Power Play Spurs W. Hockey's ECAC Tourney Victory

SCHENECTADY, N.Y.—During a timeout in the middle of an eventful second period in the ECAC tournament final matchup between Harvard and Dartmouth, the referees paused to fill a hole in the ice of Messa Rink. If only the Big Green had the same opportunity to fill the holes in its special teams units, it might have stood a chance against Harvard, instead falling 4-1 on three power-play goals and a short-handed tally.

The win brought the Crimson its second-straight conference tournament title, earned it a season sweep of the Big Green, and placed it in prime position to host a game in the opening round of the NCAA tournament. The bracket, unveiled last night, has Harvard hosting Mercyhurst this Saturday at the Bright Hockey Center.

The middle frame made all the difference, with Harvard notching three of its four goals and dispelling a pivotal string of Dartmouth power plays. At the end of the second period, the Crimson’s penalty killers were forced to endure over four and a half minutes down a man, and 3:07 of that span at 5-on-3.

“Not being able to score on a couple of 5-on-3s,” said Big Green coach Mark Hudak. “It’s a great momentum builder for the other team.”

With a strong defensive effort and the stellar play of junior goalie Ali Boe, who racked up a career-high 36 saves, Harvard eliminated the advantages with little fanfare. Given five power plays in all during the busy middle 20 minutes, Dartmouth mustered only five shots on goal during that time.

“Those 5-on-3s are a little dicey,” Harvard coach Katey Stone said. “We did a really good job and positionally using our sticks, making saves, putting the puck in the corners that type of thing.”

At times it even seemed that the Crimson was capable of more offense on the Big Green power play than Dartmouth itself. And that was confirmed on Harvard’s final score of the afternoon, when sophomore Jennifer Sifers poked the puck away at the defensive blue line and outraced the stunned Big Green defense the length of ice before beating an off-balance Dartmouth goalkeeper Christine Capuano with a wrist shot. Sifers’s short-handed burst underscored the counter-attacking nature of the Crimson penalty kill, a strategy that led to Yale’s game-tying goal the day before but came up spades in the finale.

The entirety of Harvard’s goal-scoring came on special teams, with Sifers’s strike preceded by three power-play tallies.

“We have spent a lot of time,” Stone said. “Working on the power play and penalty kill throughout the week and it has paid off.”

The second unit got the Crimson on the board late in the first period, when senior tri-captain Kat Sweet deflected a slap shot from the point by junior Jennifer Skinner past Capuano for a 1-0 lead.

After the Big Green retaliated and tied the score on a 2-on-1 breakaway less than five minutes into the second, the Harvard power play found its groove once again—this time courtesy of its explosive top line.

Dartmouth’s clear of a dangerous left-post Sarah Vaillancourt offering came out to junior Julie Chu at the point. Chu rifled a screaming slapshot at the upper right corner that Capuano had to go airborne to knock down, leaving the goalie down and the puck in the crease. Nicole Corriero, who was named the Most Outstanding Player of the ECAC tournament, was on the spot to register the first of her two goals on the afternoon, flicking a shot over a prone Capuano into the top left shelf for the eventual game-winner.

Corriero followed that up with another score less than two minutes later, in a strikingly similar scenario. With Capuano felled once again, Corriero followed a Chu shot and lifted the rebound into the back of the net.

“[My goals] were not pretty,” Corriero said. “But we were just trying to get the puck on net and get the rebound. In both cases I was able to get the puck in close and lift it up over the goalie.”

With a three-goal cushion in place, the Crimson turned to its defense to close out the contest. Boe stifled a potent Big Green attack, making tough save after tough save throughout the second and third periods to protect her team’s lead and seal the title for Harvard.

“Boe has the ability to control the rebounds,” Chu said. “They have some bombs on their team—they’ll come over the line and they’ll fire it. She doesn’t give them a second chance. That’s a huge asset and our defense is doing a really great job boxing out.”

Boe joined Corriero, Vaillancourt, and defensemen Ashley Banfield and Caitlin Cahow on the All-tournament team.

—Staff writer Jonathan Lehman can be reached at jlehman@fas.harvard.edu.