On the Road Up North

The No. 6 Harvard women’s hockey team hopes to be in a New York state of mind after this weekend’s road trip.

The Crimson will travel to the Empire State on Friday and Saturday to tackle ECAC rivals Clarkson and No. 5 St. Lawrence—two opponents it has recently dominated and easily handled at home in November. But both squads—the former in the role of spoiler and the latter a championship hopeful—are bent on retribution and will jeopardize Harvard’s 2005 unbeaten streak and its first-place status in the ECAC.

With just four games left on the conference docket—and the title still hanging in the balance—every contest takes on the importance of a post-season encounter. If that were not enough for the Crimson, the atmosphere at the two enemy rinks this weekend is sure to be hostile. Both opponents are out to prove they can hang with the ECAC’s perennially powerful Crimson.

The Saturday game—against the Saints—features two of the country’s hottest teams. Harvard has been 10-0-1 since the New Year and St. Lawrence is riding an eight-game winning streak. The Saints are also undefeated at home this season, and are coming off of a convincing win over Dartmouth on Friday.

“With that kind of momentum we just want to make sure that we’re prepared,” tri-captain Nicole Corriero said. “And ready to take them on no matter what they give us.”

The Saints, trailing Harvard by only two points in the league standings, are seeking revenge for an embarrassing early-season 5-1 defeat at the Bright Center.

“We played them earlier in the year,” Harvard coach Katey Stone said. “And it wasn’t as much of a battle as I thought it was going to be. I anticipate this weekend being a real battle.”

The drama is heightened by the proximity of the two teams in the national polls, both jockeying for fifth position in the predictive Pairwise Rankings—which have been used in the past as an accurate measure of the teams chosen by the NCAA to play for the championship—and the potential opportunity to host a game in the Frozen Eight.

“I think of a lot of us are viewing this weekend as probably one of the most important weekends,” Corriero said. “In terms of where we’re going to end up in Pairwise and everything like that.”

The loss in November was but the latest chapter for St. Lawrence in a recent string of losses to the Crimson.

The all-time series stands at 20-6-3 in Harvard’s favor, with the Crimson going 11-0-2 in the last 13 encounters—stretching to 1999. That includes back-to-back triumphs over St. Lawrence in the ECAC championship game and the NCAA Frozen Four last year.

On the other hand, the history the Crimson shares with the Golden Knights is a brief one. Clarkson only joined Division I last year and is playing in the ECAC for the first time this season. Given these hurdles, the Golden Knights have surprised the critics with a near-.500 record—playing gritty, defensive hockey good enough for eighth place in the 11-team division.

“I expect two tremendously hard-fought games,” Stone said. “Clarkson has impressed me throughout the year. They come to play and they play really hard.”

Led by sophomore goalie Kira McDonald, the Golden Knights enter the game ranked ninth nationally, right behind Harvard, in scoring defense, allowing only 1.97 goals per game. In the first meeting, the Crimson broke through for four tallies in a shutout win.

The challenge will only be greater for Clarkson tomorrow against a Harvard offense that is officially hitting its stride, with 48 goals in its last seven games—all victories.

This time around, however, the team will have to do without sophomore forward Liza Solley, tied for fourth on the team with seven goals. A valuable sniper on the second line, the most stable unit on the team so far this season, Solley went down with an arm injury in Tuesday night’s Beanpot final. Stone predicted Solley would not be suited up for the Northern swing.

“We’re going to be cautious,” Stone said. “I imagine you won’t see her this weekend.”

You will, though, see the rest of the Crimson squad in full force this weekend, a team that, according to its coach, is peaking at just the right moment.

“We’re right where I want us to be,” Stone said. “I think we have some of our best hockey ahead of us. We’re getting good and we’re going to be really good.”

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