Harvard Releases 2008-09 Schedule

Photo by DSPics.com

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- Katey Stone, the Landry Family Head Coach for Harvard Women's Ice Hockey, has announced the Crimson's 2008-09 schedule, which includes 22 ECAC Hockey contests, the Beanpot and five other non-conference games against Hockey East and WCHA opponents.

Click here for complete schedule

The Crimson will face four teams that reached the 2008 NCAA tournament and six teams that finished in the top 10 of the final USCHO.com/CSTV Division I poll. The regular-season slate includes 12 home contests and tickets for all home games will be available on GoCrimson.com.

After preparing for the regular season with an Oct. 25 exhibition at Bright Hockey Center against McGill, Harvard begins its 31st season of women's hockey with a pair of road games at Quinnipiac and Princeton Oct. 31 and Nov. 1. The Crimson continues its ECAC Hockey schedule with home dates against Rensselaer and Union Nov. 7-8, before returning on the road to visit Clarkson and St. Lawrence Nov. 14-15.

Harvard completes a stretch of four consecutive ECAC Hockey weekends by welcoming Colgate and Cornell to Cambridge Nov. 21-22. The squad then heads west for two games against perennial NCAA contender Minnesota in Minneapolis, Nov. 28-29. The Crimson then faces 2008 Frozen Four participant New Hampshire in a home-and-home series Dec. 5 and 12, with the latter game played at Bright. Harvard finishes the 2008 portion of the schedule by traveling to Connecticut (Dec. 14) and up to rival Dartmouth (Dec. 17) for a rematch of the 2008 NCAA quarterfinals. The Crimson downed the Big Green, 5-1, March 15 to advance to the Frozen Four.

After the New Year, the team returns with three straight home games, as Harvard hosts Princeton and Quinnipiac Jan. 2-3 and then skates against Dartmouth Harvard then plays five games in a row away from Bright, culminating with the annual Beanpot tournament, as the Crimson faces Boston University in the first round Feb. 3. Tuesday, Jan. 6.

Feb. 6-7 will serve as Alumnae Weekend, as Harvard will celebrate 30 years of Crimson women's hockey as well as the 10th anniversary of the 1999 American Women's Hockey Coaches Association (AWCHA) national championship team. The Crimson will face Yale and Brown during this weekend. Next, Harvard will face either Boston College and Northeastern in the second week of the Beanpot Feb. 10.

After the final road trip of the regular season Feb. 13-14 to Cornell and Colgate, the Crimson concludes the home portion of its schedule against St. Lawrence and Clarkson. The matchup against the Golden Knights will also serve as Senior Day for seven Crimson players.
The best-of-three ECAC Hockey quarterfinal series begin Feb. 27, with the semifinals and final taking place March 7-8 at the site of the highest remaining seed.

Harvard, which has qualified for six consecutive NCAA tournaments and reached the Frozen Four four times during that span, eyes a return to the national field in 2009 when the regional round commences March 13. The Frozen Four is scheduled for March 20 and 22 at Agganis Arena in Boston, Mass.

Game times and dates are subject to change.