28 And Counting!

PROVIDENCE--As each member of the No. 1 Harvard women's hockey team skated to center ice to receive her ECAC championship trophy, there was an extra-special hop in her step. The Crimson had just capped perhaps its most dramatic finish in a brilliant, action-packed season.

Indeed, the 5-4 overtime win in the finals of the ECAC Tournament yesterday against No. 2 UNH (22-6-5, 19-4-3 ECAC) was the biggest victory of the season for Harvard (31-1-0, 24-1-1). By winning the ECAC Tournament championship game, the Crimson captured its first-ever ECAC crown and extended its winning streak to 28 games.

Harvard reached the finals by blowing out No. 6 Dartmouth (16-9-5, 14-7-5) on Saturday afternoon 8-1 in the semifinal.

Two even bigger games now loom ahead for the Crimson next weekend in the American Women's College Hockey Alliance National Championship tournament at the University of Minnesota. Harvard received the top seed in the AWCHAs and will face No. 4 seed Brown (20-4-4, 19-4-3) Friday night. If the Crimson wins, it would face either No. 2 seed UNH or No. 3 seed Minnesota (27-3-3) Saturday in the final. If Harvard faces UNH, it would be the teams' fourth meeting of the season.

For now, Harvard can revel in a spectacular weekend in which it won every award--individual and team. It added even more metal to a 1998-99 trophy case that includes the Beanpot, Ivy League and ECAC regular season championships. And after yesterday's performance, the Crimson is still on a roll to the tune of 28 straight.

"We had a lot of success during the season but that wouldn't have mattered if we had lost today," said co-captain A.J. Mleczko, the MVP of the ECAC Tournament, Ivy League and ECAC. "We realized that we needed to come out and put our hearts on the line and see what we were made of. UNH showed a lot of character with two quick goals in the third period but luckily we were able to tie it up and ultimately win."

Harvard 5, UNH 4

The game-winning goal was just as thrilling as the rest of the game.

Harvard controlled the puck for most of the 75 seconds of overtime and outshot UNH 4-0. The game-winner came after sophomore winger Tammy Shewchuk intercepted the puck in the offensive zone and immediately found Mleczko at the right post. Mleczko fired but was stopped twice by UNH junior goaltender Alicia Roberts, who ended up sprawled on the ice. Mleczko then pulled back the puck and sent it high into the net to give Harvard the conference title.

"I took a few more swipes than I would have liked to on that play," Mleczko said. "Tammy found me in front with a great pass, and I thought Roberts would slide by me, so I tried to go to the short side. But she was there again and again and neither of us could control the puck, and finally I was able to get it over her. It was definitely a feeling of elation."

But the nation's longest winning streak was in jeopardy when Harvard Coach Katey Stone called a timeout at 18:27 of the third. After Harvard took a 3-2 lead into the final period, UNH came back with two goals within 32 seconds of each other with less than five minutes left in regulation. At the same time, the Crimson was struggling to set up in the offensive zone.

After the timeout, Stone sent in her power-play unit of Mleczko, Shewchuk, sophomore forward Angie Francisco and freshman standouts Jen Botterill and Angela Ruggiero. UNH junior winger Melissa McKenzie iced the puck with 1:22 left in regulation, and that set the stage for one of the best-executed goals of the season.

Shewchuk won the ensuing faceoff to Ruggiero beyond the right circle. Ruggiero's initial slapshot was blocked, but the nation's highest-scoring defenseman reclaimed the puck, walked around a UNH defender and threaded a spectacular cross-ice pass to Shewchuk, who was all alone at the left post. The nation's leading goal scorer one-timed the puck past Roberts to even the score, 4-4.

"I was wide open backdoor, Angela saw a clear lane and gave me a terrific pass and it was a great play," Shewchuk said. "I was just hoping to get my stick on it, and Roberts was out of position, so it just went in."

The Crimson power-play unit stayed on the ice for the final 75 seconds of regulation, and created several more promising scoring opportunities. But Roberts and company held their own and willed their way to overtime.

Before Shewchuk's goal, Harvard found itself in a very unusual position. The Crimson had not trailed with less than 100 seconds in a game since the last time it traveled to Brown's Meehan Auditorium--Nov. 15, when it suffered its only loss of the season at the hands of Tara Mounsey and the Bears.

The Wildcats gave the Crimson possibly its biggest scare of the season with just 4:22 left in regulation. UNH junior center Carisa Zaban got the puck in the right corner and walked along the goal line in front of the net, deked Springer with some impressive stickwork and sent the puck into the far corner of the goal.

That came just 32 seconds after the Wildcats had tied the game. Senior defenseman Nicki Luongo--who had stopped the action minutes earlier after taking an elbow to the head--took the puck at center point and sent a centering pass on net that junior winger Tina Carrabba tipped through Springer's five-hole.

"The puck was tipped, but not very well," Springer said. "I should have had it. But I didn't get too emotional after that because I knew I would have to make more saves and all I had to do was give my teammates a chance to win the game."

Three minutes before Carrabba's goal, Harvard appeared to have the game under control. A checking penalty against co-captain Claudia Asano at 10:08 of the third gave UNH its last power play of the game. But the Crimson kept the Wildcat offense in check.

UNH had also led midway through the second after Asano and sophomore center Michelle Thornton were called for matching minors for holding. Carrabba and winger Melisa Heitzman got a two-on-one breakaway at 4:03 of the second with Mleczko the only defender back for Harvard. Carrabba drew Mleczko to the left side before hitting Heitzman in front of the net, and the senior backhanded the puck past Springer into the far corner of the net.

