IN LEHMAN'S TERMS: ECAC Squads Potent Again

The attendance for Friday night’s women’s hockey game at Bright Hockey Center was announced at 1,211.

It’s not a scientific process, these population calculations, in practice probably something akin to eyeballing the 2,800-seat facility and declaring it slightly less than halfway full. The figure represented a mood more than anything, the noticeable tension emanating from the approximate hundred dozen that encircled the rink, the excitement palpable in the arena as the fifth-ranked Crimson vied for first place in the conference.

It was the biggest crowd at Harvard’s home rink for a women’s game since the Crimson drew 1,611 for a game back in February 2005. But it fell short of head coach Katey Stone’s hopes for the evening, the nice round sum of 2,000, and the program’s record of 1,921, established in January 2004.

There’s one factor in common to these four-digit fests, one element pertinent to all of these memorable winter nights: the opponent. In a word, Dartmouth.

The Big Green have a way not just of bringing out the most, in terms of Harvard’s fans, but the best, in terms of Harvard’s performance. That was certainly the case on Friday night, when the two squads skated to a thrilling 2-2 tie, maintaining No. 4 Dartmouth atop the ECAC standings, but in the end establishing both teams as legitimate national title contenders and re-affirming the matchup as one of the sport’s premier rivalries.

The pairing suffered a bit of a downturn in 2005-06, if the attendance number from Harvard’s home game—509—is any indication. Last season, without the services of their respective corps of elite players, both the Crimson and the Big Green slipped from their usual habitats in the top five of the national polls, a perch they have regained in 2007. Harvard was bounced from the NCAA Tournament in the opening round, while Dartmouth, after posting a losing record, didn’t even get a whiff of the national playoffs.

It is simplistic to reduce the Ivy powerhouses’ recent reclamations to the return of their Olympians, who missed last season to participate in the Winter Games in Turin, Italy. Yet it is impossible to overlook the importance of these stars, three on the Crimson’s side and four on the Big Green’s, in energizing two of the country’s best statistical offenses and elevating the play of those around them.

Four of these talents dot the listing of the nation’s top ten in points per game; Harvard co-captain Julie Chu is first, teammate Sarah Vaillancourt is fourth, and Dartmouth wingers Gillian Apps and Sarah Parsons rank ninth and tenth, respectively. Chu and Parsons, along with Crimson junior defender Caitlin Cahow, donned the Stars and Stripes in Turin. Vaillancourt and Apps, along with the Big Green’s Katie Weatherston and Cherie Piper, who was inactive for Friday’s game, picked up gold medals as members of Team Canada.

In other words, there were more Winter Olympians in Allston on Friday night than in many small countries. And there they were, in the second period, with the score knotted at 1, flashing across the ice, thrilling the assembled crowd, putting pucks in the net. First, Dartmouth, on the power play, Parsons, Weatherston, and Apps, in that order, bing-bang-boom. Three stars, two passes, one backdoor cut, and a 2-1 lead before most of the 1,211 or Harvard goalie Brittany Martin could react.

Then, on a 5-on-3, the Crimson experts picking apart the undermanned defense. Chu to Cahow at the point, down to Katie Johnston in the slot, quick shot and in.

Wait, Katie Johnston? Johnston is a senior forward, with a previous career high of 10 goals and 21 points. She’s on pace to shatter those bests this season—that crucial game-tying strike bumped her totals to eight goals and 15 points.

Those who showed up at Bright on Friday night to witness the dazzling skills of the Olympians were surely not disappointed. They saw Vaillancourt leaping over obstacles in a rush on net, Apps uncorking a laser-beam slapshot, Parsons juking a defender with the fluidity of ginger ale, and Chu squeezing a visionary pass through thick traffic.

They also saw two complete teams, two of the best in the country, with rosters full of some medal owners, granted, but mostly comprised of promising youngsters and savvy veterans. Veterans like Johnston, who cleverly outmaneuvered Apps to draw an obstruction call that set up the 5-on-3, and then, minutes later, headily caromed the puck off the Big Green netminder into the net to even the score. Who gutted out a two-minute-long penalty kill late in the third period to preserve the draw.

And who, coincidentally (wink), wears the same number 11 on her jersey that finished off the attendance figure from the game.

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