W. Hockey Falls Short at Frozen Four

MINNEAPOLIS--The Harvard women's hockey team closed out the season just two wins shy of its championship expectations at the inaugural Women's Frozen Four.

In front of 2,099 fans at Mariucci Arena on Mar. 23, No. 3 Harvard played No. 2 Minn.-Duluth to a 1-1 draw through two periods before the Bulldogs--stacked with players from the Finnish and Swedish national teams--exploited a series of Crimson defensive zone breakdowns early in third period and held on for a 6-3 win.

In the consolation game two days later, sophomore winger Kalen Ingram scored twice and assisted on senior winger Tammy Shewchuk's 152nd career goal to lead Harvard (24-10) to a 3-2 victory over No. 1 Dartmouth (26-5-1).

It was a roller-coaster weekend for Crimson junior co-captain Jennifer Botterill, who won the Patty Kazmaier Award the night following the crushing defeat to Minn.-Duluth then watched her collegiate record 80-game point-scoring streak come to an end against Dartmouth.

"We came into the tournament believing that we could win it all" said Botterill, whose Olympic commitments will force her to wait two years for another shot at the national title. "The game against Dartmouth was great because it reminded us how much we wanted to win it all."

Minn.-Duluth (28-5-4) went on to win the first-ever NCAA title in women's hockey with a 4-2 victory in the final over No. 4 St. Lawrence, who shocked Dartmouth 3-1 in the first semifinal of the tournament. Sophomore Bulldog winger Maria Rooth--who netted a hat trick against Harvard--was named the Frozen Four's Most Outstanding Player.

Harvard 3, Dartmouth 2

On a day that brought an end to the careers of six Harvard seniors, a pair of underclassmen who will be relied on heavily in the future teamed up for the game-winning goal.

"A lot of great players finished their careers today at Harvard," said Harvard Coach Katey Stone. "It's not really about us winning the game today. We started to get good when these seniors and Tammy Shewchuk came to Harvard."

With four minutes left in the second period, a pass cross-ice from freshman forward Lauren McAuliffe set Ingram free on a breakaway.

"That was a great pass by Lauren," Ingram said. "She really stepped up from the third line. I've got to give her credit for sending me in all alone."

Ingram had found marginal success in one-on-one situations throughout the season, but she buried this one. Her simple deke to the right followed by a backhand past Dartmouth senior goaltender Meaghan Cahill gave Harvard the 3-2 lead for good.

McAuliffe and Ingram had played sparingly together all season, with Ingram typically on the top line and McAuliffe on the third line. A mid-game shuffle which switched them both to the second line with senior center Angie Francisco made the game-winner possible.

"We were just looking to ignite some action in different situations," Stone said. "We changed up our second line for some better positional play in the defensive zone. Right off the bat, we took advantage."

Harvard held the lead for all but 1:44 of the first period. The Crimson scored the game's first goal just one minute into the afternoon, and when Dartmouth first tied the game, it took less than a minute for Harvard to regain the lead.

"The way we approached today's game was a way for our seniors to go out with flair, flash and style," Stone said.

A goal from Shewchuk--the last of a school-record 152 on her career--put Harvard on the scoreboard first. The goal was created in large part by sophomore defenseman Jaime Hagerman, who was used aggressively on the attack throughout the tournament.

Hagerman started the attack with a shot from the point that was offline, but Ingram was left free to dig out the puck from behind the net. From there she found Shewchuk in front for the score.

The Crimson paid the price for leaving Hagerman in the offensive zone late in the first, as Dartmouth senior linemates Jennifer Wiehn and Kristina Guarino broke free on an odd-man rush. Hagerman nearly made it back in time to stop the play, but Guarino put the puck inside the left post to tie the game.

Harvard's first line would break the tie on its first shift following the game-tying goal, when Ingram crashed the net and put back a loose rebound off a Shewchuk shot to give Harvard a 2-1 lead going into the first intermission.

The assist was Shewchuk's 155th of her career and her 307th career point--the last of her collegiate career.

"When I look back on my career, I won't remember any of the 300-whatever points, but I will remember every one of my teammates, especially the people that played with me this year," said Shewchuk, who was the only Crimson player to make the All-Tournament Team. "I'll remember the bus rides, the joking, and all the awesome people I got to play with day in and day out. It's going to be really strange not to play with them anymore. Harvard has always been my home away from home, and this has always been my team."

