Women’s hockey makes sixth Frozen Four trip

Senior goaltender Alexi Bloom achieved her record-breaking 11th shutout of the season as the Panthers edged Manhattanville 1-0 in the first round of the NCAA tournament. The Panthers held a commanding 30-20 shot advantage over the Valiants who they outshot in every period. Although the teams combined for 31 shots in the first two periods of play, neither team could break the scoreless tie. As the game moved into the third period, the pressure to maintain the shutout increased for both sides.
“Everyone on the ice felt the pressure to hold onto the shutout,” said sophomore defender Madison Styrbicki ’13. “We had battled throughout the whole game and, although we were confident, had to work until the buzzer sounded.”
The Panthers finally broke the drought 13:59 into the third period when Maggie Woodward ’13 put away a rebound from a Styrbicki shot that took a deflection off of Nora Bergman ’11 before Woodward beat Manhattanville goalie Emy Cote for the game’s only goal. The goal was Woodward’s sixth and her second straight game-winning score. Woodward scored the Panthers fourth and final goal in their 4-3 victory over Amherst in the NESCAC championship game. Even that couldn’t top the momentous importance of her goal late in the third period of the game against Manhattanville, however.
“Maddie Joyce ’14 came out of the corner with the puck and passed it up to me at the point,” recounted Styrbicki. “After shooting into the scrum in front of the net, the puck got tipped around and then Maggie found the puck and scored. She was in the right place at the right time and was able to finish to keep her three game scoring streak alive.”
The assist gave Styrbicki her team-leading 17th of the season while Bergman recorded her ninth of the year on the deflection.
The Panthers then held off the rush of desperation from the Valiants, which included 44 seconds of empty net attacking from Manhattanville. The Panthers denied the visitors as Bloom made all 20 saves in the game en route to her nation-leading and record-setting 11th shutout of the season.
Her performance Saturday was just another stellar performance in an already phenomenal season for the senior net-minder from Highland Park, Ill. Bloom, in addition to leading the nation in shutouts, ranks second among all division three goalies in save percentage (.950) and third in goals allowed per game (1.02).
“Lexi was excellent once again,” said head coach Bill Mandigo. “She stood tall, covered rebounds, battled for loose pucks and helped all her around play with confidence.”
Bloom’s success also speaks volumes about the play of Styrbicki and the rest of the Panthers defensive unit who have held opponents scoreless in 13 of their 27 games this year.
The defensive prowess of the Panthers will face its toughest test all season this Friday in the Frozen Four when Middlebury plays hosts Rochester Institute of Technology (25-1-2). RIT leads the nation in goals per game, averaging more than five a contest.
In addition to boasting the number one offense in division three women’s hockey, they are led by first-year goaltender Laura Chamberlain. Chamberlain leads the nation’s top defensive team with a save percentage of .953.
Styrbicki and the Panthers aren’t shying away from the top team in the nation, however. “The fact that RIT leads the country in goals per game doesn’t scare us,” she said. “Lexi has been the backbone of our defense all year. Her confidence is infectious and it spreads throughout the entire team. On Friday, it’s going to come down to playing our game and we all know we can do it.”
Bloom will certainly have her work set out for her this weekend but the Panthers star is ready for the challenge.
“If you want to win you have got to be able to beat anyone so we might as well play the number one seed right off the bat,” Bloom said. “As for their goalie, I don’t really worry about [competing with her]. My job is to keep pucks out of the net so I let my forwards worry about putting them in at the other end.”
Bloom does have one request for her teammates however as the Panthers try to capture their seventh national championship.
“I was confident in my teammates that they would put the puck in the net,” said Bloom about the game on Saturday. “I just hope they don’t wait so long next time.”