Four minutes later, Stone bumped Dunn to the second line alongside Francisco and Suurkask, and the two-line rotation paid off immediately for the Crimson. At 8:00 of the second Francisco won a faceoff to Asano behind the left circle, and the co-captain fired a slapper at Roberts. The UNH netminder made the initial stop but never got control of the puck, which trickled across the crease.

Asano's score deflated an otherwise feisty Wildcat attack, and the Crimson gradually gained control of the period. The pivotal moment came with 4:20 left in the second, when Harvard set up its potent offensive attack, and Mleczko drew a UNH penalty against Thornton for hooking. The play gave the vaunted Harvard power-play unit its first action of the game, and the Crimson capitalized.

Just 27 seconds into the man advantage, Ruggiero swung the puck to Botterill in the right circle. The ECAC and Ivy League Rookie of the Year walked in and sent a shot towards Roberts, and Shewchuk guided it into the UNH net.

Harvard jumped out to the early lead 4:47 into the game. Ruggiero stepped in front of a UNH centering pass and took off down the ice. She walked through the Wildcat defense and wristed a shot right at Roberts. The UNH netminder failed to cover up, and Francisco hustled into the crease to knock in the rebound before crashing into the net.

But the Wildcats settled down and established their offense midway through the opening period. Carrabba skated down for an uncontested breakaway with 4:35 left in the first, but Springer came through with an impressive glove save.

Springer continued to anchor the Crimson defense for the next three minutes, and a dive by Asano kept a loose puck out of the Harvard crease at 18:30 of the first.

But UNH won the ensuing faceoff and sophomore defenseman Brandi Kerns sent in a slapshot. Thornton guided the puck high past Springer to even the score at 1-1.

Harvard 8, Dartmouth 1

After twenty minutes of fairly even hockey, the Crimson jumped all over the Big Green with a five-goal second period to secure a spot in the championship game.

"We showed we could play with them and create opportunities for ourselves at the beginning of the game," Dartmouth Coach Judy Parish said. "Harvard has a threatening first line and we had to figure out a way to stop them. They came out with confidence and momentum, and in the second period, they just broke it wide open."

Mleczko gave the Crimson the lead for good 3:40 into the game with a deceptive goal against Big Green sophomore goaltender Meaghan Cahill.

Mleczko stole the puck at the red line and skated down the left boards before dumping to Botterill behind the left circle. The rookie hit Mleczko cutting along the goal line. Cahill fell down as Mleczko skated across the crease, and the nation's leading scorer flipped the puck into the net.

Then both teams settled down for a period of physical, back-and-forth action as Stone began a three-line rotation she used for the entire game. The Crimson killed two penalties, and Springer made a clutch save with 3.3 seconds left in the period when the Big Green pulled Cahill and sent six skaters against Harvard's man-down unit.

Dartmouth stayed in the game early by creating a few breakaway chances, but Harvard had all the answers. The Crimson narrowly outshot the Big Green, 10-7, in the first period.

But Harvard came out of the locker room on a mission in the second. Mleczko struck first 2:47 into the period when her talented linemates sent a barrage of shots on goal. Mleczko joined the action in the crease, grabbed a rebound and sent the puck top-shelf to record the game-winning goal.

Harvard continued to pressure the Dartmouth defense, and Shewchuk put the game out of reach 30 seconds after Mleczko's goal. Sophomore defenseman Julie Rando, handling from behind the goal, fed Shewchuk in the slot, and the nation's leading goal scorer skated around a defender into the right post before finding a hole in the corner for the score.

"Dartmouth is a good team and they played hard in the first period, but then we settled down in the defensive zone," Mleczko said. "We executed on the breakout and went at them hard. We didn't let them set up their forecheck and that allowed us to get some good opportunities on offense."

After the scoring burst that opened the period, the Crimson took advantage of three costly Big Green penalties in the final eight minutes of the second to make a statement to a Dartmouth team that took Harvard to overtime at Bright Hockey Center on Feb. 27.

Mleczko began the rout 90 seconds after Dartmouth sophomore defenseman Liz Macri was called for a tripping penalty.

The Crimson set up its vaunted power play unit, and Mleczko began rotating the puck. She fed Botterill in the right circle, and Botterill found Ruggiero at the right point. Ruggiero swung it back to Mleczko, who walked into the high slot and fired a hard slapshot past Cahill to complete the hat trick.

Ruggiero got into the action after a tripping penalty against Big Green freshman defenseman Correne Bredin at 17:29. Ruggiero won the puck 14 seconds later in the neutral zone, walked through a Dartmouth defender--breaking her opponents stick along the way--then skated into the crease to put back a rebound.

Shewchuk finished off the Big Green 25 seconds later when Francisco, centering on the man advantage, found her in the slot. Shewchuk rotated to her forehand as she attacked Cahill, hesitated and then found the far post for her second goal of the game.

But Harvard was not finished even after the end of the most impressive period of Harvard's dominant season.

With 10:45 left in the game, the third line of sophomore center Tara Dunn and junior wingers Sally Maloney and Kim McManama dumped the puck into the offensive zone. After a line change, the top line worked the puck to Ruggiero at the center point, and the First Team ECAC standout sent her scorching slapshot on a blazing path that ended at the back of the Dartmouth net.

Springer made the only mistake of an otherwise flawless, 20-save performance with 8:13 left in regulation and the Big Green desperately throwing shots on goal with man advantage. Springer fumbled a shot from sophomore center Lauren Trottier, and the puck managed to trickle past the crease for Dartmouth's lone goal.

The top Crimson line rounded out the scoring in impressive fashion. At 12:48 of the third, Shewchuk sent a cross-ice pass to Botterill, and the ECAC Rookie of the Year was waiting at the right post to knock in her only goal of the game.