Vaillancourt Shines In Shutout of Bears

With a Beanpot final, Ivy League games and decisive ECAC fixtures on the horizon, Harvard certainly didn’t need further motivation to achieve this season. However, it was provided with exactly that—courtesy of the Crimson’s illustrious past.

In front of the 1999 AWCHA national championship-winning Harvard team—reunited and honored as part of the 30th anniversary of the women’s ice hockey program—the current Crimson (13-7-3, 12-4-2, 7-2-0 Ivy) marked the occasion with a 4-0 win over Ivy League rivals Brown (5-18-1, 4-13-0, 1-7-0 Ivy) in Bright Hockey Center.

Two goals and two assists from senior tri-captain Sarah Vaillancourt, a goal apiece from senior tri-captain Jenny Brine and senior Sarah Wilson, and two assists from sophomore Katharine Chute tamed the Bears and ensured that Harvard stretched its winning streak to seven games.

It is also the second win over Brown this season, following a 5-3 win in Providence in early January.

“It was a good game—I thought that Brown played really hard too,” said the Crimson head coach Katey Stone. “In the first period, there were times when they were outworking us, but we were able to capitalize on our chances.”

In a closely contested opening period, Harvard worked hard for an opening against a well-organized Brown defense.

Vaillancourt—continuing in her rich vein of form and searching for a second hat-trick against Brown this season—went close for Harvard at 5:24, beating a defender and blazing a high shot into the hands of Brown goaltender Stock. In a 5-on-3 opportunity, the Bears’ goaltender was called into action again, with two excellent saves denying Harvard the opening goal.

At the other end, a Crimson penalty at 9:15 provided Brown with a chance to open the scoring. The Crimson defense held firm to kill the power play, with junior goaltender Christina Kessler finally grabbing the puck following a melee in front of the net.

“I thought we played very well on our defensive end today—we didn’t give them a lot,” Stone said.

Five minutes later, Harvard made the breakthrough.

In a swift counter-attack, Chute moved into the Brown half and passed the puck to Vaillancourt on the left wing. The forward raced through the middle, supported by Brine coming up on her left for a 2-on-1 play for the Crimson. With only Stock to beat, Vaillancourt slid a neat pass into the path of an onrushing Brine to finish—the tri-captains combining to put Harvard up, 1-0.

As the first period drew to a close, the Crimson doubled its advantage. Intercepting a pass from a Brown defender, Chute drove past her opponent on the Bears, the Harvard tri-captain clipped the puck over Stock and into the net, increasing the lead at a crucial time for the Crimson.

“I think it was a really good win for us...we started right from the first period which, for the first half of the season, was kind of a struggle for us,” Vaillancourt said. “I don’t think we were starting right from the beginning of the game...and I think that what’s been helping us is that we start right from the beginning of the game.”

After intermission saw Harvard’s 1999 AWCHA national championship-winning team take to the ice for a standing ovation, the Crimson of 2009 gave its own tribute with an intense second period.

Harvard earned and capitalized on a third power play at 6:49—Vaillancourt again at the heart of the action. Controlling the puck at the bottom of the left faceoff circle in the Brown area, the forward passed to Wilson, at the left side of goal. Instinctively, the senior forward hammered the puck beyond Brown’s Stock to make it 3-0 for the Crimson.

At 11:23, the final blow to Brown was delivered through a dazzling Vaillancourt solo goal, her second of the game. From the Crimson blue line, the tri-captain waltzed past four Bears defenders, hurdling the last one and maintaining her composure to slot the puck past Stock.

The goal also saw the senior forward move above Angela Ruggiero ’03-’04 into fifth place in Harvard’s all-time career scoring—an achievement she credits to her teammates.

“Everyone else in the team is getting open, and I think the lines are really clicking together right now,” Vaillancourt said. “I think that’s wahere the success is coming from.”

In a dominant display, the Crimson recorded 6-for-6 on the penalty kill and won 28 of 50 face-offs, in addition to out-shooting Brown 45 to 27.

For Stone, it was indicative of a stronger collective performance.

“In some ways, we shared the puck better today than we did yesterday, and it makes a big difference,” Stone said.

The win also moves the Harvard head coach into second on the all-time Division I women’s coaches win list with 313 victories—first among active coaches.

—Staff writer Allen J. Padua can be reached at ajpadua@fas.harvard.edu.