She wanted to be like Sarah Tueting when she grew up. Ivy League goaltender (Dartmouth). Olympian (U.S.). Olympic medalist (Gold, Nagano, 1998; Silver, Salt Lake City, 2002).

“I had heard about her because she is from Chicagoland, too,” Nicole Stock said, referring to the informal name locals use for metropolitan Chicago. “I wanted to be in her shoes.”

Stock, a junior from Buffalo Grove, Ill., is one-third of the way to that childhood goal. She is the record-breaking starting goaltender for Brown University of the Ivy League, and tonight against Cornell, or tomorrow afternoon against Colgate, she will most likely break the Brown record for saves in a season. She has 663, 18 shy of the record of 681 set by Ali Brewer in 2000, when she won the Kazmaier Award as the best player in women’s collegiate hockey.

Those 18 saves could come quickly at Meehan Auditorium. A week ago at Niagara, Stock made 39 saves in a 5-2 victory. And last Saturday at Erie, Pa., she stopped 66 shots in a 4-2 loss to Mercyhurst, breaking the previous Brown record of 59 set by Kirsten Rendell against New Hampshire on Dec. 2, 1989. Stock turned in a night’s work in the first period, when she made 27 saves, also a Brown record. Mara Spaulder turned aside 26 New Hampshire shots on March 9, 1985.

For her efforts, Stock is the ECAC Hockey goaltender of the week for the second consecutive week and third time this season, and the USCHO defensive player of the week.

“She’s the best … probably one of the top goaltenders ever to wear a Brown jersey,” coach Digit Murphy said. That’s high praise considering that Brewer was the best player in the college game eight years ago and that Pam Dreyer, a 2003 graduate, made the 2006 U.S. Olympic team.

“To have my name said with those players is shocking. Just to be in the same uniform, I can’t take that for granted.” Stock said.

The Bears can’t take her for granted, that’s for sure. Shaky on offense (33 goals) and young on defense (49 goals allowed, 132 penalty minutes), the Bears are 3-13-3 overall, 2-8-2 in the ECAC and winless on their home ice. Stock ranks sixth in Division I with her .931 save percentage and third with her average of 34.6 saves per game. This season she has made 30 saves 13 times and 40 saves four times.

Like many female college players, Stock grew up playing hockey with boys. Mites, Squirts, Pee Wees, Bantams, she played at every level. When it was time for high school, her parents considered her academic and athletic future and sent her to Choate Rosemary Hall in Connecticut. There, she played hockey with girls for the first time.

“That was a big adjustment,” she said. “Boys shoot from anywhere. The boys used to wind up from the top of the circle if they felt like it. Girls like to set up the play and make it look pretty.”

Not all “girls.” The Mercyhurst women (17-5-2, sixth in the current USCHO Division I poll) play like “boys.” They put the puck on the net, skate hard and see what happens. All-American Meghan Agosta “could bomb from the point,” Stock said, which partly explains her four goals against Brown. Only partly because one shot caromed off a Brown defender’s skate and into the net and another was an empty-netter.

Mercyhurst blitzed Stock with 28 shots in the first period.

“It didn’t feel like they were taking that many shots. They were shooting from the point, and I was seeing those shots. I told myself to hang on to the rebound and keep it tight. When they announced 28 shots, I couldn’t believe it. It was in the second period that I started to feel it. I was taking my time getting up.”

Napoli starring

Add another woman to the list of 53 Rhode Islanders who are playing college hockey this season. Sarah Napoli (Barrington/St. Mark’s) is one of the top defenders at Connecticut College. The sophomore has five assists in 12 games, tops among the blue-liners and third on the team. She is still looking for her first goal. The Camels (5-6-3, 3-1-2) are tied with Colby for fourth place in the NESCAC standings. They will play Bowdoin tonight and Colby tomorrow.

Honor for Ciarletta

Providence College women’s goaltender Danielle Ciarletta is the Hockey East defensive player of the week for her performance in a 1-1 tie with top-ranked New Hampshire and a 3-1 victory over Boston University. She made 27 saves at UNH, three in overtime. She stopped 26 BU shots. PC (10-9-3, 5-2-2) will play the first of two games at the University of Vermont tonight at 7.

PC’s recruits

PC coach Tim Army signed three players in addition to goalkeeper Justin Gates of Cranston. Robert Maloney, a 5-foot-11, 180-pound forward from Eagan, Minn., and Eastview High School; Chad Johnson, a 5-11, 175-pound forward from Lynn, Mass., and Tilton Academy in New Hampshire; and Danny New, a 6-1, 190-pound defenseman from White Plains, N.Y., and Avon Old Farms of Connecticut, have signed National Letters of Intent to attend PC next September.

mszostak@projo.com