Team Notes: Harvard Kicks Off 2011-12 Campaign Against League Foes St. Lawrence, Clarkson
The Particulars
The Harvard women's hockey team opens its 34th season of play with
a pair of ECAC Hockey contests against St. Lawrence and Clarkson.
Harvard is the last team in the conference to begin its regular
season while the Saints and Golden Knights have already played six
and eight games, respectively.
Series History
Harvard and St. Lawrence have some recent history, as the teams
squared off in the 2011 ECAC Hockey quarterfinals. The Crimson
holds the all-time series lead against St. Lawrence, 32-11-5, aided
by a quartet of victories over the Saints last season.
A pair of one-goal victories, including an overtime thriller in
Canton, N.Y., in 2010-11 gave Harvard the regular-season
series, but the teams met again in the ECAC tournament quarterfinal
round. Jillian Dempsey (Winthrop, Mass.) put on a
clinic in Game 1, posting two goals to spark the Crimson to a 6-1
rout and a 1-0 series lead. Game 2 was another offensive outburst,
as Kate Buesser '11 recorded Harvard's first hat-trick of the
season and Dempsey scored two more goals as the Crimson advanced to
the semifinals on the strength of an 8-3 win and 2-0 series
sweep.
After a tough 2009-10 season against the Golden Knights, the
Crimson rebounded last year with a win and a tie in the teams' two
meetings. The results helped Harvard increase its all-time series
lead to 14-5-2 over Clarkson.
In last year's first meeting between the two teams, the
then-freshman tandem of Marissa Gedman (Framingham,
Mass.) and Lyndsey Fry (Chandler, Ariz.) netted
consecutive goals to give the hosts a 2-0 lead through two periods.
The Golden Knights pulled within one in the third, but Kate Buesser
tallied Harvard's third goal, which proved to be the game-winner as
Clarkson notched a late strike. It was a seesaw battle in Potsdam
four weeks later and after Clarkson scored first, Dempsey and
Elizabeth Parker (Milton, Mass.) scored in the second
to give Harvard a short-lived 2-1 lead. Clarkson regained the
lead with a goal in the second and third periods, but Dempsey
notched her second goal of the game with 4:29 left to force the 3-3
draw.
Exhibiting Excellence
While this weekend's contests are the first two of the 2011-12
regular season for Harvard, the Crimson squared off against McGill
Oct. 22 in an exhibition match at Bright Hockey Center.
A McGill goal midway through the second period put Harvard in a
1-0 hole but, Dempsey leveled the score with 3:42 to play in the
second, converting a Gina McDonald (New Brighton,
Minn.) pass. Sophomore Kalley Armstrong (Maple, Ont.)
gave Harvard the lead at 2-1 with an unassisted, shorthanded goal
after picking off an errant Martlet pass at her own blueline.
McDonald's empty-netter at the end of the third sealed the 3-1
victory for the Crimson. The win put Harvard at 6-0-1 in its last
seven exhibitions against McGill.
Fresh Faces
The 2011-12 Crimson boasts five freshmen on its roster: two
forwards, two defensemen and a goalie. Hillary Crowe
(Eden Prairie, Minn.) and Samantha Reber (Edina,
Minn.) bolster the crew of Harvard forwards while Sarah
Edney (Mississauga, Ont.) and Michelle Picard
(Taunton, Mass.) join the roster as blueliners. Tiana
Press (Minnetonka, Minn.) gives the Crimson a solid option
in goal.
Harvard Coach Katey Stone
Katey Stone, the Landry Family Head Coach for Harvard Women's
Hockey, is in her 18th season as Harvard's head coach, and she
holds a
356-155-31 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 is the head coach of the U.S.
Women's National Team.
Crimson, White and Blue
Aside from having Katey Stone as its coach, the U.S. Women's
National Team has a number of familiar Harvard faces within its
ranks. Three current members and two formers members of the Crimson
are on the U.S. roster for the 2011 Four Nations Cup in Nykoping,
Sweden in early November.
