Icewomen Ground Eagles, 7-0

How bad could the Harvard women's hockey team's 7-0 blanking of Boston College last night have been? Look at the tale of the tape.

The Harvard women's hockey team is the defending Ivy League champion. Boston College is a club team.

The Crimson narrowly missed pulling off a major upset last week against Providence. The Eagles lost to Dartmouth last week, 18-0.

How bad was it really?

Harvard scored six goals in the first period. The Eagles had three shots on net.

On more than one rush up ice by the Crimson, the backwards-skating B.C. defenders fell over like dominoes.

The ice wasn't resurfaced between the second and third periods. The intermission was five minutes long.

On the third-period's opening faceoff, the referee dropped the puck from his teeth.

It could have been a massacre, but it wasn't, really.

On a night of many firsts, the Crimson captured its first victory of the season before 30 spectators at Bright Center.

The Crimson (now 1-1) won the game early when Co-Captain Julie Sasner scored at the 40-second mark of the first period.

Afterwards, a trio of newcomers made their debut on the Harvard scoring chart. Sophomore Martina Albright, freshman Sue Cullinane and freshman Amy Diehl--none of whom saw action against Providence--each scored their first goals as members of the squad.

At the other end of the ice, freshman goalie Gillian D'Souza handled all three shots which came her way to notch her first win for Harvard.

After the game, Harvard Coach John Dooley stressed the importance of giving the freshmen game experience rather than getting more goals and running up the score.

"These games are a lot of fun for those who don't play the heavy games," Dooley said.

Though Harvard scored six goals in the first period, it did not press as hard in the last two stanzas. Instead, Harvard played a smart skating and passing game, not only setting up good scoring opportunities, but also shutting down B.C.'s offense.

"I liked the way they worked on moving the puck," Dooley said.

THE NOTEBOOK: Christine Burns (groin) and Char Joslin (wisdom teeth) did not suit up for the game. Their status is day-to-day...The Crimson outshot B.C., 44-3...Brita Lind, Nina Simonds, and Co-Captain Johanna Neilson also scored for Harvard...Dooley commented about the slow, unsurfaced ice in the third period: "I liked the slow ice, because [we] could work off the [Thanksgiving] turkey," he joked.