Griffin’s Hat Trick Helps Crimson Tie Clarkson
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POTSDAM, N.Y. - Senior Randi Griffin tallied her first career
hat trick in her final regular-season game as the Harvard women's
ice hockey team (18-6-5, 13-6-3) tied No. 6 Clarkson (20-9-5,
14-5-3), 3-3, to clinch third place in the final league standings.
As a result, the Crimson will have home ice in the first round of
the ECAC Tournament and will host the No. 6 seed, to be determined
after tiebreak scenarios are implemented.
Griffin's hat trick was a natural hat trick, as all three of her
goals came in the second period and gave the Crimson a 3-2 lead to
start the final stanza. Clarkson's Dominique Thibault evened the
score at 3-3 with a goal at the 13:35 mark of the third period, off
feeds from Britney Selina and Genevieve Lavoie, and the score stood
through the five-minute overtime, despite two Harvard
penalties.
Clarkson got on the board 12:49 into the opening period as a
Harvard penalty proved costly. Melissa Waldie converted feeds from
Juana Baribeau and Selina to give the hosts a 1-0 lead after one
period of play.
The Golden Knights extended their lead to 2-0 just over five
minutes into the second period as Gabrielle Kosziwka potted an even
strength goal off assists from Kali Gillanders and Lavoie. Griffin
got Harvard in the game less than a minute later with her first
goal of the game, an unassisted power-play effort, at the 6:10
mark. Griffin knotted the score at 2-2 two minutes later as senior
Cori Bassett got credit for the assist and the duo combined for
Harvard's third goal at 16:17 to give the guests a 3-2 lead heading
into the second break.
Harvard will now advance to the postseason and will host the No. 6
seed in the first round of the ECAC Hockey quarterfinals. Game 1 is
slated for Feb. 26 at 7 p.m. at Bright Hockey Center.