Juniors Josephine Pucci (Pearl River, N.Y.) and
Jillian Dempsey and rookie Michelle Picard are current members of
the Harvard squad who will be making the trip with Team USA. Pucci
will be playing in her fourth tournament with the team, having
earned a spot on the roster prior to the 2010 Four Nations
Tournament. Dempsey will be making her second appearance with the
team after debuting at the Twelve Nations Tournament this summer,
and Picard will be making her debut with the U.S. National
team. Veterans Julie Chu '06-07 and Caitlin Cahow '07-08 are also
on the roster for the 2011 Four Nations Cup.
Preseason Prognostications
The ECAC Hockey coaches picked Harvard second in their preseason
poll, behind defending league champion Cornell.
Team (first-place votes) Points
1. Cornell (11) 121
2. Harvard 105
3. Quinnipiac (1) 93
4. Dartmouth 91
5. Clarkson 82
6. St. Lawrence 70
7. Princeton 68
8. Rensselaer 51
9. Colgate 41
10. Yale 36
11. Brown 22
12. Union 12
Crimson Captain
Leading the way for the Crimson as captain this season is the lone
member of the class of 2012, Alisa Baumgartner (West Vancouver,
B.C.). Josephine Pucci and Laura Bellamy (Duluth,
Minn.) will don 'A's' on their jerseys as assistant captains this
season.
Are You Ready For Some Hockey?
Harvard has fared well in season-opening games over the past
decade, collecting eight wins in its past nine openers. Last
season, Harvard skated to a 3-3 tie with conference-rival Yale at
Bright Hockey Center, snapping a streak of eight straight
season-opening victories.
In 33 years of Harvard women's hockey, the Crimson is 19-12-2 in
season-opening games. Harvard has opened its season on the road 13
times, going 7-5-1 in such contests. The Crimson has faced an ECAC
opponent in its first game 19 times in the history of the program,
posting a 10-7-2 mark in those games. Harvard has never faced St.
Lawrence to begin a season.
First Things First
Over the past two seasons, Harvard is a combined 30-3-2 when
scoring first and 7-15-7 when conceding the first goal. The Crimson
was 13-1-0 last season when netting the first goal of the
game.
World Champs
In April of 2011, Katey Stone and a quartet of current and former
Harvard players helped the U.S. Women's National Team win the 2011
IIHF World Championship in Zurich, Switzerland. Josephine Pucci
helped the team earn gold shortly after wrapping up her sophomore
campaign at Harvard and Julie Chu, Caitlin Cahow and Angela
Ruggiero '02-04 were also on the U.S. roster that downed archrival
Canada, 3-2, in overtime in the championship game. The title was
Stone's first as head coach of the national team and fourth overall
for the U.S.
Top Statistical Returners
Despite graduating a class of six seniors, Harvard returns some
key players from last year's squad, including two of its top three
scorers. Jillian Dempsey returns as the top scorer from the 2010-11
season, having notched 14 goals and assists for 28 points, while
Josephine Pucci ranked third on the team and was Harvard's
top-scoring defenseman with 12-13-25 points. Marissa Gedman was
third among Harvard blueliners with 5-12-17 points and classmate
Lyndsey Fry also broke the 10point barrier with 6-5-11 points in
her rookie campaign.
Historically Harvard
Harvard has a storied tradition within the women's college hockey
ranks and in 33 years of exsistence, the team has compiled 25
winning seasons, including nine with at least 20 wins and
four with 30 or more victories.
Since Harvard captured the 1999 AWCHA National Championship, the
team has compiled the fifth-best winning percentage in the country
and the highest among eastern teams during that span. Here are the
teams with the top 10 winning percentages beginning with the
1999-2000 season:
1. Minnesota (352-83-31)
.789
2. Mercyhurst (310-85-24)
.768
3. Wisconsin (334-91-36)
.764
4. Minnesota Duluth
(316-90-34) .757
5. Harvard (278-92-28)
.734
6. New Hampshire (285-108-38)
.705
7. Dartmouth (260-111-23)
.691
8. St. Lawrence (289-127-38)
.678
9. Clarkson (150-101-38)
.585
10. Providence (228-157-50)
.582
