SEASON RECAP: Women's Hockey

There isn’t always a golden finish at the end of the rainbow. But the journey to find that out takes maturation.

Early on, Harvard coach Katey Stone knew that the Crimson women’s hockey team would need time to develop.

Even before facing the heavy hitters, Harvard ran straight into trouble after its first two games as it tied Providence 2-2 and then lost to Yale for the first time in over 20 years by a score of 3-2.

The Bulldogs’ Sarah Love’s had an impressive 48 saves to one-up her Harvard counterpart. At the time, Harvard’s goalie situation was still up in the air as sophomore Emily Vitt and junior Ali Boe traded starts.

The Crimson welcomed No. 6 St. Lawrence into Bright Hockey Arena and then sent the Saints packing with a 5-1 defeat to right the ship.

This win, the biggest of a four-game win streak that sprouted out of it, created some momentum at the perfect time as the Harvard Shootout approached. Nevertheless, the Crimson’s defense could not hold up and let in 11 goals in two losses to WCHA opponents—5-3 to No. 1 Minnesota and 6-4 to No. 5 Wisconsin.

No. 2 Duluth kept up the onslaught by running over Harvard 6-3 in their first match up. The Crimson made it close in the second and seemed on the verge of the upset before Duluth’s Caroline Ouellette scored the game winner in overtime.

“We are a tough team that is not going to give up,” tri-captain Julie Chu said following the game. “Our heart is never going to get ruined by another team. We need to buckle down on defense.”

In the final game of 2004, the Crimson hit rock bottom as it dropped a 2-1 decision to New Hampshire.

Over the holidays, the Crimson stepped up its conditioning and practice by focusing on building up endurance to go a full 60 minutes at max speed and effort.

The training—along with the experience from the season’s first half—paid amazing dividends as Harvard ran over its three opponents during reading period and began a 18-0-2 run.

During that stretch, the Crimson convincingly defeated No. 2 Dartmouth—the most highly ranked opponent it beat all season—6-3 on the Big Green’s home ice.

“That’s the kind of hockey we should be playing,” Stone said. “This is the kind of hockey we’ve expected this team to be playing, and now we’re playing it.”

Additionally, shortly after coming back after break, the Crimson captured its 11th Beanpot—and seventh straight—by defeating Boston College 6-1.

Harvard also eked out a 4-3 win over Dartmouth at home a few weeks later and fought a peaking St. Lawrence team to a 4-4 tie in a pivotal conference game.

But Harvard really proved it was the best team in the East in the ECAC playoffs as it edged Yale 2-1 in overtime and then easily defeated the Big Green by a score of 4-1 to win the conference tourney.

In the opening round of the inaugural Frozen Eight NCAA championship tournament, the Crimson came in with high hopes, but barely advanced to the semifinal round. Visiting Mercyhurst brought physical play and a rowdy crowd to Bright, and matched Harvard’s play for nearly six periods of hockey before Chu put a pass from fellow tri-captain Nicole Corriero past Desirae Clark to win the game.

The story, however, was on the defense’s stand. “I attribute this win to our defense,” Chu said. “I think offense takes care of itself in a certain way, but defense—you need to be precise about it.”

With a hat trick from freshman sensation Sarah Vaillancourt in a 4-1 blow out of the Saints, Harvard again reached the championship game for the third consecutive year.

And at the end of the road, the Crimson met a familiar fate as it came within a hair’s breadth of the championship before Natalie Darwitz ended its dreams with just over a minute left. The Golden Gophers walked away with their second consecutive NCAA crown over Harvard once again—this time by a score of 4-3.

In each of the last three years, the road has been harder and harder for the Crimson. Yet, with a tremendous run in the New Year, Harvard proved itself once again to be one of the best this past season.

—Staff writer Gabriel M. Velez can be reached at gmvelez@fas.harvard.edu.