Last-Minute Penalty Shot Caps Harvard Comeback, Crimson Keeps Pace in ECAC

When the game—and playoff home ice—is on the line, it’s hard to predict how a women’s hockey team will react.

On Friday night, St. Lawrence got desperate. But with the pressure on, Harvard senior Randi Griffin kept her cool.

Griffin converted a penalty shot with just 24.3 seconds on the clock to lift the No. 5 Crimson to a 2-1 win over the Saints (15-12-7, 11-8-3) at Appleton Arena. The victory gave Harvard coach Katey Stone 337 wins for her career—tying the NCAA all-time record.

“It was a really good game, back and forth,” Griffin said. “It literally came down to the last few minutes, which was exciting—they fought really hard.”

With the score knotted and time winding down, the Crimson dumped the puck into its offensive zone. As Harvard moved into a pattern, St. Lawrence netminder Maxie Weisz was knocked down by a teammate, putting her in the goal and out of commission.

No whistle blew, and the Crimson picked up the puck and put it on the undefended net.

But as the shot flew towards the goal, a Saint intentionally knocked the net off its moorings—causing the referees to award Harvard a penalty shot.

Stone tapped Griffin to take the shot.

“You have to choose someone who’s on the ice,” junior Kate Buesser explained. “[Griffin] faked the goalie out and put it in the left side of the [net].”

Though the penalty shot turned out to be a game-changer, for Griffin it was routine.

“We have a tradition where we have a showcase game every week—seniors and juniors versus freshmen and sophomores—a breakaway competition to see which team has more breakaways,” Griffin said. “We did a little cheer and called it the way we do [for the showcase]. I just tried to get myself in that state of mind. It’s something we do in practice every week.”

But Griffin’s late-game heroics wouldn’t have been possible without the Crimson’s third-period comeback.

Although Harvard started its longest road trip of the conference season with a bang—outshooting St. Lawrence, 7-0—in the first 10 minutes of play, it couldn’t find a way to solve Weisz, who made 11 saves in each of the first two frames.

But the Crimson’s defense, backstopped by freshman Laura Bellamy, kept the Saints off the board through two first-period power plays—limiting St. Lawrence to just two shots in four minutes of man-up action.

“[The defense] played really well,” Buesser said. “The less time we can spend in our defensive end, the better.”

Harvard got its first power play of the game early in the second period, when Saint Kelly Sabatine was whistled for tripping.

Junior Liza Ryabkina got the best look at the net during the man advantage, getting an open shot in the slot, but Weisz came up with another save.

The momentum began to shift in the home team’s favor late in the second, as St. Lawrence snapped the scoreless tie with a minute to play in the period.

Alley Bero put the puck on Vanessa Emond’s stick, and Emond wrapped around behind the net to get the puck past an out-of-position Bellamy.

Facing a 1-0 deficit at the start of the third, it took the Crimson 12:37 to get even.

Buesser slid a centering pass to freshman Jillian Dempsey in the slot, and the rookie went top-shelf to tie the game.

“I lost sight of it, and I just bounced it to [Dempsey],” Buesser said. “She just ripped it right into the net.”

Bellamy stood tall in the final frame, stopping all of the Saints’ nine shots in the period—including a close-range shot from St. Lawrence senior Tara Akstull.

After Griffin’s penalty shot gave Harvard the lead, the Saints pulled Weisz from the net but were unable to convert with the extra skater.

Though the win did have important playoff implications, setting the Crimson up for home-ice advantage in this weekend’s opening round of the ECAC tournament, it had historical significance as well.

Stone’s 337th win ties former Colby and Minnesota coach Laura Halldorson’s NCAA career record. The coach, in her 16th year behind the Harvard bench, has a chance to break that mark at home this weekend.

“She didn’t say anything about it, but we all knew it was going on,” Buesser said. “It just shows what she’s done for this program. You don’t get where she is without a great coaching style.”

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