Late in the third period, the Dartmouth offense showed no sign of being able to get the puck past the Harvard defense and freshman goaltender Jessica Ruddock. The only suspense left was whether Botterill would be held pointless for the first time in her 81-game career.

In the game's closing moments, Cahill was pulled from the Dartmouth net, and Botterill had a chance at a loose puck just inside the blueline, but she could not gain enough control to put a shot on the open net.

Botterill downplayed any disappointment over the streak's conclusion.

"I felt good out there and I still enjoyed the game," Botterill said. "There were some great goals scored today--Tammy had a great one, Kalen had a beautiful one--and my team played a fantastic game."

The Crimson finished 2-2 on the season against the Big Green, a considerable improvement over last season when Dartmouth swept all three of its games against Harvard.

The consolation loss left Dartmouth with a fourth-place finish in the Frozen Four after being ranked No. 1 for the duration of the season.

"The toughest thing about this game is that it's the end for six players whose leadership brought this program to where it is, and that certainly stings," said Dartmouth Coach Judy Parish Oberting.

Dartmouth's finish in the national tournament was surprisingly worse than the third-place showing of the previous season. Last year, the Big Green snuck into the tournament as the bottom seed ahead of Harvard, despite having twice as many losses as the Crimson and trailing in every selection criteria other than head-to-head play.

Minnesota-Duluth 6, Harvard 3

Harvard played 2,112 minutes of hockey this year.

It wants three of those minutes back.

That's all the time it took Minnesota-Duluth to score three times and break a 1-1 third period tie en route to a 6-3 semifinal win. The Bulldog victory ended the Crimson's drive for a second national championship.

"There was a ten minute period in the third where we turned it on offensively, got a lot of shots on net and put the puck in the goal," said Duluth Coach Shannon Miller. "We just took control of the game. We earned that victory."

The Bulldogs opened the third with three goals 2:28 apart to take a 4-1 lead. Harvard could not recover.

Duluth sophomore Maria Rooth, who scored three goals and added an assist, converted on a poor Crimson clearing attempt at 7:52 of the third to make it 5-1 before Harvard mounted a comeback.

Shewchuk founded Botterill all alone on the doorstep to cut the defecit by one with 9:05 remaining.

Just 1:21 later, Shewchuk made it 5-3, pouncing on a Jamie Hagerman rebound after the sophomore defenseman pinched in from the point to apply pressure.

"This team had a relentless belief that they were going to come back," Stone said. "Everybody in the stands saw it, and I think there were a lot of Duluth people who were afraid of it. If you can make people nervous like that, you're doing a lot of good things."

Good things were not enough, however, especially when the Crimson's second line wasn't producing. Harvard's number two trio failed to score a point in the tournament and was minus-six over two games.

The three accounted for just one of Harvard's 18 shot attempts in the third period.

Led by sophomore winger and Finnish national team member Hanne Sikio, Duluth got three goals from its second line, the difference in the game. In the end, six forwards tallied multiple points for the Bulldogs.

Duluth was tough and skilled. The Crimson was not ready.

"We were matching power for power, and power for power we're better," Miller said. "We're faster, stronger and we have better hands."

They also have one of the most talented goal scorers in the nation.

"I happen to believe Maria Rooth is the best player in women's college hockey, bar none," Miller said.

Rooth had something to prove after being overlooked as a finalist for the Patty Kazmaier Award. She made her statement on the ice, and every team in Minnesota for the Frozen Four paid the price.

Rooth scored four goals and added a pair of assists in two games on her way to a national championship, first team All-Tournament status and Frozen Four MVP honors.

The only other player who came close to matching her dominance was Shewchuk, who finished the weekend with three goals and two assists.

Other than Shewchuk and Rooth, only Harvard's Igram and Duluth's Sikio scored more than one goal in the tournament, and no one else recorded more than three points.

Add Botterill into the mix with Shewchuk and Rooth and the top three scorers in the country are on the ice at the same time.

Offense was not lacking for either team and defense made the difference in the game.

"Defensize zone coverage can be tough for us on some days," Stone said. "When you play on a sheet this size, if you don't go right away, you're in trouble. When you play against kids like Maria Rooth...you can't make a mistake."

Harvard let its defensize intensity wain for a couple shifts early in the third period, and it cost the Crimson a shot at the national titile.

"We had tremendous firepower and a good goalie, but you can't hide your weaknesses forever," Stone said. "They found them and exploited them today."

For at least one weekend and one moment in time, Duluth was perfect and national champions.

They were the best, bar none.