Groundhog Day at the Rink

I've been going to Princeton women's hockey games for eleven years. For the past ten years, the team has made the playoffs every year. Only twice have they won the best two-of-three quarterfinals. Four times they have lost these quarterfinals while playing at home. Often these games are close, several by only one goal, a few in overtime. It's getting to be like Bill Murray in Groundhog Day. It's the same day, different opponent.

This year the opponent was the Bobcats of Quinnipiac College. Princeton was seeded fourth, Q-Pac fifth, so it was assumed the series would be a close one. The teams split their home-on-home regular season series.

Princeton struck first in game one last night, when Sasha Sherry (pictured above, far left) scored in the second period. Later that period Sally Butler hit the post, the closest Princeton would come to scoring again. Q-Pac tied it up in that same period.

As regulation time wore down, it looked like the game would go into overtime. Then, with five seconds left, Q-Pac scored, stunning the home crowd into a comatose silence.

There was still hope, though, as a win today would have evened things up and made a third game necessary on Sunday. But it was not to be. Princeton had several great chances, but could not solve the Q-Pac goalie. Denna Laing was the player who hit the post tonight, the clang sure to reverberate in the ears of Princeton rooters all spring and summer. Down 1-0, Princeton pulled the goalie late but allowed an empty net goal, and the season ended ignominiously.

For Princeton coach Jeff Kampersal, this has got to be bitter. He's been the coach ever since I've been coming to games, and his playoff record is abysmal, equivalent to Marty Schottenheimer of the NFL. In the ten years Kampersal has taken the team to the playoffs, he's won five games and lost fifteen, with eight of those losses at home. One wonders whether somewhere along the way someone from the program insulted someone with a billy goat (Chicago Cub fans will get that reference).

So the season is over, and three seniors above (from left to right, Sasha Sherry, Caroline Park, and Laura Martindale) have skated their last in the orange and black. They were all fine players, and I got to know Sasha's parents pretty well--very nice people. They were both grim but philosophical at the end of tonight's game. I'm sure they realized they may have seen their daughter play her last game (although maybe not--Sasha is a possibility for the U.S. National Team, and has a shot at the next Olympic team).

As I said to someone after tonight's game, how many days till the start of next season?