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Bears women get revenge, down Hamilton 2-1 to close semester

Posted 12/9/18

POTSDAM, N.Y.—The SUNY Potsdam women's hockey team (4-5-2) avenged a Tuesday loss at Hamilton College (6-3) with a 2-1 win on Saturday afternoon in Maxcy Ice Arena. Junior captain Shelbi Thacker …

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Bears women get revenge, down Hamilton 2-1 to close semester

Posted

POTSDAM, N.Y.—The SUNY Potsdam women's hockey team (4-5-2) avenged a Tuesday loss at Hamilton College (6-3) with a 2-1 win on Saturday afternoon in Maxcy Ice Arena. Junior captain Shelbi Thacker (Chesterfield, Mich./Honeybaked) and freshman forward Ellie Cleary (Buffalo, N.Y./Buffalo Bisons) each scored for the Bears and sophomore goalie Samantha White (Oceanside, Calif./Anaheim Lady Ducks) made 32 saves.

The contest started off at a much slower pace than Tuesday's game in Clinton. Shots on goal were hard to come by as each team played tight defense and blocked shots early. Potsdam claimed the first goal of the game at 6:41. Sophomore forward Emily Burke (San Jose, Calif./San Jose Jr. Sharks) flung a centering pass through a crowd in the slot and it found its way to Thacker at the right point. She fired a high floating shot over a bunch of bodies and Continentals junior goalie Sammy Johnson (Scituate, Mass./Groton School) and into the net. Johnson never saw the puck. Sophomore forward Alexis Clark (Niagara Falls, N.Y./Buffalo Bisons) picked up the second assist. Hamilton tied the game at 17:23. Freshman defensemen Lexi Takashima (Warminster, Pa./Choate/Rosemary Hall) fed sophomore forward Kate Piacenza (Billerica, Mass./Buckingham Browne & Nichols) during the breakout. Piacenza went the length of the ice and fired a low shot under the stick of White to tie the game. Hamilton outshot the Bears 12-4 in the first period.

The teams entered the second period with four-on-four play for 54 seconds before giving way to a 23-second Hamilton power play. The Bears killed the man advantage and then went on their second of the game, but were unable to create strong scoring opportunities. The teams continued trade penalties and until the Bears regained the lead at 10:08. Junior defenseman Delphine Léonard (Anjou, Quebec/Dawson College Prep) found Cleary at the left side of the net. She fired on Johnson and the puck popped up and over the goaltender to make it 2-1. Junior forward Miranda Kolb (Watertown, N.Y./SUNY Cortland) also assisted on the play. The shots were 11 apiece in the middle period and the Bears took the 2-1 lead into the second intermission.

The third period featured end-to-end action, but not many shots early. The Bears killed off Hamilton's fifth power play midway through the period. The Continents earned their sixth 2:25 later, but thanks to a big save by White Potsdam escaped again. Hamilton pulled Johnson with 53 seconds left and the pressure resulted in a power play 18 seconds later. However, Potsdam's defense clamped down and ran out the clock.

Johnson finished with 17 saves. Hamilton outshot Potsdam 33-19, but was 0-for-7 on the man advantage, while the Bears were 1-for-4.

Potsdam is now off until a two-game road series at Franklin Pierce on Jan. 4-5.