No. 1 W. Hockey Battles No. 2 UNH

The No. 1 ranking in the nation and first place in the ECAC will be on the line when the Harvard women's hockey team hosts New Hampshire (UNH) at the Bright Hockey Center Saturday at 2 p.m.

The Crimson (17-1-0, 14-1-1 ECAC) is ranked No. 1 in both the U.S. College Hockey On-line Poll and the USA Today/American Women's College Hockey Association Poll, while both polls rate the Wildcats (14-2-5, 13-1-3) as the No. 2 team. Harvard and UNH are tied for first place in the ECAC with 29 conference points each.

No one can deny the importance of this game.

"We expect this to be a low-scoring, exciting game," said Harvard Coach Katey Stone. "Defense is where we win games. We can't turn the puck over in our zone and, if UNH makes that mistake, we're going to take advantage."

Since Harvard's 3-2 victory at UNH Dec. 6, both teams have dominated ECAC competition. The Wildcats have gone 8-0-1 in conference play while the Crimson compiled a 9-0-1 ECAC record over that stretch.

But the two powers have struggled recently. In two non-conference games last weekend, UNH skated to a scoreless tie against No. 3 Minnesota, and lost to Concordia, 4-1.

Harvard narrowly escaped an upset Tuesday when freshman winger Jen Botterill's overtime goal gave the Crimson a 7-6 victory over No. 6 Northeastern in the first round of the Beanpot. The ECAC counted the game as a tie because the sudden-death period lasted longer than the ECAC five-minute overtime rule.

"Northeastern was a very emotional, intense game," Stone said. "We dug ourselves a hole, but we were able to scratch and claw and come back. We also had to do that a UNH in December, and this next game should be just as exciting."

Saturday's contest will feature five of the nation's top ten forward scorers. The top three scorers all play on Harvard's first line--co-captain A.J. Mleczko (17 goals, 40 assists, 57 points), sophomore winger Tammy Shewchuk (22-24-40) and Botterill (16-26-42)--which combined for six goals Tuesday night and all three Crimson goals at UNH. The Wildcat offense is led by junior forwards Samantha Holmes (19-15-34) and Carisa Zaban (14-20-34).

Each team can also generate offense from the blue line. Crimson freshman Angela Ruggiero (15-20-35) is the highest-scoring defenseman in the nation, and Wildcat senior Nicki Luongo (10-20-30) is second in that category.

If the second meeting is anything like the first, however, neither of the conference's two highest-scoring offenses will be able to score at their usual clip. Harvard, averaging 6.33 goals a game, outshot UNH (5.52 goals per game), 27-26, at Durham but the two teams lit the lamp a combined five times.

The score of the first game might also have been low because it was played on UNH's larger, Olympic-sized rink. Harvard has scored less than five goals only four times this season, and two of those games were played on large ice surfaces (at UNH and Minnesota). The Bright Center's smaller rink might allow for more quality scoring chances, but it could help the defenses double-team around the net or use the boards to clear the defensive zone.

"The size of the ice makes a difference and we always enjoy playing in our home barn," Stone said. "But we have developed a more potent offensive attack than we had in early December, and, at Northeastern, we hopefully got the kinks out of our system after finals."

The smaller rink might have its biggest impact on the UNH power play, which calls for the forwards to rotate the puck out of the corner rather than letting the defenseman send in centering passes from the blue line. The Crimson man-down unit should be able to defend the power play more easily with the corner closer to the net at the Bright Center, but the Wildcats may need fewer passes to move into the crease for quality shots.

Harvard (plus-24) and UNH (plus-22) have the two best special teams units in the conference, but special teams were not a factor in the first meeting. The Crimson could not capitalize on any of seven power plays while the Wildcats came up empty four times on the man advantage.

The Crimson is most productive in its set offense with Ruggiero or Mleczko controlling the puck at the point while Shewchuk and Botterill look for openings around the face-off circle or along the boards. But Harvard is most vulnerable when opposing forwards can reject slap-shots at the blue line and skate down the ice quickly for a breakaway.

"The keys of this game will be time of possession and where on the ice we commit turnovers," Stone said. "If we can keep the puck in the offensive zone, we'll be fine. If not, we can't afford to make mistakes with the puck."

Mistakes on defense allowed Northeastern to score six goals in the Beanpot, two more goals than the Crimson had given up in any other game this season.

Freshman goaltender Alison Kuusisto, making her first start in place of junior Crystal Springer--who will miss at least the rest of the regular season with a broken collarbone--made 20 saves against the Huskies. But she could not cover up the puck and her teammates were unable to clear the zone, giving up easy rebounds that Northeastern sent into the back of the net.

"We played lousy defense against Northeastern," Stone said. "Our goalie shouldn't have to make second and third saves in one sequence, and we put her in a tough spot."

But UNH will likely get second chances, and Kuusisto may have to make some big saves in her third collegiate start.

This time, however, her defense will be at full strength with the return of junior Courtney Smith, who missed the Northeastern game with the flu. Smith will rejoin Ruggiero on the first defensive line, and Stone should rotate in four other defensemen-co-captain Claudia Asano, junior Christie MacKinnon and sophomores Jamie Notman and Julie Rando.

Sunday Harvard will host last-place Colby (0-15-0, 0-15-0) at the Bright Center. The White Mules are in their last season as a Division I program and score 0.40 goals a game while giving up 9.73 goals per contest.