Controversial Calls Cloud Loss

Friday night’s game at Dartmouth was a perfect example of the need for instant replay in women’s hockey. Immediately after Lydia Wheatley deflected a power-play goal past Ali Boe late in the second period to put the Big Green up 2-0, the sophomore netminder searched frantically to plead her case to an official.

The goal was controversial on two counts. Not only was Wheatley dangerously close to being inside the crease, it was also unclear whether or not she kicked the puck in with her skate, or knocked it in with her stick as the official ruled. In either case the goal would not have stood.

Later in the second period, co-captain Lauren McAuliffe drove down the left side of the ice and put the puck past Stephanie Cochran—only no official ruled it a goal. The red light behind the net appeared to have flickered, and Katey Stone and the Harvard bench, as well as fans and the players on the ice, reacted as though McAuliffe had indeed scored.

“Our bench got a pretty clear shot, and they all thought it hit the back middle post and bounced right back out,” sophomore Julie Chu said. “I heard a ‘ding’ on the ice, but I couldn’t tell if it hit the post inside the net or the crossbar.”

At the first stoppage of play, Stone stood by the bench’s doorway, protesting the no-goal decision.

INSULT TO INJURY

After Stephanie Cochran covered up the puck and the whistle had already been blown late in the third period, Dartmouth star and game heroine Gillian Apps nailed sophomore Carrie Schroyer into the boards on the far left corner of the ice. Schroyer was prevented from retaliating by one official, when Banfield stepped in to defend her teammate.

The official turned his attention to Banfield, however, and in grabbing her jersey to keep her from Apps, swung the Crimson defenseman down to the ice. Whether Banfield slipped on her own or fell because of the referee’s intervention is unclear. Both Schroyer and Apps received the same penalty—two minutes for roughing.

SNAPPED

Co-captain Angela Ruggiero’s incredible streak of scoring a point in every game she had played in for Harvard this season was snapped at 23 after she was ejected from the Big Green game before recording a point. Ruggiero still leads all defensemen in points scored this season with 43.

DOWN THE STRETCH THEY COME

The Crimson and No. 4 St. Lawrence are currently tied for first in the ECAC with 26 points apiece, with No. 3 Dartmouth one point behind. Had Harvard defeated the Big Green Friday night, Dartmouth would have been all but out of contention for ECAC title and would have jeopardized its Frozen Four contention.

The pressure is on the Crimson to win its last two regular season games this weekend against Princeton—the only team besides the Big Green to hand the Crimson a loss this season—and Yale to capture the regular season title.

Dartmouth plays away at Colgate and Cornell this weekend, and St. Lawrence has a two-day doubleheader against Union, a match-up that all but guarantees two wins for the Saints. Should both Harvard and St, Lawrence win their final two games of the season, Harvard would emerge as the ECAC champion because of a better overall record than the Saints and better head-to-head record with them.

Both St. Lawrence and No. 5 Wisconsin kept their playoff season hopes alive, sweeping Colgate and No. 10 Ohio State, respectively. While No. 3 Dartmouth edged Brown 3-2 Saturday, No. 2 Minnesota all but ended No. 6 Minnesota-Duluth’s hopes of a trip to the Frozen Four, handing the Bulldogs defeats of 4-2 and a 7-5 this weekend.

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