W. Hockey Storms Midwest

The No. 1 Harvard women's hockey team got back to its winning ways as it opened the season with a pair of convincing victories in the Midwest this weekend.

In Minneapolis, on the site where it won last season's national championship, the Crimson (2-0-0, 0-0-0 ECAC) thumped No. 5 Minnesota (5-3-0, 2-0-0 WCHA) yesterday 8-3.

That win came after Harvard held on to defeat first-year program Wisconsin (5-4-1, 3-2-1 WCHA) Friday night in Madison.

Wisconsin held a 1-0 lead going into the third period before surrendering to Harvard's top line by a final of 3-1.

The line of sophomore center Jen Botterill and junior wingers Tammy Shewchuk and Angie Francisco combined for 20 points on the weekend. Botterill had a part in all three goals at Wisconsin, while Shewchuk netted four goals at Minnesota.

In the season opener, Wisconsin freshman forward Kendra Antony, who began the weekend as the nation's third-leading scorer, gave the Badgers the lead with a goal in the first period.

Meanwhile, on the other end of the ice, Wisconsin freshman netminder Chanda Gunn was turning in an impressive performance. Gunn made 27 saves in the first 40 minutes, allowing the Badgers to hold the narrow lead heading into the final period.

The Crimson solved Gunn in the third. Botterill fed Shewchuk for the equalizer on the power play 2:15 into the period. Then Botterill found Francisco to give Harvard the lead and added an insurance goal to finish the scoring.

The game at Minnesota, which blanked No. 3 Brown 4-0 on Friday, was not as dramatic. Less than halfway into the game, Harvard had a 6-0 lead and Shewchuk already had a hat trick.

In addition to the usual suspects, a pair of rookies scored for the first time in their careers. Freshman defenseman Jamie Hagerman had a goal and two assists, and freshman winger Tracy Catlin scored a goal. Sophomore defenseman Angela Ruggiero added two helpers while juniors Kiirsten Suurkask and Jamie Notman each contributed an assist.

For more details, please see the full story in tomorrow's Crimson.