Providence Sends ECAC Message, Beats Icewomen, 5-1

The Harvard women's ice hockey team has set out this season with two goals in mind-to capture the Ivy title and make some waves in ECAC play.

After Tuesday night's 5-1 blitzing by Providence, the Crimson found out how difficult that task will be.

An easy 4-0 victory over Yale earlier in the week gave the Crimson confidence in its quest for the Ivy crown. As Tuesday's game against the seasoned Friars demonstrated, however, ECAC competition is far from a cakewalk.

Harvard was faced with disadvantages from the outset. Providence players have been practicing since early fall, while many Crimson players only have recently laced their skates after completing field hockey and soccer seasons.

The Friars have traditionally been one of the top three women's teams in the country and have never lost to an Ivy League team. This year, things seem to be no different. Although Harvard is a talented team on the rise, Harvard simply couldn't match Providence.

The Friars opened fire immediately with right wing Cammi Granato scoring after a sharp feed from Stephanie O'Sullivan at 2:08 of the first period. Minutes later Beth Beagan added a goal to give the Friars a quick 2-0 lead that they would not relinquish.

"In the first period we were shell-shocked, to say the least," senior forward Jen Minkus said. "Our previous games had been against much weaker teams."

Providence is stacked with talented players who quickly converted Harvard mistakes into scoring opportunites. The Friars' third-line winger, Granato, notched her second goal of the game late in the first period to give Providence a 3-0 advantage.

Men's Game vs. Colgate On Hold

In response to the hospitalization of Colgate Coach Terry Slater, the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference has postponed the Harvard men's hockey game against Colgate originally scheduled for Friday.

A new date for the contest has not be announced.

The Crimson's game against Cornell is now scheduled for 4 p.m. Sunday.

After suffering a stroke Sunday evening, Slater, 53, has been resting in the intensive care unit at Crouse Memorial Hospital in Syracuse, N.Y.

The 1990 NCAA Coach of the Year, Slater is currently in his fifteenth year at Colgate, where he has compiled a 250-180-23 record.

Director of Athletics Fred Dunlap has named Associate Coach Brian Durocher interim head coach.

"They have great skaters and great passers," Co-captain Sandra Whyte said. "While in front of the net, they could make the really small pass in tight or open up and send it to the point."

Providence added two more goals by Wendy Cofran and Beth Beagan, both assisted by Granato, in the second period to increase its lead to 5-0. By that point, the Crimson had begun to adjust to the game's pace and rattled off seven shots of their own.

In the third period, Harvard's offense made its presence felt, outshooting the Friars, 9-4. Whyte killed any hopes of a shutout by racing down ice with the puck, beating the sole defender in her path, and flicking it into the net.

Despite the loss, Harvard found some reasons for optimism. Freshman goalie Erin Villotte was tested, but after shaking some early-game nervousness, she made several impressive saves. The third line also turned in a solid performance, showing promise against a tough Providence defense.

"We were able to play with three lines consistently against a top team, and that is really promising this early in the season," Whyte said.

"We need to work on moving the puck quicker and reacting faster, but that will all come," Minkus said. "We usually show considerable improvement over the course of a season."

Harvard has two contests this weekend, against Bowdoin Saturday and Colby on Sunday. The two teams in Maine are a level or so below Providence, but should still be good tests.

"We would have had to play perfect to beat Providence, and we could have played very poorly and still beaten Yale," Minkus said. "This weekend will give us an opportunity to see what we can do."