Crimson Off to Cheese State

In the world of women’s hockey, bracketology can be a convoluted science.

The Harvard women’s hockey team, ranked sixth in the latest national poll, will face top-ranked University of Wisconsin on Saturday night at the Kohl Center in Madison, Wis. A six-one pairing is not the most logical but, in this case, seems to reflect a decision to avoid an intra-conference matchup between the Crimson and third-ranked Dartmouth.

“I am on the [NCAA selection] committee, so I sort of anticipated they were going to do that,” Harvard coach Katey Stone said. “Though the other determining factor, more importantly, is that they really don’t like to fly in more than two teams for Regionals.”

As the bracket stands, the Crimson will fly to Madison to play the Badgers while Minnesota-Duluth will travel to Erie, Pa. to square off against No. 2 Mercyhurst. Boston College drew No. 3 Dartmouth and St. Lawrence is set to take on No. 4 UNH in the two local games of the playoff round.

Arguably the combination that best preserves the integrity of the bracket would have pitted Boston College, ranked seventh in the polls, against No. 1 Wisconsin. But as such, Harvard would face the ECAC Champion Big Green for the third time this year.

“I think in a way it undermines the efforts of the players and what the team has done,” said co-captain Julie Chu of the intra-conference considerations.

Despite the draw, the Crimson sees it as a wide-open tournament and will look to use the full complement of its experienced roster to overcome the defending champion Badgers.

“This is the first year that there is so much parity [in the rankings],” Stone said. “It doesn’t really matter who plays who this weekend—anybody can win.”

After claiming the NCAA title last year, the Badgers landed the preseason No. 1 seed and occupied the top spot for the majority of this season. Wisconsin brings an impressive 33-1-4 overall record to the contest, to Harvard’s 23-7-2 count, but has played just six non-conference games, prompting some to question the strength of its schedule.

But as Stone noted, “They were in this situation on the way to last year’s championship. A lot of those kids have returned and I’m sure they will certainly be ready for the test.”

Both squads have been careful to avoid the sin bin this season, so expect a game that features dazzling play from full lines rather than a barrage of whistles. The Badgers average 4.2 penalties per game while the Crimson enters the contest with a 5.4 mark.

“I definitely would love to keep it five-on-five,” Chu said. “It’s a great opportunity for any team to really display their skills and not have to worry about the referee, who’s in the box, and who’s not.”

Moreover, there are few wrinkles in the player matchups between the two teams.

Chu and Wisconsin counterpart, senior center Sara Bauer, represent two of three finalists for the Patty Kazmaier Award given to the national player of the year. For the Badgers, then, the best way to stop Julie Chu may be to have a Julie Chu on their side, as Bauer sits just behind Chu in the national scoring and assist standings. She won the award last year after leading Wisconsin to the school’s first-ever national championship.

For both squads, though, an average of over four goals per game comes from a deep roster of offensive producers. Badger freshman Meghan Duggan and senior Meaghan Mikkelson are currently among the nation’s top fifteen scorers while Harvard sophomore Sarah Vaillancourt is fifth and classmate Jenny Brine ranks second in power play goals.

‘We need to be realistic—they have a lot of great players, it’s not just the Patty Kazmaier finalist,” Chu said. “We need to match their team’s effort with our team’s effort.”

Interestingly, Stone and Wisconsin coach Mark Johnson face a similar goalie quandary this week. Badger senior Christine Dufour and sophomore Jessie Vetter, the nation’s goaltending leaders, are both poised to become the first goalie in NCAA history to record a goals-against average below 1.00.

Throughout the regular season, sophomore Brittany Martin and freshman Christina Kessler were both given well-deserved time in the net, though Martin earned all three ECAC playoff starts.

“It’s really going to be a grind from this point on,” said Chu of the parity that characterizes the tournament this year. “No one team has an easy walk through to the final four or championship game.”

—Staff writer Rebecca A. Compton can be reached at compton@fas.harvard.edu.