Crimson Jumps To Top Of ECAC

For the No. 7 Harvard women’s hockey team, it was not turkey but the prospect of defeating Quinnipiac and Princeton to claim the top spot in the ECAC that made mouths water this Thanksgiving weekend.

And two Crimson rookies may have been the hungriest of all.

Freshman defender Cori Bassett scored her first collegiate goal and assisted three other scores for Crimson (9-1-0, 9-1-0 ECAC) in a 6-1 triumph over Quinnipiac (4-11-0, 3-8-0) Friday night in Northford, Conn. Then in Saturday night’s matchup in Princeton, N.J., rookie netminder Christina Kessler recorded her first collegiate shut-out, as the Crimson secured a 5-0 win on the road and the top spot in the league from the No. 8 Tigers (8-2-2, 8-2-1 ECAC).

Harvard returns to action next Friday and Saturday at the Bright Hockey Center against No. 10 Minnesota-Duluth to kickoff a set of five non-conference games. The Bulldogs, who are fresh off an upset over top-ranked Wisconsin, will provide a good test for the Crimson.

HARVARD 5, PRINCETON 0

Harvard received a bit of help in its effort to knock Princeton from the top when Ivy league rival Dartmouth spoiled the Tigers’ unbeaten campaign with a 6-3 win Friday night.

The Crimson then took the ice Saturday to punish Princeton further in the 5-0 rout.

Both Harvard and Dartmouth—who beat Quinnipiac by a 3-2 score Saturday—saw their records improve to 9-1-0 and now sit tied for first in the league standings.

The game was Princeton’s to take in the opening frame. The Tigers had three penalty calls go their way and outshot the Crimson 15-9 yet Kessler, playing with the poise of a veteran, kept the score even at 0-0.

“The key to Princeton,” said forward and captain Julie Chu, “was Christina Kessler making saves in the first period on shots that possibly could have changed the dynamic of the game.”

Kessler, appearing in only her second game of the season after a late-summer knee injury kept her off the ice for some time, would go on to make 30 saves in 90 minutes of shut-out play.

“I felt good in net,” the freshman said, “but a lot of that has to do with the team and their support.”

Sophomore Jenny Brine got Harvard on the board 5:19 into the second period when she fired a pass from Chu into the back of the net.

The Crimson was able to capitalize on 2-of-8 power play attempts on the night, with both scores coming off of clean-up efforts in front of the net. Just five seconds into a mid-period power play, captain Jennifer Sifers won the face off in the offensive zone and sophomore Kati Vaughn fired a shot that was blocked by Princeton’s goalie but slammed home by senior Katie Johnston. Sophomore Sarah Wilson then finished off a shot by Brine at the 16:45 mark to make the score to 3-0.

“A couple of goals were off the first shot but a few more were off the rebound, sometimes the 2nd or 3rd rebound,” Chu said. “Those are what will win games down the road, not the first shot goals because there are a lot of great goalies out there. We have to be prepared to get dirty in front of the net.”

The captain added another to the Crimson’s tally with a goal 8:52 into the third period.

Brine then toughed it out in front of the net to collect her second score of the night, pushing the count to 5-0 with 8 minutes remaining in the game. She now leads the nation in goals scored with 15 to her name.

As far as special teams go, it was the team’s defense when skating a man down that made the difference in the game, as Harvard blanked all six Princeton power play charges.

“I think our defense is getting better and better everyday,” Chu said. “We always talk about the importance of our defensive zone and taking care of that before you can have offensive productivity.”

HARVARD 6, QUINNIPIAC 1

The Crimson came out firing on Friday night, as Harvard outshot Quinnipiac 45-9 in Friday’s 6-1 win.

First-year defenseman Bassett mixed it up nicely with the veterans on the team to lead the Crimson offensively with 4 points scored. The freshman had a hand in goals scored by Brine and former Olympians Chu and Sarah Vaillancourt, and then finished off a sequence from Chu to Brine to net her first collegiate score.

With 15 penalties called against the Bobcats, including two game misconducts, the Crimson had numerous chances to showcase the deadly power play attack that currently leads the nation with a 34.2 percent conversion rate. Capitalize the Crimson did, netting 5-of-13 shots off the man advantage.

Quinnipiac’s tight defense caused problems in the opening frame, though, as the game stayed a stalemate despite the Crimson’s 12 shots on goal.

“Quinnipiac really packs it in front of the net,” Chu said. “That leads to frustration if you can’t get the puck to the net and can’t pound them early.”

The Crimson came out skating quickly and moving the puck laterally in the second period and before long, and upended the Quinnipiac defense.

Brine netted the first goal of the game at the 7:33 mark off a power play sequence from Chu and Bassett. Just minutes later, Vaillancourt turned a pass from Bassett into the second power play goal of the night.

The Crimson’s only score against a full Quinnipiac line came 13 minutes into the period when senior Liza Solley put one home after Sifers battled to get the puck up the ice.

A game misconduct penalty whistled at the end of the second created a hole for Bassett who made the score 4-0. Another game misconduct early in the third allowed Chu to strike at the 5:46 mark.

Vaillancourt tallied Harvard’s sixth and final score on a solo effort midway through the period.

Quinnipiac’s Kallie Flora prevented sophomore goalie Brittany Martin from recording the shutout, though, when she scored with just 2 minutes left in the game.