Bullock shines for Princeton in season’s first 6 games
PRINCETON >> The Princeton University women’s hockey team came closer to getting back in the national rankings with another undefeated weekend at Hobey Baker Rink.
A 4-1 win over Dartmouth last Friday was followed by a 2-2 tie with Harvard the following night, improving its record to 3-2-1 after dropping both games of a seasonopening set in Wisconsin against the No. 1 ranked Badgers.
The three-point weekend has the Tigers just outside of the Top 10 in the latest USCHO rankings, but on top of the ECAC conference standings heading into a two-game, nonconference set in Syracuse this weekend.
Ironically, the big test perhaps came against the Big Green, who had been outscored 13-1 in the first three games, but presented an interesting challenge for head coach Cara Morey in making sure that her team didn’t overlook them.
“The worry was that our team wasn’t going to take them as seriously as they needed to,” she said. “But we talked about how the ECAC is the most competitive league in the country, and how on any night, any team in our league can beat any other team in our league. The biggest concern was making sure they were mentally ready to have a fight, and that’s what Dartmouth gave us.”
Dartmouth actually got out to an early 1-0 lead when Sara McClanahan was able to trickle one through the pads of freshman goaltender Cassie Reale, but Reale and the Tigers recovered to score four unanswered goals to cruise to a 4-1 win, thanks in large part to the Big Green getting away from an ultraaggressive forecheck that stymied Princeton in the early going.
“They came ‘two hard’ for the first two periods, and then we talked about a couple of adjustments on our breakout,” Morey said, referring to a 2-1-2 forecheck in which two forwards are in aggressive puck pursuit with a third in the high slot and two defensemen back.
“They were hemming us in pretty good with those two hard forecheckers, so when we talked about the adjustments to make on the breakout, they started to change their forecheck to ‘one hard,’ and that eased up a little of the pressure a little bit on our D so they could make better decisions with the puck.”
As for Reale, she made 18 saves in the win en route to being named the ECAC’s Rookie of the Week, and has done well in splitting the net with sophomore Rachel McQuigge as regular starter Steph Neatby, a junior, remains out with an undisclosed injury.
“It’s a tough game to play when you don’t see a lot of shots early on; you only see three a period, and then it’s flurries,” Morey said. “They had some really good scoring chances, and she had to battle through it. She’s a freshman, but she did a great job to keeping her composure to battle through some of those tough scoring chances.”
It might not matter who’s in net, however, if sensational junior winger Carly Bullock is able to keep producing at the incredible pace in which she’s been able to light up the scoreboard over the first six games of the season.
The 2017-18 First Team All-Ivy League standout potted two goals and added an assist over the weekend, giving her an 8-4-12 line that’s good for two points per game. The Tigers, perhaps, will go as far as Bullock can take them. But how sustainable is this level of production?
“That’s a good question,” Morey said through a smile. “I hope it’s extremely sustainable.”
“She just has a knack for the net, and she’s got good players around her. If we can get her the puck in the right positions, she’s going to put the puck where it needs to go.”