Regular Season Closes With Weekend Games

The Harvard women’s ice hockey team wraps up its regular season schedule this weekend at the Bright Hockey Center, and is looking to build momentum as the ECAC tournament approaches.

The No. 6 Crimson (19-6-2, 15-4-1 ECAC) rebounded well Tuesday night against Northeastern with a 8-0 shutout victory following a disappointing loss to Colgate last weekend, and now hopes to continue its success as it awaits the arrival of Yale (10-8-2) at 7 p.m. tonight and Brown (6-13-1) at 4 p.m. tomorrow for a pair of key conference home games.

Two wins would provide a boost of confidence for a squad that has been up and down since a devastating triple overtime loss to Boston College in the opening round of the Beanpot Tournament last week.

“It’s been an emotional ride but we’re heading forward on a positive note from last night’s game against Northeastern,” senior captain Julie Chu said. “Hopefully there’s a lot more hockey to be played after this weekend.”

Both Chu and fellow captain Jennifer Sifers expressed mixed emotions going into their final weekend of regular season play in a Harvard uniform.

“There’s a lot of emotions attached to it,” Chu said, “primarily because I’ve had such an incredible experience here at Harvard. Any time a chapter like that closes in your life, there’s going to be a lot of emotions.”

“It’s very exciting but sad at the same time,” Sifers added. “Hopefully it won’t be our last weekend at home,”—a reference to potential home games the squad would host in the ECAC tournament.

Sifers doesn’t have to worry, because the Crimson is guaranteed a top four finish in the ECAC, and is assured an opening round quarterfinal game at home in Bright Hockey Arena. But don’t think that means the team will be overlooking either the Bulldogs or the Bears when the puck drops.

“They are both key games, and we’re going in with the mentality of having broken our season into small parts,” Sifers said. “We’re trying to take it one game at a time, and each game is just as important as the next.”

When asked what Harvard needed to do to succeed this weekend, both Chu and Sifers stressed the importance of the team focusing on its own play instead of the play of its opponent.

“We’re trying to focus on our own hockey,” Chu said.

If the Crimson’s first matchups against both Yale and Brown are any indication, then this focus could very well result in a pair of Ws this weekend. The first time out, Harvard defeated the Bulldogs 5-1 in New Haven, a game in which Chu notched a goal and two assists and sophomore forward Jenny Brine recorded two scores and added an assist of her own.

Yale has been clicking lately, however, and is undefeated in its last five contests.

Perennial cellar dwellers in the ECAC until as recently as three or four years ago, Yale is a program on the rise, a fact not lost on Chu.

“In the last couple years they’ve come on to be strong competitors,” she said. “Any time we get a chance to play them we know we have to play our best hockey.”

Harvard had little trouble dispatching the Brown Bears on the first go around, winning handily by a score of 8-1 in Providence.

In that game, Jenny Brine again shone, netting four goals and adding an assist for the Crimson. The Bears, who are led by junior forward Hayley Moore, who leads the team in points, and freshman forward Andrea Hunter, got off to a rocky start this season, dropping their first nine contests.

Recently, however, they have won five of seven, including three straight.

This weekend is also significant as it is the last chance for Julie Chu to make her case for the Patty Kazmaier Award, for which she is a finalist.

The Kazmaier Award is given to the woman who “displays the highest standards of personal and team excellence during the season.” Chu, whose unselfish play is reflected in her remarkable goals to assist ratio (16 goals to 42 assists) leads the nation in points per game at 2.38. She described being a finalist as “a great honor” but insisted that the honor was not entirely her own.

“It’s not a personal award, but a great reflection of my team,” she said.