Harvard Loses in Overtime to UNH

In the latest chapter of one of the East’s biggest rivalries, the Harvard women’s hockey team once again came up short.

After rallying back from a 2-0 deficit, the No. 9 Crimson (15-9-3, 14-4-2 ECAC) fell to No. 5 New Hampshire (20-5-5, 13-2-4-1 Hockey East), 3-2, in overtime last night at Bright Hockey Center.

Despite outplaying the Wildcats through the last 25 minutes of play, Harvard gave UNH an opening when sophomore Liza Ryabkina drew a holding penalty with 1:21 left in extra time.

The Wildcats seized the opportunity.

UNH senior Sam Faber won a faceoff in the Crimson end, and fed the puck to junior Jenn Wakefield.

With 39 seconds left, Wildcat sophomore Courtney Birchard received the puck in the right circle, and wristed it through a screen and into the back of the net to end the game.

“Obviously, [we were] very disappointed in the outcome, because the game turned on a dime because of a penalty,” Harvard coach Katey Stone said.

To even bring the game to overtime, however, the Crimson had to claw its way back from a sluggish start.

Both teams traded missed opportunities in the game’s opening minutes, and while Harvard got a power-play chance with six minutes left in the first, the team failed to convert, a problem that would follow it for the rest of the evening.

“I don’t think we really got it going,” Stone said of the power play. “We draw people to us, and that’s when you need to attack a give-and-go and get a 2-on-1 situation. We really didn’t do that, we kept our heads down and shot the puck.”

New Hampshire got on the board at 17:28 in the first on a slow-motion 2-on-1 breakaway.

After taking a pass from Courtney Sheary, Wildcat Shannon Sisk sped up the left side of the ice.

Though Crimson senior Nora Sluzas got between the two UNH skaters, Sisk found a charging Julie Allen, who powered the puck past Harvard junior goaltender Christina Kessler.

Three minutes into the second period, another odd-man rush led to another UNH goal.

In the midst of a sloppy Harvard power play, Wildcat junior Kelly Paton intercepted the puck in the neutral zone and broke up the ice. She beat her Crimson defender and fed the puck to Wakefield, UNH’s top scorer, who was waiting on the right post to put in the shorthanded tally.

All the momentum seemed to be in the Wildcats’ favor, with netminder Lindsey Minton stopping a number of Harvard shots. But at 9:21, tri-captain Sarah Vaillancourt took matters into her own hands.

Vaillancourt took a pass from Sluzas and drove to the net from the right circle. After outmaneuvering the UNH defense, she slipped the puck past Minton to cut the deficit in half.

“She tries to do a lot and she does a lot,” Stone said of the tri-captain. “That kid never quits. You can’t leave her alone for a second, because she’s going to do something.”

Harvard put itself back in a hole less than a minute later, when sophomore Kate Buesser and junior Cori Bassett were whistled for back-to-back penalties.

The Crimson trio of Vaillancourt, tri-captain Jenny Brine, and classmate Kati Vaughn were faced with 1:17 of 5-on-3 play, and the seniors responded admirably.

“That was obviously a crucial moment in the game,” tri-captain Kirsten Kester said. “They called that timeout, so we knew they were probably going to try to pull something tricky on us.”

Kessler made three saves on that penalty kill, and Harvard caught a lucky break when a Wildcat goal was called back because the net had come out of position.

The Crimson fed off the confidence gathered from the kill, and at 15:34 in the second, Harvard junior Kathryn Farni netted the equalizer.

Farni took advantage of a botched clearing attempt, and her long, unassisted slapshot from the blue line sailed through traffic and past Minton to even the score, 2-2.

“Two months ago, down 2-0, I think we probably would have folded,” Stone said. “But these kids believe in each other, and they’re capable of coming back. I give them a lot of credit, because it wasn’t easy, and UNH is a very good team.”

The Crimson carried its momentum into the third period, outshooting the Wildcats 17-9, but couldn’t find the back of the net.

“It’s frustrating, but it’s a tribute to their goaltender,” Kester said. “We surpassed them in the shot count in the third period, which was one of our goals, so we’re pretty happy with that. Again, just kind of tough luck.”

Harvard got a crucial opportunity late in regulation, when UNH captain Kacey Bellamy was called for checking at 16:32.

But once again, the Crimson failed to capitalize on the man advantage, despite launching four shots at Minton.

Minton made 33 saves on the evening, while Kessler finished with 28.

Harvard had its fair share of chances in extra time as well, but Minton came through with saves on good shots from Vaillancourt and junior Anna McDonald.

The team’s biggest chance came just over two minutes into overtime, when a flurry of Crimson shots left Minton sprawled across the ice. Despite the wide-open net, Harvard couldn’t lift a shot into the goal.

“To be honest, I thought they would have been lucky to get a tie from us, so [we’re] pretty disappointed with the way things turned out,” Kester said. “But that’s how it goes.”

—Staff writer Kate Leist can be reached at kleist@fas.harvard.edu.