Dartmouth Gives Early Test for Women's Hockey

The Harvard women’s ice hockey team officially begins its season this weekend as the squad immediately opens up ECAC play on the road against Dartmouth. Crimson coach Katey Stone and her team will look to flip the script and get off to a winning start following last year’s season opener loss to the Big Green by a 2-1 margin.

After losing its lone exhibition game at home, 3-0, to a McGill squad that tied against the Big Green just a couple of days later, however, the team heads into its first matchup of the season with more questions than answers.

GAME OF GOALIES

While Coach Stone is used to dealing with the loss of great players, having to bid adieu to arguably the best netminder in program history this past spring has to be a huge blow for Harvard.

The graduation of Emerance Maschmeyer ’16, who holds the program record for most career saves and was selected fourth overall in the 2016 CWHL draft, leaves behind a huge question mark in goal, one of the strongest positions for the Crimson since Laura Bellamy ’13 took as a freshman in the 2009-2010 season.

Seniors Molly Tissenbaum and Brianna Laing will likely compete for the starting spot over the first few games after each spent just under 30 minutes on the ice against the Martlets. The duo combined for 30 saves and survived five out of the six power plays given up by Harvard.

Things should get a bit easier for the netminders and the Crimson backline, as Dartmouth lost three of its top four scorers–who accounted for 39 of the team’s 51 goals last season.

POWER PLAY PERILS

Much like last season, the Harvard attack showed a lack of finishing when handed an advantage against McGill, failing to convert any of the five power plays in its favor.

After suffering a streak of 25 unconverted power plays over the span of nine games last season, during which the Crimson went 3-5-1, the team will need to be sharp to take advantage of the extra woman situation. Dartmouth posted an ECAC third-best 89.3 percent kill rate and allowed a mere 11 goals off the power play in the 2015-2016 season.

In addition to losing Maschmeyer and ex co-captain Michelle Picard ’16 the back, Harvard also has to replace last year’s leading points scorer Miye D’Oench ’16, who also led the team with three goals on the power play.

The team will rely heavily on senior forward Sydney Daniels, who scored a team high 23 goals last year, to carry a frontline that also no longer boasts Karly Heffernan. The Sherwood Park, Alberta native–who scored 24 points last season for the Crimson, good for third on the team behind Daniels and D’Oench–suffered a season-ending injury during the preseason.

Without two of last year’s first line attackers, Harvard rolled out a front line of Daniels, junior Lexie Laing, and freshman Val Turgeon against McGill. Junior forward Haley Mullins also figures to feature for Stone and will provide some much needed depth for a young core of attackers.

The Crimson offense will look to score its first goal of the season against Dartmouth keeper Robyn Chemago, who allowed 2.30 goals per game, good for only eighth in the ECAC.

NEBULOUS EXPECTATIONS

Coming off of a national runner-up season in 2014-2015, Harvard had clear expectations to challenge for the ECAC and even a national title last season, an expectation buoyed by the lofty 4/5 ranking given to the team at the start of the season.

This season, things are murkier for the squad. Predicted to finish fifth in the preseason ECAC poll, there is no clear expectation for the team to challenge for the conference title outside of the program.

A fifth place finish during the regular season would leave the Crimson in a tough position if they want to return to the NCAA tournament. Harvard would have to start on the road in a three-game quarterfinal series against the No. 4 seed before likely having to play two more road games to get the conference title.

Unless the Crimson can establish itself as a top six to eight team by the time the ECAC playoffs roll around, the team will likely have to win the title in order to secure an automatic bid instead of a potential at-large bid.

While it may be tempting to look towards the end of the season, however, Harvard will need to get off to a good start on Sunday. With the team largely under the radar this offseason, a good start to the season against the Big Green could go a long way for confidence later on in the season.

Staff writer Julio Fierro can be reached at

julio.fierro@thecrimson.com.