Team Notes: No. 10 Harvard Takes on Clarkson, St. Lawrence in Final Road Weekend
The Particulars
After a thrilling shootout victory over local rival Northeastern
in the Beanpot semifinals, Harvard gets back to its conference
schedule with games at Clarkson and St. Lawrence. The Crimson is
7-1 in its last eight ECAC contests.
Series History
Despite three wins for Clarkson in the last four meetings, Harvard
maintains a 14-5-1 lead in the all-time series, dating back to the
2004-05 season. Harvard won six of the first seven meetings between
the two teams, recording four shutouts in that stretch. Last
season, Clarkson didn't drop a game to Harvard, winning, 2-1, in
the first meeting and skating to a 3-3 tie in the second. The
Golden Knights then ended Harvard's 2009-10 ECAC tournament run,
handing the Crimson a 3-2 loss in the semifinal round. Harvard
avanged that loss in the teams' first matchup this season, taking
down the Golden Knights, 3-2, at Bright Hockey Center Jan. 15.
While St. Lawrence has proved to be a tough opponent for the
Crimson through the years, Harvard holds the edge in the all-time
series with a 29-11-5 mark. Harvard has been the dominant team as
of late, picking up seven wins in the last eight match-ups between
the two teams. Last season, Harvard blanked St. Lawrence, 3-0, at
Bright in November and tallied two third-period goals to sink the
Saints, 2-1, in Canton, N.Y., in February. In this season's first
matchup, Josephine
Pucci and Ashley
Wheeler netted third-period goals to help Harvard past the
Saints, 2-1, Jan. 14.
A Beanpot Barnburner
In its last contest, the Crimson rallied from a 3-0 second-period
deficit to tie Northeastern at the end of regulation and earn a 2-1
shootout victory in the semifinal round of the 2011 Beanpot, hosted
by Boston College. Kate Buesser started the scoring for Harvard
with a power-play tally in the second and Ashley Wheeler
and Marissa
Gedman scored with less than five minutes to play to force
a 3-3 tie in regulation.
Jillian
Dempsey scored on Harvard's first attempt in the shootout
and Josephine Pucci pushed the shootout score to 2-1 on the
Crimson's fourth attempt. With two saves already to her credit in
the shootout, Laura
Bellamy stuffed Northeastern's final attempt, propelling
Harvard into the Beanpot final against host Boston College.
Last Weekend
The Crimson claimed a split at home, dropping a 3-2 decision to
Princeton Friday night and bouncing back with a 3-2 comeback win
over Quinnipiac Saturday. With the results, Harvard maintained its
second-place position in the ECAC Hockey standings.
The Tigers struck first in Friday's game, but a pair of
second-period goals from Liza
Ryabkina and Alisa
Baumgartner gave Harvard a brief 2-1 lead. A second Tiger
tally knotted the score at 2-2 and Princeton potted the game-winner
5:45 into the third to snap Harvard's six-game winning streak.
Two goals at the start of the second period by Quinnipiac put the
host Crimson in a 2-0 hole to start the third period Saturday.
Harvard showed its resilience in one of the best third-period
performances of the season, riding a pair of goals from
rookie Kalley
Armstrong and a third from Josephine Pucci to a thrilling
3-2 comeback win.
Harvard Coach Katey Stone
Katey Stone, the Landry Family Head Coach for Harvard Women's
Hockey, is in her 17th season as Harvard's head coach, and she
holds a 352-152-30 career record, the most all-time victories
in Division I women's hockey. Stone has led Harvard to all eight of
its NCAA tournament appearances and was named head coach of the
U.S. Women's National Team in the summer of 2010.
Hold Your Fire
In 72 periods of regulation hockey so far this season, Harvard has
only allowed double-digit shots in a given period 17 times (24
percent). Against Yale (Oct. 29), Harvard limited the Bulldogs to
13 shots in the game, including just three in the second period.
Brown managed 15 total shots and fired just two on net in the
second stanza Oct. 30. Harvard held Colgate to just two shots in
the third period in a 3-1 win and also held Quinnipiac to just two
shots in the third period of a 4-1 loss. The Crimson was outshot
for the second time this season Nov. 20 at Dartmouth but came away
from Hanover, N.H., with a 3-2 victory.
Against New Hampshire, Harvard allowed just 14 shots on net,
including three in the second period. The Crimson did its best job
of shot-blocking against Union Jan. 7, allowing just 10 shots on
goal for the game, including just two in the final period. When
Harvard faced the Dutchwomen Jan. 22, it again allowed just 10
shots in the game, including just one in the first period of play.
In the Beanpot semifinal against Northeastern, the Crimson matched
its period-low, conceding just one shot in the second stanza of an
eventual shootout victory.
Harvard has allowed just one opponent to amass more than 30 shots
in a game this season as Quinnipiac racked up 32 shots Feb. 5 when
the Crimson totaled 44. Harvard is averaging 32.1 shots per game to
its opponents' 20.9 and is outshooting its opponents 770-501
through 24 games. Harvard recorded its highest shot total of the
season against Brown Jan. 28, firing 54 shots on goal. Harvard has
eclipsed the 40-shot mark five times this season.
