Harvard, Martin Gather Momentum With Victory Over Friars

The No. 4 Harvard women’s hockey team snapped out of a two-game winless slide on Saturday night, beating Providence 2-0 at the Bright Hockey Center and regaining crucial momentum that it will take into Friday’s game against No. 5 Dartmouth.

Coming into the game having played four matches in the previous eight days, including a draining overtime showdown against New Hampshire the night before, the Crimson (12-2-1, 9-1-0 ECAC) hoped to clear up a number of questions. Will health be a nagging problem? Does the team have the mental and physical stamina it will need to grind through the season? Is Harvard ready to jump into the conference season against one of its toughest rivals?

The game provided no concrete answers, but hinted toward progress in the right direction. The Crimson took control of the game early and never relinquished it against a physical Providence squad (7-8-3) that had shown it can challenge top-ranked teams when it upset No. 9 Boston College last week.

“It was a tough, physical game,” Harvard coach Katey Stone said. “It was tough to get out of the way of the pressure.”

The Crimson’s first score came during a powerplay 3:26 into the first period, as sophomore center Jenny Brine fired from the left side, boosting her NCAA-leading goal total to 18. She was assisted by co-captain right winger Julie Chu and sophomore center Sarah Vaillancourt.

Though the senior captain could be seen at times favoring her left leg because of a sprained right ankle, she managed to maintain her nation-high points per game average.

Outshooting Providence 13-2 in the first period, Harvard showed that it had not fallen into the doldrums in two winless games after an eight-game win streak.

“I thought we played with some energy,” Stone said. “We’re playing a little banged up, but the kids did a good job mentally to get through that. They were resilient, which they need to be.”

Early in the game, however, resilience was far from necessary for the attacking Crimson. Junior defenseman Caitlin Cahow launched a slapshot from near the blue line on the left side just over 11 minutes into the second period, her fourth goal in the last four games.

Harvard and Providence matched each other with ten shots on goal in the second period, though the Crimson seemed to be in control by virtue of its complete dominance in power-play minutes. Through the first two periods Harvard committed only one penalty, resulting in a two-minute power play. Providence, by contrast, committed five penalties for ten minutes of power play time through the first two frames.

In the third period however, the Crimson ran out of steam, its tough recent schedule perhaps taking a toll, and began committing penalties (four for eight minutes).

Two penalties committed less than a minute apart by Harvard (at 13:01 and 13:53 into the third period) provided the Friars almost three minutes of uninterrupted powerplay, including almost a minute of two-man advantage, during with they unleashed a volley of shots that sophomore goalie Brittany Martin masterfully turned back. She blocked all 28 shots by Providence, including their 13 in the final period, atoning for the three goals she allowed in the loss at Connecticut last Tuesday.

“Martin was playing great in front of us,” Brine said. “We had confidence going on the ice knowing that. We just knew that all we had to do was kill these two five-on-threes and get the puck out.”

As the Providence power play seemed to be reaching the height of its intensity, Brine went to her knees to wrest the puck away from the Friars, clear it past two blue lines, and allow Harvard and Martin a reprieve from the onslaught.

“You really can’t get stressed out about it out there,” Martin said. “You’ve just got to remain confident and you have your penalty killers out there. You know every single one of them, once I get the first stop, they’re going to clear the rebound and that’s all they need to do. As long as you’re confident in the team around you, there’s really nothing to worry about.”

Whether or not Martin is worried, the Crimson will have to play at its peak next Friday at Dartmouth, which has the second highest scoring output in the ECAC. Like Harvard, which has three Olympians (Vaillancourt, Chu and Cahow) back after a year-long absence, Dartmouth has its four Olympians back.

“Dartmouth’s going to be tough,” Brine said. “I like the way it’s looking. We have a good chance. We’re going to prove ourselves before Christmas break.”