Frozen Four Berth at Stake Against Rival

It may be the last home game for the Harvard women’s hockey team’s seniors, but a win would give two of them—co-captain Kathryn Farni and Anna McDonald—the chance to finish their collegiate careers back home.

If the No. 4 Crimson beats No. 5 Cornell in tonight’s NCAA quarterfinals at 7 pm, it will head to the Twin Cities for the women’s Frozen Four, 15 minutes away from Farni’s hometown of Minnetonka, and not far off McDonald’s New Brighton.

But in order to do so, Harvard will have to get past a Big Red team it has not yet beaten this season—a squad fresh off an ECAC title run.

Cornell first stumped the Crimson in its second game of the season, when Harvard’s freshmen were still getting familiarized with college hockey, and the squad was still getting accustomed to the graduation of its top scorers.

Since then, the newcomers have excelled—led by ECAC rookie of the year finalist Jillian Dempsey—and the Crimson has used a balanced attack to stump opposing defenses.

“I think throughout the entire season, we’ve been improving,” senior Randi Griffin said.

But when Harvard and Cornell met again in January, the Crimson was still unable to come away with the victory, ending the game in a 4-4 stalemate after overtime.

“We didn’t perform as well as we would’ve liked to against Cornell this year,” co-captain Cori Bassett said. “But it’s playoffs now. None of that really matters.”

Up to this point, the narrative resembles the one surrounding Harvard’s first round of the ECAC playoffs, where it faced Princeton.

Just like in its games against the Big Red, the Crimson had not been able to solve the Tigers in the regular season, losing to them in the fall before tying them in January.

But a strong February gave Harvard the momentum to soundly defeat Princeton in the playoffs, knocking it off in two games by a combined margin of seven goals.

But the speedy Cornell squad will not be as easy to dethrone.

“They’re a fast, skilled team,” Griffin said. “They have some very talented both forwards and defensemen. They’re a strong skating puck possessing team.”

It will be a different matchup than the one the Crimson faced last weekend against the more physical Clarkson.

“We’re ready for them to come out fast,” Griffin said. “We’re a fast team too so it’s the kind of game we want.”

Harvard used that speed to go on a six-game winning streak starting at the end of January, and showed it off again in its opening round victory against the Tigers in the ECAC playoffs.

Whether or not the Crimson is able to bring that speed early could sway the game. Harvard allowed a goal six minutes into its game against the Golden Knights in an eventual 3-2 loss.

“[We want to] really come out in the first period,” co-captain Kathryn Farni said. “Making sure we have a lot of energy for those first couple minutes.”

Also key for the Crimson has been its emerging power-play and penalty-kill capabilities. Like its offensive balance, Harvard’s man-down defense and disciplined play throughout games have continued to improve throughout the season.

There are definitely mistakes we’re going to make,” Bassett said. “We’re working on minimizing those but also being able to recover and to be able to capitalize on their mistakes.”

While a recent loss to Clarkson has set the Crimson back, Cornell has been on a 10-game undefeated streak.

It hasn’t lost since January, and the only tie of that streak came on Feb. 5 to Quinnipiac, before the Big Red rolled out to nine consecutive victories including last weekend’s against the Golden Knights.

“I think ultimately, they’re a good team, but it’s all about us,” Bassett said. “They’re going to give us a good game. I think that if we show up to play that we should be successful and that’s what I’m hoping for.”

The NCAA tournament committee seemed to think so, as it gave Harvard the higher seed and the accompanying home-ice advantage. Though Cornell has had the upper hand in head-to-head matches and the ECAC standings, the Crimson has rolled off impressive non-conference victories, twice shutting out the University of Minnesota and winning the Beanpot with shut-outs from a different goaltender, freshman Laura Bellamy.

If Harvard’s been learning all season, the skaters will face their first of what they hope to be three final exams just as the student body emerges from midterm season.

“I think when it gets down to the end and playoffs, you know it comes into the light what you’re playing for and you see the goal,” Bassett said.

—Staff writer Christina C. McClintock can be reached at ccmcclin@fas.harvard.edu.