Crimson Claim Second Straight Regular-Season Title
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| Scoring Summary | |
|---|---|
| 1st - 03:06 | Kathryn Farni (Harvard) |
| 1st - 06:47 | PP - Britney Selina (Clarkson) |
| 1st - 09:10 | PP - Sarah Vaillancourt (Harvard) |
| 1st - 17:54 | Liza Ryabkina (Harvard) |
| 2nd - 04:26 | PP - Jenny Brine (Harvard) |
| 2nd - 07:57 | Kate Buesser (Harvard) |
| 3rd - 16:23 | Sarah Vaillancourt (Harvard) |
| Clarkson | Harvard |
|---|---|
|
G:
Britney Selina - 1
A: Melissa Waldie - 1 Sh: Britney Selina - 4 Sv: Eve Grandmont-Berube - 19 |
G:
2 Players (#9, #26 - 2)
A: Kati Vaughn - 3 Sh: Sarah Vaillancourt - 12 Sv: Brittany Martin - 14 |
| TEAM STATISTICS | Clarkson | Harvard |
|---|---|---|
| Power Plays | 1 for 6 | 2 for 8 |
| Shorthanded Goals | 0 | 0 |
| Penalties (min) | 9 (18) | 6 (12) |
| Shots on Goal | 24 | 37 |
| Face Offs Won | 30 | 38 |
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - Jenny Brine and Sarah Vaillancourt each tallied two goals and collected an assist on Senior Day to lead the No. 9 Harvard women's hockey team to a 6-1 victory over Clarkson Saturday at Bright Hockey Center. Kati Vaughn chipped in with three assists and Katharine Chute collected two assists as the Crimson clinched its second consecutive ECAC Hockey regular-season championship.
Christina Kessler started the game in net for Harvard and made nine saves, while Brittany Martin played the second and third period and stopped a total of 14 shots.
For the second straight game, the Crimson (17-9-3, 16-4-2)
scored three times in the first period, beginning with a tally by
Jenny Brine on a deflection. With Harvard controlling the
puck in the Clarkson zone, Kati Vaughn and Nora Sluzas played catch
at the blue line before Sluzas fired a slap shot on net. Brine put
her stick out and tipped the puck between Clarkson goaltender
Lauren Dahm's legs at 3:06.
Less than four minutes later, Clarkson knotted the game on a
power-play score by Britney Selina. With Harvard's penalty
set to expire in nine seconds, Selina received a pass from Melissa
Waldie and wristed it past Kessler, making it 1-1 at 6:47.
Harvard capitalized on its own power-play chance later in the frame on a goal by Vaillancourt at 9:10. After Kessler made a stop, the puck slid to Vaughn who looked up ice and found Sarah Vaillancourt skating down the left side of the ice. Vaillancourt made her way around two defenders and shot the puck through Dahm's legs.
With 2:06 remaining in the first, Ryabkina rifled a shot over Dahm's right arm and into the top right of the cage. Katharine Chute earned an assist on the play as the Crimson took a 3-1 lead into the first intermission. Through one, Harvard led, 17-10, in shots.
In the opening minutes of the second, Clarkson (16-12-6, 10-8-4) was whistled for tripping, setting up Harvard's third power play of the day. Cori Bassett moved the puck to Vaillancourt, who took a shot on Eve Grandomont-Berube, who replaced Dahm in net. Grandmont-Berube made the initial stop, but moved out of position and the rebound found Brine's stick. Brine collected the puck in front and tipped it in, making it a 4-1 contest.
Vaughn collected her third assist of the day on a score by Kate Buesser at 7:57. With both teams in the middle of line shifts, Vaughn played the puck to Wilson near the Crimson bench. Wilson skated toward the center of the ice and hit Buesser with a long pass. The Crimson forward skated into the Clarkson zone and wristed a shot that hit the twine in the back of the net, extending Harvard's lead to 5-1.
Martin entered the game at the start of the second period for the Crimson and made five stops in the stanza. Harvard tripled Clarkson's shot count for the frame, 15-5.
In the third, Vaillancourt capped the scoring with her second tally of the game at 16:23. Brine and Chute collected assists as Harvard went ahead, 6-1.
Up next, the Crimson will open the ECAC Hockey playoffs by hosting Cornell in a best-of-three quarterfinal round at Bright Hockey Center Feb. 27-March 1. Friday's game will begin at 3:30 p.m.
