All five of Harvard’s 2010 Olympians will be playing for gold on Thursday.

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

Senior Christina Kessler and juniors Kate Buesser, Liza Ryabkina, and Leanna Coskren are among 45 nominees for the Patty Kzamaier award, given to the best player in collegiate women's hockey. The list of nominees was released by USA Hockey today.

The Olympic women’s hockey tournament opened on Saturday in Vancouver, and Americans Angela Ruggiero ’02-’04, Julie Chu ’06-’07, and Caitlin Cahow ’07-’08 and Canadians Jennifer Botterill ’02-’03 and Sarah Vaillancourt ’08-’09 are skating for Olympic gold.

Growing up in Boston, I must confess I wasn’t much of a hockey fan. A Red Sox girl through and through, I never paid much attention to my hometown sports in those months between the last out in the fall and the first pitch of spring training. But as a good Bostonian, there was one college hockey tournament that was always on my radar.

Last night in a nearly-empty TD Garden, the Harvard men’s hockey team met Northeastern in the consolation game of the 58th Beanpot, falling, 4-1, in a contest that lacked energy and spirit.

Though the No. 6 Crimson (14-5-4, 10-5-2 ECAC) looked far from its best on Friday night, it still played well enough to hand visiting Brown (2-17-4, 0-14-3) a 4-1 loss at Bright Hockey Center.

Last night, Ryabkina followed in her mentor’s footsteps, becoming the first Crimson player to score four goals in a game since Sarah Vaillancourt '08-'09 did it last February at Cornell.

The Crimson (12-5-4, 8-5-2 ECAC) took control against Providence (12-9-8, 8-4-4 Hockey East) with an early goal and put the game away with a late one, earning a 2-1 victory.

With just four weekends left in conference play, Clarkson and Cornell have begun to distance themselves from the rest of the ECAC. The Golden Knights are sitting pretty at third in the national polls and tied No. 1 Mercyhurst two weeks ago.