Crimson collapses in third period as Wildcats live up to ranking

DURHAM, N.H.—When the third period was about to begin, the Wildcat faithful had to be more than a little worried about their team’s chances against the No. 7 Harvard women’s hockey team.

The Crimson (10-6-2, 7-2-2 ECAC) ultimately collapsed as the No. 1 University of New Hampshire (16-2-0, 7-1-0 Hockey East) ran away with the contest 5-1 on Wednesday, but when the puck dropped to start the final period, the situation appeared to favor Harvard.

Earlier this season, the Crimson played its best hockey during the game’s final stretch. Before the loss to the Wildcats, Harvard had outscored the competition 32-10 in the final third of the game, while holding an even mark in the opening two periods.

Against then-No. 1 St. Lawrence, a late goal propelled the Crimson to an important tie early in the season. Just before that matchup, Harvard had nearly mounted a thrilling comeback in a 4-3 loss to Clarkson with two goals in the final frame.

This week, however, the Crimson faltered and was ultimately overrun by the more energetic and crisp UNH team on its home ice.

“I was disappointed in our last 20 minutes, but I like where we’re headed,” Harvard coach Katey Stone. “We hurt ourselves tonight by not controlling some situations that we usually control. We were just a step slow tonight—hesitant in certain situations.”

But UNH seemed like it had more energy and was more ready to take over the game on its home ice, which is unusually large for the college level.

“On a big sheet of ice, the puck has to do the work,” Stone said. “And we didn’t let it do the work.”

By not fully using the large rink and having to kill off five penalties to UNH’s one in the first two periods, the Crimson tired itself out and began to play sloppier and less focused as the third frame began.

Harvard had done a solid job killing the four penalty situations that it faced in the second period, but its key players on that special teams unit were visibly worn out after chasing around the number-one power-play unit in the country.

The result was sloppy turnovers in the defensive zone that allowed the Wildcats to pounce on the Crimson defense.

“When you play 5-on-4 the entire game, you are going to get tired,” Stone said. “We need to stay out of the penalty box.”

“Toward the end of the game, we were throwing the puck away without looking,” junior Katie Johnston said.

The end result of Harvard’s inability to keep up its intensity led to three Wildcat goals in just over six minutes to turn the tightly fought contest into a rout.

The first goal, by Shannon Clement, finally gave UNH the breathing room it had been looking for and opened the floodgates for the ready-to-pounce Wildcats offense. She scored when linemate Maggie Joyce swept behind the Harvard net and past sophomore Brenna McLean—who was defending her—and then passed Clement the puck for the one-timer past Crimson senior goaltender Ali Boe.

“We came out with a little urgency in the third and you could just see the extra effort,” UNH coach Brian McCloskey said. “That first goal was huge.”

That urgency put the Wildcats over the top despite Harvard’s continual pressure on UNH goalie Melissa Bourdon throughout the period.

The Crimson did manage 10 shots in the final period—though most came after the game was already out of reach—to put up the highest tally that the Wildcats have faced this season.

“They have good team spirit,” McCloskey said. “Even though they were down, they kept going at it.”

—Staff writer Gabriel M. Velez can be reached at gmvelez@fas.harvard.edu.