W. Hockey Marches On, Downs St. Lawrence in NCAA Semis

DURHAM, N.H.­—History has a funny way of repeating itself. With only one game separating it from a national title, Harvard was set to make some history of its own.

The Crimson (26-6-3) advanced to its third straight NCAA final with a thorough 4-1 defeat of ECAC foe St. Lawrence (27-8-5) in the Frozen Four on March 25.

Freshman Sarah Vaillancourt led the way for Harvard with a hat trick as the offense once again relied on the strength of its power play to blow past the Saints.

“Everybody was flying,” Harvard coach Katey Stone said. “We had great goaltending, great defense, played very fast in our own end and executed tremendously offensively. We were able to capitalize on some great opportunities on the power play and I was very pleased with the effort.”

This marked the second consecutive year that the Crimson­—with the win, undefeated in its last 21 games—bested St. Lawrence in the Frozen Four semifinals and the victory set up a return date with top-seeded Minnesota in the championship game. In 2004, the team edged past the Saints 2-1 in the semis before falling 6-2 to the Gophers in the final.

Senior tri-captain Nicole Corriero got Harvard on the scoreboard just 6:29 into the game with her 59th goal of the season and 24th power-play strike. Set up deep in the St. Lawrence defensive zone with a man advantage, junior Julie Chu fed the puck to sophomore Caitlin Cahow at the right face-off circle, who then threaded a pass to Corriero at the left post for an easy one-timer. From that point on, Corriero, who was being marked as the collegiate single-season goals record-holder, yielded to Vaillancourt to shoulder the offensive burden.

“We may have very talented players but we don’t have a superstar mentality,” Stone said. “It doesn’t matter who does it, we have this hard-hat workman’s attitude and that’s what has gotten us to this point.”

Vaillancourt helped the Crimson double its lead less than four minutes later on a give-and-go connection with defender Lindsay Weaver at 4-on-4. Vaillancourt dished cross-ice to a charging Weaver on the right before redirecting the speeding return pass past St. Lawrence netminder Jessica Moffat at the left post.

Vaillancourt­—arguably the team’s fastest skater—used the Olympic-sized sheet at the Whittemore Center to her advantage all game long, skating past defenders and spreading the opposing formations thin to create scoring chances for herself and her teammates.

The first two goals, both on well-executed touch passes close to the net, reflected the benefits for Harvard of the wide rink, with less body traffic and more room to operate.

“We put the best five pairs of hands together on that unit,” Stone said. “And they found the openings and the first two goals were awesome, awesome.”

Facing a quick two-goal deficit, the Saints mounted a comeback charge culminating in sophomore forward Chelsea Grills’ put-back goal just 31 ticks into the second period.

“There was this stretch towards the end of the first period and the beginning of the second period where St. Lawrence was pouring a lot of pressure on us,” Corriero said. “We made a decision as a team to get together and play sound defense and really just attack them on the fore-check and when we’re in our zone.”

The St. Lawrence goal came, as just about every key moment in this match-up did, on special teams.

In a tightly-called game all around, Harvard spent its fair share of time in the penalty box, incurring a total of 12 penalties, but successfully killing off all but one of the Saints’ 12 extra-skater opportunities.

The Crimson, for its part, was granted 10 power plays, but, in the deciding discrepancy of the game, converted for goals on three of them.

“They executed better than us on special teams,” St. Lawrence coach Paul Flanagan said. “They have a great top power play and big ice; they move the puck around well. We weren’t efficient enough on the penalty kill.”

None of these were bigger than Vaillancourt’s second of the game at 8:21 of the second period with Harvard still up by one.

Senior captain Rebecca Russell went to the box for roughing for toppling goalie Ali Boe after the whistle. On the ensuing advantage, Vaillancourt lifted the rebound of a Cahow slapshot over the downed Moffat to extend the lead to 3-1. Cahow wound up with three helpers on the evening and Chu finished with a pair.

Vaillancourt rounded out the hat trick with another power-play notch with a little over three minutes left in the period. Noticing the congestion in front of the goal mouth, Vaillancourt uncorked a hard, low slapshot that slid past a screening Chu and through Moffat’s five-hole for a stunning score.

“There were a lot of people in front of the net,” Vaillancourt said. “And you take that chance to shoot.”

For all of the success of the Harvard power play, its penalty kill was equally fierce. The Saints languished for just 12 shots on its 12 power plays and struggled to offer any pressure even during a run at 5-on-3 late in the third.

“Special teams were a huge issue in this game,” Stone said. “And we killed a lot of penalties very succinctly.”

The two goaltenders, especially the busy Moffat, had their moment to shine in the scoreless third period. The junior transfer turned away all 19 shots she saw in the final frame, including 15 on the Crimson power play, many of which came during a brief stretch of 5-on-3. Moffat racked up 36 saves in all and Boe had 16.

The Harvard defense stood firm in support of Boe. Even with senior Ashley Banfield out injured, the blue liners managed to shut out the Saints for the final 39:29 of regulation.

“They stepped up great and one of best defensemen was out,” Stone said of her young defenders. “They were ready to go and they played with a lot of confidence.”

The last gasp from St. Lawrence was stifled when a would-be goal was disallowed after a video review showed the puck had not definitely crossed the line.

A dominant Minnesota team awaited in the finals one day later. But with the semifinal win, Crimson took the time to savor this historic moment.

“It’s important to enjoy it,” Stone said. “And certainly when you win the first game you have an opportunity to enjoy it.”

—Staff writer Jonathan Lehman can be reached at jlehman@fas.harvard.edu.