Hockey Looks to Solidify First-Place Standing

As January comes to a close, the no. 3/5 Harvard women’s ice hockey team  (16-2-2, 12-2-1 ECAC) will face two familiar conference foes—the same pair the team played at the start of the regular season in October, defeating both handily. The team travels to Princeton (10-8-3, 6-6-2) and Quinnipiac (16-4-6, 7-3-4) in search of the same results it saw as it kicked off the 2013-2014 campaign.

The Tigers are up first for Harvard as the two teams face off Friday night at the Hobey Baker Rink.

When these two Ancient Eight opponents took the ice on Oct. 26, the Crimson routed the Tigers by a final score of 4-0. A trio of Harvard skaters—forward Samantha Reber, defender Sarah Edney and forward Hillary Crowe—put Harvard on the scoreboard, with Crowe nabbing two goals.

Power plays were key in the early season matchup. Three of the Crimson’s four scores against Princeton came when the Tigers skated in a man-down situation. Special teams have been an area of strength thus far for Harvard, as it holds the top penalty kill percentage in the country and the 20th-ranked power play nationwide.

“Our first thought when we get a penalty is the next two minutes, the two minutes of the penalty kill, just work very hard, keep the puck to the outside [and] minimize the amount of shots they take” sophomore forward Mary Parker said. “If they do take a shot [we want to] make sure our goalie sees it because we know if she sees a shot she’ll make the save.”

Alongside the defense, goaltenders sophomore Emerance Maschmeyer and freshman Brianna Laing have given the team good minutes in net.

Laing earned her third shutout in four starts a week ago when the team faced Union. In its game against Rensselaer, Maschmeyer had 30 saves. The two combine for a .961 save percentage. For Laing, the game will be even more of a reunion, as he rookie will could find herself swatting away the slapshots of her sister, Tigers senior Denna Laing.

Denna Laing leads her team with 17 points through 21 games, scoring nine goals and dishing eight assists thus far in the season.

Following the game in New Jersey, Harvard heads to Connecticut to face No. 9 Quinnipiac, a team it defeated 4-2 in its first game of the season. All four goals came in the second period off of the sticks of Edney, Crowe, and sophomore forward Dylanne Crugnale, who found the back of the net twice in the game. Crowe has had a hot stick in the past few weeks, scoring five goals and contributing one assist in the four games, all Crimson victories. In her last game, Crowe had two scores in a 3-1 win against Rensselaer on Jan. 25.

“We played a lot of tough teams in January and a lot of tight games and Hillary has come up big for us with some very timely goals,” coach Maura Crowell said. “She’s feeling good and it helps bring up the confidence in everybody around her.”

The Minnesota native was also responsible for the season’s first goal, which came against Quinnipiac off of a power play in the team’s first meeting on Oct. 25.

The Bobcats faced a tough opponent in No. 8 Robert Morris their last time out on the ice, losing 5-1 in their final non-ECAC opponent of the season. Senior Kelly Babstock has commanded the Bobcat attack this season, netting 15 goals and dishing 22 assists.

“[They are] two huge conference games for us,” Crowell said. “Just like every other team, everybody’s better now, everybody’s more experienced, everybody’s been in a lot of different situations and I’m sure they’re battle tested and ready to go just like we are.”

Heading into the weekend, the team currently leads the ECAC standings with 25 points as it looks to extend its four-game win streak. That said, Harvard has played more conference games than all but one other team in the league. Clarkson is a close second with 22 points and Parker said the team is shooting for at least a win and a tie on the weekend.

“Since the ECAC standings are so close together we’re trying to get four points each weekend,” Parker said.

—Staff writer Theresa C. Hebert can be reached at thebert@college.harvard.edu.