Rookie Vaillancourt Returns in Nick of Time, Leads Offense

After a week-long absence from the team to participate in the Air Canada Cup in Germany with the Hockey Canada U-22 team, freshman forward Sarah Vaillancourt returned in grand style last night, leading Harvard to victory over Boston College in her first-ever Beanpot final.

Looking not the least bit jet-lagged, the nation’s highest-scoring rookie padded her stats with a one-goal, three-assist performance against the Eagles. Her four points came on the team’s first four goals, virtually ensuring the trophy midway through the second period. The output brings her totals to 15-28-43 in only 19 games played on the season.

“She makes plays,” Boston College coach Tom Mutch said. “She makes people around her better. Playing at the level that she’s played with Team Canada obviously helps her.”

The Eagles blue-liners paled in comparison to the tests she recently faced against top international competition, as Vaillancourt used her blinding speed and deft passing to make mince-meat of the Boston College defense.

“She can toe-drag people as much as she can find the open player,” Mutch said. “She creates a lot of offense for them.”

On a breakaway late in the first period, Vaillancourt launched an elevated cross-court pass that landed right on the stick of Harvard tri-captain Nicole Corriero, who bulled her way in for a goal.

“It was awesome to have her back,” Corriero said of Vaillancourt. “We’ve only had one practice together since she’s been back from Germany but it feels like she’s never left.”

Even when she misfired, Vaillancourt’s speed and level of activity created opportunities for her Crimson teammates. On a solo rush up the middle of the ice, Vaillancourt lasered a high shot off the goalie’s shoulder pad. The puck promptly fell to Corriero, who set up Laura Brady for the one-timer.

Vaillancourt’s aggression did get her in trouble at times. She incurred two penalties within two minutes of each other early in the final period, the first of which led to the lone Boston College goal at 5-on-3.

The Harvard first line resets now for the ECAC stretch run with Vaillancourt on the wing, continuing her quest for the Rookie of the Year.

POLL DANCING

Despite registering three blowout wins last week, Harvard dropped in the two crucial college hockey rankings released Monday.

A crushing defeat of struggling Northeastern in the Beanpot opener and a pair of shutout conquests over ECAC doormat Union did little to impress the voters, while other teams experienced more meaningful results during the span.

In the Division I coaches’ poll, the Crimson dropped one spot to No. 6, jumped by St. Lawrence, who knocked off No. 3 Dartmouth at home on Friday. Missing three of its top players to the same event that Vaillancourt competed in, the suddenly impotent Big Green couldn’t muster a goal, falling 3-0 to the surging Saints, winners of eight straight.

Dartmouth wasn’t the only team at the top to fall, though, as No. 2 Minnesota-Duluth suffered an unlikely loss at the hands of 8-18-4 St. Cloud State. Sitting on a comfortable 3-1 lead in the second period, the Bulldogs inserted number three goalie Anna-Kaisa Piiroinen, who quickly surrendered three goals in three minutes, allowing the Huskies to come from behind for the stunning upset.

In the Pairwise Rankings, which aim to predict the field for the eight-team NCAA Tournament, Harvard dropped to the precarious eighth place. Fortunately, the plunge is a bit misleading. The Crimson’s RPI- a significant component of the Pairwise calculation- suffered from playing such weak opponents last week, even though Harvard won all its games handily. This technicality will be adjusted for come selection time, pushing the Crimson more comfortably in at-large position.

Harvard will meet St. Lawrence in a pivotal conference tilt this weekend.

SORE SOLLEY

The scariest moment of the night for the Crimson came in the second period when sophomore forward Liza Solley took a spill into the boards and stayed down on the ice with an arm injury.

Solley seized the puck in the neutral zone and broke for the goal with only one man to beat. The Boston College defender veered Solley off to the right, and she tumbled into the boards. She was attended to by the trainer and left the ice with the help several teammates before proceeding into the locker room.

Solley was seen during the post-game celebration with her right arm in a sling, and head coach Katey Stone issued a guarded prognosis for her second-line cog.

“She’s banged up,” said Stone. “So we’re going to make sure she gets it looked at by the doctors. I don’t imagine she’s going to play this weekend. We’re going to be cautious because we have

a lot of hockey left to play and she’s very valuable to our team.”

—Staff writer Jonathan Lehman can be reached at lehman@fas.harvard.edu.