Crimson Plays Waiting Game After Loss

PROVIDENCE, R.I.--The future of the Harvard women's hockey team, the preseason favorite to win the national championship back in November, is in doubt.

The Crimson, which will likely fall from its current No. 2 position when U.S. College Hockey Online releases this week's national rankings later today, fell to No. 6 Dartmouth in overtime, 3-2, on Saturday at Brown's Meehan Auditorium in the semifinals of the ECAC Tournament. The Big Green beat Harvard in all three meetings this season.

That means the Crimson will have to wait by the phone until tomorrow for a call from USA Hockey, the sponsor of the AWCHA national championship tournament, to find out if it has a spot in the four-team tournament.

No. 1 Brown, the host and top seed of last week's conference tournament, defeated Dartmouth in the ECAC final yesterday. The Bears already have an automatic bid to the Final Four, as does No. 3 Minnesota-Duluth. Harvard is one of the teams in contention for the two at-large invitations along with Dartmouth, Minnesota, which is tied with Duluth at No. 3, and No. 5 Northeastern.

"We've proven ourselves as a team with a lot of character and a lot of talent," said junior winger Tammy Shewchuk, one of three Crimson players to earn First Team All-ECAC honors. "It's not fun when you're not in control of your own destiny, but we've been a very solid team all year and, when you compare the west to the east, I don't think there's any doubt that the ECAC is a stronger league. We've stayed in the top two or three all year long so I think that's a pretty good case right there."

Harvard is clearly one of the top teams in the country, but now it can take nothing for granted. Dartmouth proved that in the conference semifinals, when the Big Green showed it was indeed possible to beat a good team three times in the same season.

The worst part about Saturday's loss was that Dartmouth exposed a very simple formula that can beat Harvard: strong goaltending, a collapsing defense and taking shots in transition.

Dartmouth netminder Amy Ferguson turned in an impressive performance. She stopped 35 Harvard shots, nine of them in overtime. Ferguson stuffed Harvard's vaunted top line from point-blank range, and she used her pads well against scorching slapshots from the point. The Crimson outshot the Big Green both times in the regular season, and poured 37 shots on net in the semifinal loss.

Ferguson struggled yesterday in the championship game, when Brown scored on six of its 25 shots. On Saturday, however, she simply had Harvard's number. When sophomore defenseman Angela Ruggiero wound up for an uncontested slapper in the high slot that could have won the game in overtime, the reigning ECAC Goaltender of the Week came out of the splits and swiped the puck out of the air to keep the Big Green alive.

Ferguson was so successful against Harvard because the Crimson kept firing wide of the goal's mouth. The Big Green narrowly outshot the Crimson, 38-37, but Harvard attempted 81 shots to Dartmouth's 66.

The Big Green frustrated the Crimson by packing five defenders in the slot and challenging Harvard to score from the point. Harvard's blueliners wound up and put good wood on the puck, but there was usually a Dartmouth skater in position to prevent the shot from reaching the net.

Offensively, Dartmouth cashed in on odd-man rushes. Winger Kim McCullough was cherry-picking along the blueline all night, looking for a quick shot after her teammates cleared the zone. Kristina Guarino scored the overtime goal after receiving a quick pass from linemate Jen Wiehn and racing down the right wing to throw the puck on net before Harvard could set up on defense.

Should the Crimson receive an at-large bid, it must find a way to break down that formula.

The top line must penetrate collapsing defenses. Centering passes from the point is one way, but the Crimson should also take advantage of centers Angie Francisco and Jen Botterill, who can dish from behind the net. In addition, Harvard can look to wingers Tammy Shewchuk and Kalen Ingram, the two players who scored on Saturday. Both wingers showed their explosiveness as well as their abilities to cycle out of the corner.

Defensively, aggressive forechecking should prevent shots in transition, and Harvard cannot afford to make mistakes with the puck in its own zone.

Those are some ways Harvard can play even better this weekend. The Crimson can still resort to keeping the score close and mounting a late comeback, as it did in the conference semifinals. Harvard threw about five shots on goal in the final 27 seconds of regulation, with Ingram burying the equalizer on a gutsy shot from the crease with 6.5 seconds left.

"Dartmouth played pretty hard and they definitely worked for what they got," Shewchuk said. "But we showed a lot of character in the way we came back."

That's all true, and any postseason game that features an offense like Harvard's is bound to be exciting. But now we all have to wait to see if the Crimson gets another chance to prove itself this weekend.