Injuries Change Outlook For W. Hockey

The Harvard women’s hockey team entered last night’s Beanpot semi-final game against Boston College still showing signs of the battle scars sustained thus far this season.

Sophomore winger Julie Chu continues to tape her wrist while healing from a wrist injury suffered in a game with the U.S. National Camp over Christmas break.

“It happened on impact,” Chu said in reference to the wrist injury. “We’re still not really sure what it is, because I haven’t had time to rest it. All I know is it wasn’t extending the right way.”

Chu played injured against Dartmouth after missing a scrimmage against the Bluewater Hawks on Jan. 2 and the Crimson’s 3-0 victory over Vermont Jan. 10.

“Compared to how I was a few weeks ago, I feel 100 percent better,” Chu said.

Her performance against Princeton and Yale showed she was coming back to form, posting two goals and four assists over the two games.

“We don’t even realize she’s hurt anymore,” Ruggiero said. “If someone puts a jersey on, they’re healthy enough to play. She might have tape on her wrist, but she’ll play through the pain.”

The same can be said for defenseman Ashley Banfield, who suffered a dislocated patella in her during Harvard’s nail-biting 2-1 defeat to No. 1 Dartmouth Jan.11.

Banfield’s knee has plagued her in the past. She missed a handful of games last year due to knee problems, as well as 11 games her freshman season.

But she hasn’t missed a game this year, due in large part to the healing time afforded by reading period. Her presence on the ice has been invaluable given the youth of most of Harvard’s blueliners, as well as the absence of Jaclyn Pitushka from the line-up.

Though she remembers no specific incident to explain the injury, Pitushka suffered a ruptured disc in her back sometime after the Minnesota-Duluth game Dec. 13 and has been missing in action ever since. Both she and Harvard coach Katey Stone expect her to be back for this weekend’s road games against Colgate and Cornell.

But as the injured return, others are scratched from the lineup. Stone does not expect freshman defenseman Lindsey Weaver, who suffered a concussion last Friday night against Princeton, to be back in action for over a week.

As always, Stone has a response to unexpected developments.

“We’ve adjusted some things and changed our lines around a little bit to hopefully spark some different elements for us,” she said. “Caitlin Cahow has become a defenseman now, which I think is going to be a good move for us and a good move for her.”

Bruised Ego

The Harvard women’s hockey team also entered tonight’s Beanpot semi-final against Boston College still licking its wounds from Friday night’s 6-3 loss to then No. 10 Princeton.

“It seemed like we were on the penalty kill the entire game,” Ruggiero said. “It was more like the WWE, not hockey. There was no flow to the game, just penalties.”

Ruggiero spoke from experience. In addition to receiving closer coverage from the officials than the shadowing she received from Princeton’s defense, the pressure shown to her from the Tigers wasn’t exactly light.

“Even when I was in the far corner, someone was always holding onto my jersey,” Ruggiero said.

Towards the end of the game, she was confronted by three Tiger defenders on her way towards the opposing net, and subsequently tackled. She received a combined 12 penalty minutes for the scuffle that ensued, including a game misconduct for a total charge of 22 minutes—more than a third of the game—in the box, as opposed to the 2 minutes charged to Princeton’s Chrissie Norwich.

“We’ve been pretty good adapting to situations we’re in,” Ruggiero said. “I’m grateful it happened this early in the season. If this happens later on, we’ll be prepared to deal with it.”

The Road Ahead

A glance at the top teams in the country reveals the importance of Harvard’s health on the road to this year’s Frozen Four.

ECAC and Ancient Eight rival No. 1 Dartmouth—an odds-on favorite to make the Frozen Four—would be without its top two stars, Cherie Piper and Gillian Apps, because of a scheduling conflict with training for the Canadian national team.

Farther west, No. 2 Minnesota lost star forward Natalie Darwitz—who had previously led her team and the nation in scoring—when she suffered torn ligaments in her right elbow against Minnesota-Duluth Jan. 16. She is likely out for the remainder of the season. Meanwhile, fellow Golden Gopher Lyndsay Wall was declared academically ineligible to compete in her second semester by the University of Minnesota.

Given these losses, both teams would present drastically different and ultimately weaker lineups to any opponent in the Frozen Four.

“I think everybody has crosses to bear throughout the season,” Stone said. “Ultimately, you have to be resilient and persevere as best as you can. Fortunately we’re in a pretty good spot right now.”

While this might suggest good things to come should the Crimson continue to win, Stone isn’t looking far into the future.

“You can’t look past anyone anymore,” Stone said. “The game of women’s hockey just isn’t there anymore like it used to be, when you had some holidays in your season. We need to bring consistent preparation every day so we don’t get stung by anybody.”

—Staff writer John R. Hein can be reached at hein@fas.harvard.edu.