Field of De Remer: Crimson Proves It Can Beat the Best

When the season comes to an end, the No. 2 Northeastern team that Harvard beat in the Beanpot last night will, barring a complete collapse, be playing in the Frozen Four for the NCAA national women’s hockey title.

Harvard, barring a near-perfect running of the table, will not.

And that’s a shame, because as the Crimson proved tonight, it will win big games. The team has ‘W’s, in addition to Northeastern, over No. 4 Niagara, No. 7 Brown, and it would have beaten No. 1 Minnesota in October had it not been for a complete collapse in the final five minutes.

If you put the Crimson players in the Frozen Four, they’d have just as much of a chance of winning as any other fourth-seed team that could be there, maybe even more so. But earning the right to be there is the hard part.

The Crimson has struggled to be a two-game-a-weekend team this year, at times combining its best and worst performances in a two-day stretch—the most salient example being Thanksgiving weekend when Harvard’s 4-2 victory over Brown was followed by a 6-0 loss to Providence a day later.

Harvard may well find a way to win the ECAC North tournament this year, but if the Crimson can’t consistently win throughout the remainder of its season, it won’t be enough. Women’s hockey is one of few NCAA sports that does not give automatic berths to tournament champions, leaving tournament games with no more relevance than regular season games in its selection criteria.

While this makes sense given that automatic berths for the ECAC North, ECAC East, and WCHA champions would leave only one at-large berth for the NCAA tournament, the best solution is to expand the tournament, not hold back automatic berths. With four teams in a tournament and 27 Division One teams to draw from, women’s college hockey has a selection-to-participation ratio well below the NCAA average of about 20 percent.

With the new Hockey East women’s league coming, the addition of Division One programs and NCAA tournament expansion is likely not far off, but it’s too late for this year.

Switching Them Up

Harvard Coach Katey Stone has tried for months to find the right fit to round out the Crimson’s first line. After running junior Tracy Catlin, freshman Kat Sweet, and sophomore Mina Pell in the third spot (alongside freshman Nicole Corriero and junior Kalen Ingram), Stone thinks that she’s found a combination that works with sophomore Lauren McAuliffe.

Obviously, it paid off when Corriero set up McAuliffe for the overtime winner.

“[Changing the first line] gives them more of a playmaking sense and an opportunity to finish and it works,” Stone said. “And Mina complements Tracy and Kat quite well. I think we like it.”

Moving Catlin off the first line in December was a great move that immediately helped the team’s productivity. Catlin, with such great ability to create her own shots with her speed and her moves, simply didn’t stand to benefit from linemates Corriero and Ingram as much as Sweet or Pell.

When McAuliffe was moved to a line with Ingram in the NCAA consolation game last year, she summarily set up Ingram for the game-winning goal. It’s nice to see her with a chance to shine like that again.

Overlooked Again

The ten Patty Kazmaier finalists were announced today. Surprisingly, there was not one Harvard player among them.

Stone was disappointed that Ingram, whom she had nominated, was overlooked.

“She’s a tremendous player,” Stone said. “Certainly one of the best I’ve seen in terms of knowledge of the game, work ethic, and skill. I think she has been our complete player from the start of the season.”

But she said that the team did not regard such honors with much importance.

“These kids aren’t playing for individual awards,” Stone said. “I’m disappointed, but on the same token, it’s not what it’s about for this group of kids.”

Stone mentioned that maybe she was overlooked because she hadn’t put up the numbers of other candidates, but that’s not true.

Ingram was fifth in the nation in points per game and second in the nation in assists per game.

No doubt many coaches still think of her as “the third player” on the line with Jennifer Botterill ’02-’03 and Tammy Shewchuk ’00-’01, who made two of the three Patty Kazmaier finalists last season.

A few more words need to be said about USA Hockey’s selection process.

I have to believe that the even division of the 10 finalists between the West and East is hardly coincidental. If so, such a quota is horribly unfair, given that there are only 10 teams between the WCHA and the GLWHL while there are 17 ECAC teams.

It’s also interesting to note how Ingram performed head-to-head relative to the other Eastern nominees.

In Harvard’s 4-3 win over New Hampshire on Dec. 14, Patty Kazamaier finalist Kira Misikowetz was kept off the scoreboard. Ingram single-handedly exploited gaping holes in the Wildcat penalty kill, scoring three power play goals.

In Harvard’s 4-2 win over Niagara on Dec. 2, Patty Kazmaier finalist Tania Pinelli matched her season in high goals allowed at the time. Ingram assisted on all four goals.

In Harvard’s 3-2 loss to Dartmouth on Nov. 10, Patty Kazmaier finalist Carly Haggard earned more stupid penalties—including a slashing-game misconduct—than points. Ingram set up classmate Pamela Van Reesema to give Harvard an early 1-0 lead.

In Harvard’s 4-3 win over Northeastern last night, Whitney—the nation’s leading goal scorer—went her second game against Harvard this season without a goal, though she did set up the Huskies’ first. Gunn carried on Erika Silva’s tradition of losing Beanpots in overtime. Ingram assisted on Harvard’s second goal. Gunn and Whitney will prepare next weekend for the Beanpot consolation game with a BU club team. Ingram will play for Harvard’s fourth straight Beanpot championship.

And that’s what matters the most.