About Clarkson
While the Golden Knights had a tough time getting going this
season, the team has come on strong as of late, entering the
Harvard matchup on a six-game unbeaten streak. Clarkson recorded a
pair of 3-2 road wins over Princeton and Quinnipiac Jan. 28-29 and
nearly knocked off ECAC front-runner Cornell last weekend, skating
to a 3-3 tie with the Big Red. The Golden Knights have actually
tied their last two games as they played to a 2-2 tie against
Colgate in their last game.
About St. Lawrence
It has been a season of highs and lows for the Saints in 2010-11,
with a number of marquee wins throughout the season. St. Lawrence
rebounded from a rocky start to down No. 6 Boston College Nov. 12
and also picked up a 6-2 win over No. 3 Mercyhurst Dec. 10. The
Saints enter the weekend with just one win in their last four
games, having dropped decisions to Princeton, Quinnipiac and
Cornell in that stretch. The Saints face off against Dartmouth
Friday before taking on the Crimson Saturday.
Two Down But Not Out
With an improving penalty kill, the Crimson has shown its mettle
by killing six 5-on-3 opportunities since the New Year. Harvard
stopped RPI on a two-skater advantage in a 2-1 loss Jan. 8 and then
killed another two-skater advantage in its next game, a 2-1 win
over St. Lawrence. The Crimson kept Rensselaer scoreless on two
seperate 5-on-3 scenarios in a 2-1 win at Bright Jan. 21. Harvard
also killed a pair of 5-on-3 situations against Quinnipiac Feb. 5,
enabling a 3-2 comeback win. Harvard has not allowed a 5-on-3 goal
all season.
Give Me an "O"
The Crimson has had its best results this season when it scores
more than two goals. Harvard has scored four or more goals six
times this season and has captured wins in all six games. The
Crimson is 5-1-2 in games it scores three goals, its only loss
coming to No. 4/5 Boston University in a 5-3 final.
Comeback Kids
While Harvard has been a bit slow to start in its last two
outings, the team has shown its resilience, collecting consecutive
come-from-behind victories. Against Quinnipiac Feb. 5, Harvard
entered the third period down, 2-0, only to tally three goals in an
eight-minute span to capture a 3-2 victory at home. Against
Northeastern in the Beanpot semifinal, Harvard was staring a 3-0
second-period deficit in the face before putting three pucks in the
net, two coming with under five minutes to play in regulation. The
Crimson went on to win the shootout, 2-1, to advance to the Beanpot
final.
Block You Like a Hurricane
A big reason that Harvard has been so successful in limiting
opponents' shots on goal has been the team's penchant for blocking
shots. Heading into the weekend, Harvard has out-blocked its
opponents 352-251. In 24 games played this season, the Crimson has
registered more blocked shots than its opponent in a game 16 times.
Harvard has also topped the 20-block barrier five times this season
with the most blocked shots in a game coming in the season opener
against Yale where 33 shots never made it to the goalie.
Four Pack
The Crimson scored four or more goals in a three-game stretch from
Jan. 22-29. Harvard blanked Union and Brown by identical 4-0 scores
and downed Yale, 5-3. The last time Harvard put together a streak
of three, four-goal games was Feb. 2-6, 2010, which was kicked off
with a 5-0 win over B.C. in the opening round of the Beanpot.
Getting It Done on the Road
With the weekend sweep of Brown and Yale Jan. 28-29, the Crimson
recorded it's first road weekend sweep since Nov. 20-21, 2009, when
it also topped Yale and Brown in their home rinks. Harvard also
upped its season road record to .500 for the first time in two
months, with a 6-6-1 mark away from home this season.
Timing is Everything
January was a month to remember for the Crimson. After posting
sub-.500 records in
November and December, Harvard recorded its best January record
since the 2007-08 season, posting a 7-1-0 mark.
Saturdays have also been favorable for the Crimson this season as
Harvard has a 7-1-1 record in Saturday games and a 8-3-2 record in
afternoon contests.
Rank And File
Harvard began the 2010-11 regular season schedule ranked in both
national polls. The Crimson was ranked in the first seven national
polls of the season, climbing as high as No. 7 in the Oct. 4 polls.
Harvard worked its way back into the national polls Feb. 1,
claiming the No. 10 ranking in the USCHO.com and USA Today/USA
Hockey Magazine polls.
Getting Involved
Through 24 games this season, all six freshmen have registered at
least one point. Marissa
Gedman leads all rookies with 10 points (4-6-10) on the season
while Lyndsey
Fry (5-3-8) has picked up eight points this year. Kalley
Armstrong has seven points (4-3-7), including a two-goal game
against Quinnipiac Feb. 5. Elizabeth Parker picked up the
first goal of her career against Dartmouth Nov. 19, andGina
McDonald tallied her first collegiate point with an assist
against Brown Oct. 30 and added her first goal against Union Jan.
22. Jackie
Young earned her first collegiate point against Clarkson
with an assist on Gedman's power-play goal in the second
period. Lauren
Joarnt has seen action in four games this season and
currently holds a save percentage of .852 and a 3.04 goals-against
average.
It's All Over
Harvard is 120-2-6 (.960) since the start of the 2004-05 season
when leading after two periods. The Crimson is 9-0-0 this season in
such situations.
