Rookie Goalie Bails Out Women's Hockey

When the women’s hockey roster for this season was first released, Harvard featured three goalies on the list.

This past weekend, in a pair of key mid-season ECAC contests, the Crimson had to rely on Brittany Martin—its freshman recruit from Torrance, Cal.—to be its lone netminder. Luckily for Harvard, Martin stepped up to the challenge and saved 76 shots to earn ties against Brown and Yale.

And she played all 130 minutes with no other goaltender dressed to play on the bench, knowing she would be the last line of defense for the Crimson.

“She kept her composure in a very pressure-cooker game,” remarked Harvard coach Katey Stone after Martin stopped 33 shots in a scoreless tie with the Bears on Saturday. “Brittany was the perfect example of taking advantage of the opportunity when it’s given to you.”

Stone added that while Martin has been showing her abilities in practice, “it’s great to see her produce in a game.”

While most programs maintain two goaltenders on its roster at any given time—and Harvard itself had done that the previous two seasons—the 2005-2006 season was intended to be a transitional period as steadfast senior and three-year starter Ali Boe would play her last season and junior Emily Vitt and the rookie Martin would serve as reserves and prepare to increase their playing time next year.

But the situation quickly changed for Harvard this January when Vitt decided to leave the team due to personal reasons, quickly shaking up the goalie situation for the Crimson.

“I was shocked and sad when Emily left the team,” says Martin about the situation that made her the unquestioned number two goalie. “She had been a leader and a motivator on the team and was someone I’d admired very much. Emily was a role model to me both on and off the ice.”

At that point Martin had been receiving more playing time than Vitt, but the departure left Harvard with only the freshman to rely on as a back-up—and possibly thrust into a starting role looking ahead to next year.

So when Boe was out of commission due to a concussion this past weekend, Martin was given the opportunity to start two crucial conference games for the Crimson.

“I…think it’s important to treat every game as a ‘high pressure’ or important game, even if it’s not against a highly ranked team,” Martin says. “Harvard hockey takes a lot of pride in what we do, and we try to come out hard and fast in every game, as if we were playing the top team in the country.”

But the pressure she faced is nothing new to Martin in her career between the pipes, though it comes in a slightly different form.

Because Martin’s highest level of competition, as accomplished as she was on the ice at the high school level, has been while playing roller hockey. In 2004-2005, she won a silver medal at the Roller Hockey World Championships with the U.S. National Team.

In her home state of California, despite the high number of current American winter Olympians who hail from the area (13—third most for any state in the country), warmer weather sports like roller hockey prevail.

Martin took up roller hockey when she was 10, and then a year later was asked to play for a local boys’ team.

“In California ice hockey isn’t especially popular, but roller hockey is,” she says. “A local boys’ ice hockey team asked me if I was interested in playing and I decided I would give it a try. I was hooked immediately.”

Although the move from the outdoor courts to the ice was an expansion of her abilities and skills, Martin has never abandoned the sport she started with and still enjoys dabbling in both forms.

“I still play roller hockey, especially when I’m back at home, and I also play for the US National Roller Hockey team,” she adds. “The skills are somewhat similar, considering reflexes, quickness, and reaction time are very important, but movement in the crease is very different. After playing both for such a long time, though, the transition from ice to roller is natural.”

This past weekend, Martin seemed to show that playing in goal for the Crimson is natural for her too. She did everything from diving across the crease to stuff a wrap-around attempt to stonewalling Yale’s Crysti Howser on a solo breakaway.

And although Harvard did not have anyone else suited up to play in net in case she was injured during the game, Martin ignored the possible dangers and stayed focused on the job she was handed.

“I have one job when I’m on the ice, and that’s to do whatever it takes to stop the puck from going to the net,” Martin says.

Although the future is still uncertain, she has certainly made a strong case to be given the chance to play in net and keep Harvard rolling for years to come.

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