And Then They Were Two

Though freshman Katie Johnston served the final knock-out punch to Brown on Saturday night, sophomore Julie Chu was the straw stirring the drink on the play that sealed the win.

Chu created the game-winning goal when she wrapped a pass around the net through the Bears’ coverage, finding Johnston waiting to knock the puck airborne over the helpless Katie Germain with 1:13 remaining for the thrilling 4-3 overtime victory.

“It was really scrambly, we were really working well down low, and then the puck just ended up laying out in front of the net,” Johnston said. “No one was even around me, so I just hit it. And it worked.”

The victory completed the weekend sweep of No. 10 Brown (12-7-2, 8-3-1 ECAC) for the Harvard women’s hockey team (20-2-1, 10-2-0) in a turbulent weekend across the nation in women’s hockey.

“It was a big weekend,” said Crimson coach Katey Stone. “To play a team like that twice…[and] come away with two victories is huge for us.”

In Harvard’s smoother 5-2 victory at Brown the night before, five different skaters tallied a goal to pace the Crimson’s balanced attack.

“I don’t care who [the goal] comes from, as long as it comes from somebody with a Harvard jersey on,” Stone said.

The weekend sweep was all the more important for the Crimson given the results around the nation.

Then-No. 5 St. Lawrence swept then-No. 1 Dartmouth, while then-No. 2 Minnesota split its pair with then-No. 4 Wisconsin. Harvard—now possessing the best-record in the nation—moved up to No. 2 in the national rankings released Sunday and currently stands second in the ECAC, two points behind this coming weekend’s opponent, St. Lawrence, setting the stage for yet another epic battle at Bright Hockey Center.

HARVARD 4, BROWN 3 (OT)

The 823 fans—Harvard’s second largest home-game draw this season—who packed into Bright Hockey Center on Sunday were in for a treat when a typical day at the rink turned into a dramatic overtime Crimson victory.

Led by two goals from both Johnston and co-captain Lauren McAuliffe, Harvard needed an extra five minutes to squeak past the Bears 4-3.

Midway through the third and less than half a minute after Brown’s Keaton Zucker put one past sophomore Ali Boe on the power play, Johnston answered right back for the Crimson, beating Germain for her first of two goals and putting Harvard ahead 3-2.

Johnston’s play is a further sign of good things to come. Her clutch goals come after an impressive effort from all of the first-years in the Crimson’s 5-1 win over Northeastern in the Beanpot Championship less than a week ago.

Harvard applied early pressure to Germain, who stopped all but one of the Crimson’s 15 first-period shots on goal. She flashed several spectacular moves as she stifled a series of quick point-blank attempts while sprawled across the ice.

The Bears, meanwhile, lit the lamp three times in the third period. Sophomore Ali Boe remained relatively untested early on, keeping the game scoreless through two periods with only eight saves, posting 14 on the night.

Captain-to-captain teamwork put Harvard on the board early when McAuliffe managed a breakaway off fellow co-captain and blueliner Angela Ruggiero’s up-ice feed and notched a goal past the left leg of Germain at 5:48 in the first period.

“Angela fired a pass to my stick, and I [thought], ‘that was such a good pass, I’d better score,’” McAuliffe said. “I had no excuses on that one.”

Ruggiero continued her offensive tear, but like Chu, the blueliner set up the goals rather than notching them and finished the day with three assists.

“The difference is they have a couple of Olympians and we don’t, to be quite frank,” said Brown coach Digit Murphy.

Though the Bears exploited Harvard’s normally stellar penalty kill—the Crimson entered the game above 94 percent—going 2-for-3 on the power play, both squads spent significantly less time in the penalty box than was the norm. Each team had only three penalties for six minutes.

“It was a great up-and-back hockey game,” Stone added. “[There were] a lot of great chances on both ends, so we’re very pleased with the fact that we got the W.”

The win was Harvard’s seventh a row and Brown’s second loss in 13 games.

HARVARD 5, BROWN 2

Though 11 penalties were called on the two teams, Harvard made it hurt so good with a 5-2 victory over the Bears on Valentine’s Day in Brown’s Meehan Auditorium.

The Crimson jumped out to an early lead, scoring three times in the first nine minutes of the game. Chu finished the night with a goal and a pair of assists. Harvard managed to share the wealth on the offensive end, however.

Six different Crimson skaters garnered at least a point in the first frame alone, as teamwork was the theme of the afternoon.

After falling behind 3-0 early, the Bears made a brief push late in the first and into the second periods, scoring two consecutive goals.

The second Brown tally deflected off Harvard blueliner Ashley Banfield’s skate before finding the back of the net. It was the second such play for Banfield this week.

“That’s my second goal on Boe so far,” Banfield later said. “I scored on her in the Beanpot [too].”

With the goal, the Bears closed the score to 3-2 and the Crimson felt the pressure.

“When we got back in the locker room at the second intermission, we realized what we to do was simplify our game and not try to make fancy plays, not get careless, and not be too cute with the puck,” said junior winger Nicole Corriero. “We executed that game plan well in the third period and played simple but effective Harvard hockey.”

Indeed, the Crimson struck back in the third behind goals from two defensemen, Ruggiero and junior Banfield.

“You’ve got to finish every game [and] you’ve got to play three periods, or the teams we’re going to see from now on are going to be able to try to make comebacks,” McAuliffe said. You can have great first and second periods, but if you don’t finish the third, it doesn’t matter.”

Harvard looks for its eight and ninth straight victories this weekend when it hosts St. Lawrence Friday night at 7 p.m. and Saturday afternoon at 4 p.m. at Bright Hockey Center.

—Staff writer John R. Hein can be reached at hein@fas.harvard.edu.