Hamilton College’s Michaela Giuttari ’20 posted two goals and an assist, and the Continentals cruised to a 6-1 victory against the University of Southern Maine Huskies in the 2018 Saint Michael’s College Trader Duke’s Ice Hockey Classic at Cairns Arena on Saturday afternoon.
Hamilton (6-2-1 overall) captured the team title and Giuttari was selected the tournament’s most valuable player. Caroline Knop ’18, who scored the goal in the Continentals’ 1-1 tie against Plymouth State University on Friday in their first game in South Burlington, Vt., joined Giuttari on the all-tournament team.
Giuttari leads Hamilton with five goals and five assists. Missy Segall ’21 and Mairead Carey ’18 chipped in one goal and one assist apiece, both Karina Sirabian ’21 and Taegan Blackwell ’19 were credited with a pair of assists, and Sammy Johnson ’20 (0.88 GAA, .929 save pct.) made 11 saves in her second start in goal in as many days.
The Continentals fell behind 1-0 in the first period but scored three goals in the second period and tallied three more in the third. Hamilton is 4-0-1 in its last five contests and has outscored its opponents 15-2 during that stretch.
Jensen Hamblett gave USM (4-10-0) a 1-0 lead on an unassisted goal with 55 seconds left in the first period. The Huskies ended up with just 12 shots and they went 0-for-3 on the power play.
The Continentals drew even with a power-play goal at 4:02 of the second period — just 22 seconds into a 5-on-3 advantage. Andrea Rockey ’19 took a pass from Blackwell near the left faceoff dot and scored her third goal on the goalie’s short side.
Giuttari put Hamilton on top for good with 4:43 remaining in the second. Less than a minute after another power play for the Continentals ended, Giuttari carried the puck down the left boards on a 3-on-2 and fired a hard wrist shot into the far-right corner of the net. Two minutes later, Carey collected a loose puck and shot it through traffic past USM goalie Whitney Padgett (27 saves) for her first goal this season with 2:40 to go. Hamilton, which enjoyed a 19-3 shot advantage in the period, led 3-1 after 40 minutes.
The Continentals clinched their win with three goals late in the third period. Segall took a pass from Blackwell in the slot and one-timed a shot off the bottom of the crossbar for her fourth goal with 2:21 left. Giuttari made it a 5-1 cushion 49 seconds later when she skated around a defender on the right side and tucked the puck in past Padgett. Maddie Beitler ’21 rounded out the scoring on her first collegiate goal with 30 seconds remaining. A shot from the point by Segall sailed wide of the net and bounced off the glass to Beitler, who jammed the puck in between Padgett and the post.
Hamilton travels to SUNY Potsdam for another non-conference game on Tuesday, Jan. 9 at 3 p.m.
