Women's Hockey Faces a Pair of ECAC Rivals in Clarkson, St. Lawrence

Revenge will be on the mind of the No. 8/7 Harvard women’s ice hockey team this weekend as it faces Eastern College Athletic Conference rival No. 4/4 Clarkson on Friday night at the Bright Hockey Center.

The Crimson (0-1-0, 0-1-0 ECAC) was denied its first outright ECAC title since 2008-09 last season by the Golden Knights (9-0-0), which won, 1-0, in Cambridge, ruining Harvard’s Senior Day festivities and claiming a share of the conference championship. After playing Clarkson, the Crimson will host Saint Lawrence (3-5-1) on Saturday in the second leg of a weekend doubleheader.

“You’re always bitter, but at the same time, it’s a new year and it’s a new season,” junior defenseman Briana Mastel said. “We’re looking to make changes this year, [such as] going into every game and playing a full 60 minutes. Our effort level needs to be up the whole game.”

After finishing up preseason play with an exhibition win over McGill, Harvard opened up its season with a 2-1 defeat at Dartmouth. It was the team’s first opening game loss in 15 years..

“I think last week was a bit of a wake up call,” senior forward Miye D’Oench said. “But Dartmouth is a good team, Clarkson is a good team, so no matter who you’re playing, you have to come at it with the same amount of focus. With our team going to the national championship game, everyone will be on your back, so you have to be prepared week-in, week-out.”

D’Oench notched a power play goal in the loss to the Big Green, but the Crimson’s man-advantage unit will face a stern test this weekend against Clarkson’s conference-leading penalty kill. The Golden Knights have killed 23 of 24 penalties successfully this season.

Having already swept the University of Vermont, Boston University, and the University of New Hampshire in weekend back-to-back series, Clarkson comes into this game brimming with confidence. The offense has scored an average of 4.0 goals per game while the defense has allowed just 1.3, and the Golden Knights have converted on 22.3 percent of their power play opportunities.

The leader of Clarkson’s high-powered attack is junior forward Cayley Mercer, who tops all ECAC players in goals (10), shots (60), points (17), and hat tricks (two). The reigning ECAC player of the week, who notched six goals last weekend against New Hampshire, will be a handful for Harvard’s defense, a fact the coaches and players are wary of.

“Covering someone like [Mercer] is all about playing with confidence,” Mastel said. “You have to play with the knowledge that you can play with anyone in the league as long as you’re playing your position well. Body position is huge, and then just having confidence, whether it be in your defensive partner or in your forward line, whoever is out there with you. When we all have confidence in each other is when we play our best.”

Mastel, who will be partnered with freshman defenseman Kaitlin Tse for the first time this upcoming weekend, and her teammates will then line up against Saint Lawrence on Saturday afternoon. After sputtering out of the gate to an 0-5-1 start, the Saints have won three games on the trot and will look to continue their strong spell against the Crimson.

The Harvard offense, limited to just 21 shots by the Big Green last week, will look to kick into high gear this weekend, especially against the porous Saint Lawrence defense. The Saints have allowed four goals and 33.6 shots per game to opposing offenses.

The Crimson will be without goalkeeper and captain Emerance Maschmeyer this weekend, who is travelling with the Canadian women’s national team to Sweden for the Four Nations Cup. The Alberta native, a preseason all-ECAC selection, will be replaced by either Molly Tissenbaum or Brianna Laing, both juniors. Whoever finds herself between the posts will have big shoes to fill, with Maschmeyer making 31 saves against Dartmouth, a number of them at point-blank range. Still, the team has confidence in the reserves.