presented the perfect opportunity.
The Red seized the opportunity, blanking Dartmouth 5-0 for the second time this season.
In the contest’s opening five minutes, each team mustered two shots on goal, with Dartmouth having the better look. Cornell (14-9-2, 10-6-1 ECAC) eventually started generating more dangerous chances, but an offensive-zone tripping penalty put the Red at a disadvantage six minutes into the period. Cornell’s penalty kill — which had seen plenty of action in recent weeks — held Dartmouth to a single shot during the power play.
“[Dartmouth] brought a high battle level,” said head coach Doug Derraugh '91. “Early on, I thought our passing was kind of sloppy [and we] had a lot of turnovers. Gave them a few chances.”
Cornell came out of its successful penalty kill with momentum, quickly generating an avalanche of opportunities. The best of which — a senior forward Avi Adam’s shot — sailed just over the shoulder of Dartmouth sophomore netminder Jiahui Zhan. The Red picked up a power play opportunity of its own late in the period, but was unable to convert.
Zhan — taking the place of starting sophomore netminder Michaela Hesová (who left the Big Green this week to join the Czech women’s national ice hockey team for the upcoming Winter Olympics) — was excellent in the opening frame, stopping all 16 shots that came her way.
The Big Green had opportunities of its own in the first frame, but junior goaltender Annelies Bergmann was up for the task, denying six shots, including a point-blank effort late in the stanza.
Worryingly for the Red, sophomore forward Lindzi Avar exited the ice midway through the first period and did not return. Derraugh expressed his confidence that Avar had avoided a long-term injury, noting that she “could even be back tomorrow.”
After dominating the opening period but having nothing to show for it, the Red struck quickly in the second. Just 1:19 into the frame, a junior defender Piper Grober pass found a streaking Adam, who fired a shot into the top left corner to give Cornell the first goal of the game.
“[Dartmouth’s defense] kind of backed up and gave me the time and space,” Adam said. “I was debating passing it, [and] probably could have skated it in a little bit more, but I figured I’d just shoot and get pucks on net, and it went in.”
With the lead and another surge of momentum, the Red began to swarm the Big Green, registering five of the next six shots on goal. This trend continued for the first half of the period, with the occasional Bergmann save sprinkled in between Cornell efforts.
The pressure proved lethal and a rebounding puck found the stick of senior forward Georgia Schiff who deposited it into the net nine minutes into the second period.
“We got some timely goals, and started getting people going to the net more,” Derraugh said. “Getting people around the net and getting pucks to the net — When you do that, usually you start scoring some goals.”
With the margin widened to two, Cornell looked eager to add on another tally. The chances kept coming until a tripping penalty at 7:39 halted the Red’s momentum.
“We’re getting beat, and we just take our stick and stick it in the feet of [Dartmouth's skater],” Derraugh said when asked about the penalties. “It wasn’t like it was going to be a dangerous situation.”
The penalty killing unit once again proved successful, thanks in large part to an acrobatic Bergmann save to preserve the shutout.
After its solid start, Cornell continued its commanding performance in the middle period, adding ten shots on goal to Dartmouth's eight.
Entering the final 20 minutes of play, the Big Green was still looking for its chance to claw back into the game. Only 18 seconds into the period, Bergmann was once again forced to turn aside a high-danger opportunity.
Cornell quickly regained its footing, and just 2:33 into the stanza, junior forward Beatrice Perron-Roy weaved through the Big Green defense and extended Cornell’s lead to three.
The Red onslaught did not cease, and 85 seconds after the Perron-Roy goal, sophomore defender Rose Dwyer tacked on another. Then, with just over ten minutes to go, a shot from outside the left circle by junior forward Karel Prefontaine found its way into the Big Green’s net.
With the Red aiming to complete the shutout performance, a penalty with just over five minutes remaining presented the Big Green with an opportunity to strike back. Off the back of big shot blocks, saves and clears, the Dartmouth power play was fruitless for the third time of the night.
The Red closed out the period, the horn sounded, and Bergmann — who led the nation in clean slates last year — secured her first shutout in 19 games, and fifth overall on the season.
"It's confidence-building,” Bergmann said. “I think that seeing our defense really do their job allowed my job to be pretty easy today, but [we are] just gonna build on this and hopefully keep this momentum going into the playoffs and rest of our games.”
The Red will finish the weekend hosting Harvard at 3 p.m. on Saturday, with the game streaming live on ESPN+.
