Harvard Women's Hockey Coming Together at Right Time

Since my first day as a sports editor of The Crimson, I have had but one goal: to convince the newspaper to pay for me to jet off to some faraway destination to cover a Big-Deal Game.

Okay, maybe I’m exaggerating. But by picking up women’s hockey as my first-ever beat, I knew I was drafting a winner. After all, in my first season as a writer, the team made it all the way to the NCAA Frozen Four. My older and wiser co-writer got to make that free trip to Duluth (though as he will readily remind me, Duluth in March is far from a glamorous destination) and ever since, I’ve been patiently waiting for my turn.

As it turns out, not every season can be a fairy tale like 2007-08 was for Harvard women’s hockey. The Crimson has continued to be a powerhouse in the ECAC, winning the regular-season title in 2009 before placing third last year, extending its streak of finishing third or better in the conference to eight straight seasons.

But each successful season ended with Harvard being upset in the playoffs, falling short of its goal of capturing its first-ever NCAA title.

When things didn’t go so hot at the beginning of this season, I started to doubt that the Crimson would even earn an invitation to the so-called dance.

But as the calendar turns to February, it turns out that I’ve underestimated the team I’ve been covering for so long.

While most of us may be demoralized after trudging through the slushy streets every day, the Crimson seems to be drawing strength from the dropping temperatures and ever-growing snow drifts.

The women have shaken off their slow start to rattle off a six-game winning streak, rising back up to second in the conference and 10th in the national polls.

And really, I shouldn’t have been surprised.

After all, this is exactly what the team has done for the last three years.

Flashback to Jan. 6, 2009: Harvard sat at 6-7-3 after dropping a 3-0 decision at home to Dartmouth. It went on to win 13 out of 15 games before being shocked in the conference semifinals by Rensselaer, leaving the Crimson as the first team out of the eight-team NCAA field.

Jan. 16, 2010: Though Harvard was in good shape at 9-4-4, a 5-1 win over Colgate was the last game goalie Christina Kessler would ever play in a Crimson uniform.

Despite losing the NCAA record-setting netminder, Harvard rode then-freshman Laura Bellamy to 11 wins in 15 games before falling at home to Cornell in the NCAA quarterfinals.

Jan. 8, 2011: Rensselaer once again gets the best of the Crimson, beating Harvard 2-1 in Troy and dropping the Crimson to 6-7-2. Harvard hasn’t lost since.

The Crimson has found success by doing exactly what it’s always done: sharing the scoring load, playing lockdown defense, and using its experience and conditioning to grind out wins. And with Princeton and Quinnipiac—two youthful upstarts who faltered against previously-struggling Clarkson last weekend—coming to town, there’s no reason to think Harvard can’t run that streak to eight or more.

But even if the Crimson goes undefeated through the rest of the conference season, a spot in the NCAA tournament is far from a guarantee.

Harvard sits 10th both in the national polls and in most of the computer models, with only two of the top 10 teams left on its schedule—No. 2 Cornell on Feb. 19 and either No. 3 BU or No. 7 BC in the second round of the Beanpot.

The only surefire way to guarantee a spot in the tournament is to earn the ECAC’s automatic bid.

That means finding a way to solve Cornell, a squad that hasn’t lost since Nov. 2.

It’s an uphill battle, to be sure. But if the Crimson keeps playing the way it’s been playing, it’s got a good chance to halt the Big Red’s perfect conference season.

During its six-game win streak, 15 players have collected points on Harvard’s 20 goals, with 11 of them finding the back of the net. Tri-captain Liza Ryabkina (three goals, five assists) and sophomore Jillian Dempsey (two goals, five assists) are averaging more than a point per game, while tri-captain Kate Buesser has scored in four of the last five contests.

On the defensive end of the ice, Bellamy has hit her stride in net.

The sophomore has allowed just one goal per game and is regaining the confidence she had down the stretch last season.

When Cornell rolls into town in two and a half weeks, it will likely have the regular-season title already secured. The Crimson will still have a lot to play for, and besting the Big Red could give the team a spark heading into the postseason—and perhaps also some leverage in the polls.

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Harvard’s not a perfect team—in fact, its penalty kill is ranked 33rd out of 35 Division I programs—but it’s one that has been consistently improving.

Will the season end with me on a free flight to Erie, Penn., for the Frozen Four?

It may be a long shot, but it’s far from impossible.

There’s still time for the Crimson’s six seniors—Ryabkina, Buesser, tri-captain Leanna Coskren, Katharine Chute, Ashley Wheeler, and Deborah Conway—to get their one last shot at women’s hockey’s top prize.

—Staff writer Kate Leist can be reached at kleist@fas.harvard.edu.