NCAA week 9 preview: Big Saturday for top 10

The ECAC’s top matchup lands on Saturday with Colgate on the road against Quinnipiac. The sliding Bobcats will look to use their home ice advantage to jolt their inconsistent season. The WCHA sees two marquee matchups, with one of them being Wisconsin at Minnesota-Duluth — two top-three teams in the polls. The Bulldogs scorers will put the record-breaking goaltender Ann-Renée Desbiens and the Badgers to the test in their first of two series. All of Hockey East anxiously awaits the puck drop in Sunday’s tilt between Boston College and Northeastern. Some still aren’t sold on the Eagles, despite getting Megan Keller back, and the Huskies are looking to stay in the ranking.

John Mazza previews Week 9:

No. 3 St. Lawrence @ Penn State, Monday, Nov. 21, and Tuesday, Nov. 22

• With two wins last weekend against RPI and Union, St. Lawrence continues to move up in the polls.
• Four players had multipoint nights in the 4-1 win against RPI. Kennedy Marchment (Courtice, Ont.) had a goal and two assists, while her teammates Amanda McClure (Stratford, Ont.), Brooke Webster (Aurora, Ont.), and Justine Reyes (Chino Hill, Calif.) had a goal and an assist each.
• With the 4-0 shutout of Union on Saturday, the Saints have won eight straight games, improving to 11-0-1 on the season. Kalie Grant (Potsdam, N.Y.) scored her second goal of the season and the gamewinner halfway through the first, and netminders Brooke Wolejko (South Windsor, Conn.) and Sonjia Shelly (Braceville, Ill.) were solid between the pipes leading St. Lawrence to victory.
• Penn State came away with a win and a tie against Lindenwood last week.
• After falling behind 2-0 midway through the second period, the Nittany Lions rallied and came back to win 3-2. At 6:08 in the third period, defenseman Bella Sutton (Shoreview, Minn.) scored a power play goal, giving Penn State the lead.
• Penn State saw themselves behind again after Lindenwood scored a shorthanded goal at 5:47 in the second. Eight minutes later, Katie McMillan (Minnetonka, Minn.) scored on the power play, tying the game at 1-1. /

No. 1 Wisconsin @ No. 3 Minnesota-Duluth, Friday, Nov. 18, and Saturday, Nov. 19

• With a bye week, Wisconsin is still No. 1 after back-to-back shutouts of Bemidji State two weeks ago.
• In the 5-0 win on Nov. 5, freshman Presley Norby (Minnetonka, Minn.) scored a hat trick to lead the Badgers past the Beavers.
• Wisconsin did not slow down the next day. Sarah Nurse (Hamilton, Ont.) hit her 100-point mark with two goals in the 6-0 victory. However, Nurse was not the only Badger to hit a milestone. Goaltender Desbiens (La Mallbaie, Que.) broke the NCAA shutout record after her sixth shutout of the season and 44^th overall.
• The Bulldogs faced a tough opponent last weekend in North Dakota and came away with a win and a tie.
• On Saturday, the Bulldogs got off to a quick start. At 7:32 in the first, Lara Stalder (Luzern, Switzerland) netted the first goal of the game. Just 34 seconds later, Katerina Mrázová (Prague, Czech Republic) scored, giving UMD a 2-0 lead in the first.
• The next day, the Bulldogs and Fighting Hawks tied. Despite taking a 2-0 lead in the first, UMD could not hold the lead but managed to come away with a point. /

No. 2 Minnesota @ No. 9 North Dakota, Friday, Nov. 18, and Saturday, Nov. 19

• Holding at No. 2 after a bye week, Minnesota looks to continue the success they had after sweeping Minnesota State.
• On Nov. 4, Dani Cameranesi (Plymouth, Minn.) scored a natural hat trick to lead her team to a 5-0 shutout.
• Four separate players had multipoint nights during the Gophers 8-1 rout on Sunday Nov. 6. Kelly Pannek (Plymouth, Minn.), Nicole Schammel (Red Wing, Minn.), and Cameranesi scored two goals, and Sarah Potomak (Aldergrove, B.C.) had a goal and three assists. Pannek also had three assists, while Cameranesi had two assists of her own.
• North Dakota faced No. 3 Minnesota-Duluth last weekend with two close games.
• North Dakota fell early on Friday’s game, after giving up two goals in the first period. Halfway through the third, Halli Krzyzaniak (Neepawa, MB) put the Fighting Hawks on the board. However, the Fighting Hawks could not get the tying goal and lost 2-1.
• The next day, North Dakota again found themselves facing a two-goal deficit. However, they managed to come back and force the game to overtime. With the score remaining 2-2 after overtime, freshman Ryleigh Houston (Winnipeg, Man.) scored the only goal in the shootout, giving North Dakota the extra point. /

No. 7 Boston College @ No. 10 Northeastern, Sunday, Nov. 20

• The Boston College Eagles easily swept the New Hampshire Wildcats last week, improving to 8-2-0 in Hockey East and 9-3-2 overall.
• With a career-best four points, freshman Caitrin Lonergan (Roslindale, Mass.) led her team to a 5-1 victory on Friday. She had one goal and three assists.
• BC did not slow down, scoring seven goals to defeat UNH 7-1. Freshman Delaney Belinskas (Port Orange, Fla.) scored her second hat trick of the season during the rout of the Wildcats.
• In the home-and-home series against Merrimack, the Huskies won both games.
• Northeastern fell behind 2-1 early in the third, but rallied to win 4-2. Denisa Krizova (Horni Cerekev, Czech Republic), Codie Cross (Airdrie, Alta.), and McKenna Brand (Nevis, Minn.) scored in the last period to push the Huskies past the Warriors.
• The next day, Brand scored twice to lead the Huskies to another 4-2 victory against Merrimack. /

No. 5 Colgate @ No. 8 Quinnipiac, Saturday, Nov. 19

• Colgate beat both Yale and Brown this past weekend, remaining unbeaten.
• Entering the final frame behind 3-2 to Yale, Colgate scored twice to complete the comeback. Jessie Eldridge (Barrie, Ont.) led the team with two goals and an assist, including the game winner.
• Colgate opened up scoring in the first and held Brown off the scoresheet. At 8:26 in the first, Cat Quirion (Lac-Megantic, Que.) scored what would be the gamewinning goal in the 3-0 shutout.
• After defeating Dartmouth and Harvard last weekend, Quinnipiac has an ECAC record of 4-2-0 and an overall record of 9-4-1.
• With 6:35 left in the game, freshman Kate MacKenzie (Winnipeg, Man.) scored the gamewinning goal, the first goal of her college career, as the Bobcats won 2-1.
• The Bobcats had yet another comeback on Saturday against Harvard. Kati Tabin (Winnipeg, Man.) and Taylar Cianfarano (Oswego, N.Y.) netted goals in the third period to push them past the Crimson 2-1. /

Note: All rankings listed are from Week 8’s SB Nation’s Women’s College Hockey Division 1 Poll.