Favored Saints Eyeing Revenge

Losing streaks are hard to break.

But when you are the number one ranked team in the country, it makes things a little easier.

No. 1 St. Lawrence comes to Cambridge this weekend as the favorite looking to defeat the No. 5 Harvard women’s hockey team—something it has not done in its last 12 tries.

For the Crimson (3-0-0, 2-0-0 ECAC), however, it is not just the Saints that makes this weekend a difficult conference test.

Riding the wave of a two-game conference win-streak after beating its first two ECAC opponents, Quinnipiac and Princeton, Harvard’s conference schedule gets a bit tougher this weekend as they meet up with Clarkson (7-2-1, 2-0-0) and St. Lawrence (7-0-0, 0-0-0)—the conference’s two winningest teams so far this season.

Heading into the weekend, the last time St. Lawrence lost a game was during last season’s Frozen Four—to the same Harvard squad they play this Sunday at Bright Hockey Center. Last year’s 4-1 win was reminiscent of the Crimson’s 2-1 triumph over the same St. Lawrence team in the same Frozen Four matchup during the 2004 campaign. In fact, the last four year’s have seen Harvard go 9-0-3 against the Saints in the regular season, conference tournament and NCAA tournament.

It’s something that the Crimson isn’t getting too excited about.

“You never feel like you deserve to beat a team,” captain Carrie Schroyer said. “You need to come into the game not holding onto the past. It’s a new season, we’re a new hockey team, and they’re a new hockey team. You can never walk into any kind of athletic contest with a feeling of entitlement.”

The fact that St. Lawrence has won all seven of its tune-up games and is currently ranked No. 1 in the country, however, doesn’t deter from Harvard’s excitement.

“It’s exciting to play against another team with a national ranking in the national polls,” Schroyer said. “We want to play the best hockey we can play, with a competitive spirit, and that’s when you have the best contest.”

St. Lawrence coach Paul Flanagan agrees that, although the Crimson has had a great deal of success against the Saints in the past, his team must focus on this year’s possibilities.

“We have a lot of veterans back this year, but what happened in the past is history,” Flanagan said. “Hopefully, we’ve learned from our defeats and ties, and the fact that they’ve had our number the past few years has to be out of our mindset. It’s a new year.”

The new year has produced what might be the strongest St. Lawrence team in its program history. Through seven games, the Saints have yet to give up more than two goals in any contest, and they, along with Harvard, stand as the only two undefeated teams left in women’s Division I hockey. The difference though, is that the Crimson has played just three games prior to this weekend—compared to seven for St. Lawrence.

“They started their season earlier because they’re not part of the Ivy League,” Schroyer said. “We started a bit behind them on the calendar schedule, and because of that, we’re still trying to tighten up in all areas.”

“We have a lot of work to do,” said Stone after last week’s win over Quinnipiac. “We need to improve everywhere, and we will.”

What the Crimson lacks in actual game experience this year it hopes to make up for with its intangibles.

“Our team has a lot of heart, and that’s the best situation at the beginning of the season,” Schroyer said. “Some solid defensive play and goal scoring all on top of that foundation of heart, with a little bit of grit, will hopefully help us win.”

Before the vaunted rematch on Sunday, both teams have a tough task against other conference opponents one day earlier.

Prior to St. Lawrence trying to enact revenge against Harvard, the Crimson will host Clarkson and the Saints will face No. 8 Dartmouth in Hanover on Saturday afternoon.

The Golden Knights, along with Harvard and Colgate, rank atop the ECAC with 2-0-0 conference records, and Clarkson’s seven overall wins ties them with the Saints for most in the conference.

It’s that fast start and the fact that they’re in the perfect position to become a “trap” game for Harvard that has the Crimson making sure to place equal weight on both of this weekend’s games.

“We’re definitely not looking past Clarkson at all,” Schroyer said. “We’re excited to play a highly-ranked team [in St. Lawrence], but we’re first thinking about the first game of the weekend. They are a tough team, they work hard, and they always give teams a battle.”

Having already notched four shutouts this season, the Golden Knights will have Harvard looking to their offense to step up against a Clarkson squad on a four-game win streak. Schroyer hopes that the Crimson’s offensive success thus far—15 goals in three games—will combine with the defense for a complete game this Saturday.

“We’ve had a lot of powerplay success this year,” Schroyer said. “We’ve also got to make sure not to give them a lot of freedom and defensive movement in our zone when they have the puck.”

No matter what happens this weekend, though, Harvard is making sure to keep the games in perspective.

“It’s early,” Stone said last week. “I don’t think anybody’s going to run away with the league.”