W. Hockey, Providence Keep Referees Busy

PROVIDENCE, R.I.—Providence’s trademark style of play—no fear of physical contact and no letdown in pressure—naturally led to 13 penalties for the game. And those were only the ones that were actually called.

“They’re a tough team and they play tough,” said captain Angela Ruggiero. “We try not to play that way. We try to play clean and play hockey, but when they’re pulling you and stuff, you got to keep going.”

Providence’s Meredith Roth needed just 21 seconds to earn the game’s first penalty for hooking. While it seemed that the officials might call a tight game, that possibility quickly disappeared minutes later when a Friar player clotheslined sophomore Nicole Corriero and nothing was called.

One of Providence’s penalties was actually a bench minor penalty for complaints about the lack of penalties on Harvard—specifically a series of unpunished hits by Ruggiero. The next penalty called—a tripping call on captain Jennifer Botterill—earned a mock cheer from the crowd.

Despite his team taking five penalties, Providence coach Bob Deraney was pleased with the relative tally. His team took three fewer than Harvard in the end.

Powerless Play

Providence’s best chance to tie the game came with 10 minutes left, when the Friars had a five-on-three for a whole minute. Harvard coach Katey Stone, to no one’s surprise, put Botterill, Ruggiero and freshman Julie Chu on the ice.

“We were just trying to keep things contained, and let [Providence] shoot from the outside,” Ruggiero said. “We knew [junior goaltender Jessica] Ruddock would pick up those, we just had to not let them get in close.”

Providence managed one dangerous deflection in the first 15 seconds but never threatened again. An errant backward pass that deflected all the way to the other end of the ice killed much of the clock.

Harvard had a two-man advantage of its own for 30 seconds, but to no avail. The Crimson’s power play, which at one point was converting at 45 percent rate, is now just 2-for-13 in the last three games. Harvard’s 36.4 percent rate still leads the nation, however.

Save Yourself

Ruddock made 20 saves for the day. She stopped every shot she saw, and for the most part she didn’t allow dangerous rebounds.

The most troublesome puck that came her way was early in the third period, and it wasn’t put on net by any Providence player—but rather herself.

On a Harvard power play to start the third period, Ruddock inadvertently directed a soft puck, cleared softly on net, behind herself. The game would have been tied had she not dived back on top of it.

“I tried to do two things at once, stop the puck and pass it, and I deflected it,” Ruddock said. “But I thought it was the save of the game—saving my own shot.”

The shot did, after all, come from point-blank range, and it required the goaltender to react quickly.

—Staff writer David R. De Remer can be reached at remer@fas.harvard.edu.