GAME OF THE YEAR: 4-OT Clash Ends in Heartache

The tension mounted, extra minutes becoming extra hours, regulation yielding to overtime upon overtime. Deadlines were missed, nails were bitten, and over 100 shots were rifled at the net. And still two zeroes remained on the Kohl Center scoreboard: one beneath Harvard, a 23-win team making its fifth straight NCAA Tournament appearance, and the other below host Wisconsin, the heavily favored top seed and defending national champion, with only one loss on its record to date.

Before 5,125 fans, one of the biggest crowds in college women’s hockey history, the Crimson and the Badgers battled into quadruple overtime, making it the second longest game ever in the sport.

“In the fourth overtime, all of us were laughing and saying, ‘Why not another period?’,” sophomore goaltender Brittany Martin said. “You are so tired it is almost funny. It amps up the intensity of the team a lot when you have that sudden-death aspect.”

After 127 minutes and nine seconds of ice time, Wisconsin ended the marathon quarterfinal and Harvard’s season in heartbreaking fashion when Jinelle Zaugg beat Martin with a one-timer from just inside the right faceoff circle to secure the 1-0 win.

“When Jinelle’s puck went in, obviously it was relief on our part,” Badgers coach Mark Johnson said in his post-game comments. “It’s unfortunate somebody had to lose the hockey game.”

The one score ended a classic goalie’s duel between Martin and Wisconsin junior Jessie Vetter, who each maintained shutouts through more than two games’ worth of hockey. Martin made a school-record 67 saves in the best performance of her young career, keeping the Crimson in a game in which it was outshot nearly two to one. Vetter prolonged a personal NCAA scoreless streak that was eventually snapped at 422:36 in Wisconsin’s title game triumph over Minnesota-Duluth.

The other noteworthy individual matchup was between senior forwards Julie Chu and Sara Bauer, two of the three finalists for the Patty Kazmaier Award, bestowed annually upon the sport’s top player. Both entered the game among the nation’s leading scorers and with reputations as the most polished veterans in the country. Although Chu prevailed in the year-end award voting, it was Bauer who made the decisive play in the rink.

Wisconsin had controlled the run of play throughout the game by dominating time of possession, cycling the puck out of the corners and working along the perimeter of the zone. Martin was able to stifle any scoring chances by lining up outside shots for glove saves and diving to smother the rebounds she did not initially control. But this time Bauer made a sharp cut through the interior of the tired defense, shuttling the puck to Zaugg for the open look.

So the exhausting affair ended in disappointment for Harvard, but the team’s leaders, even in the immediate aftermath, were able to appreciate its quality, cleanliness­—a mere seven penalties were whistled on the night—and attrition.

“I think the fans really got their money’s worth,” Harvard coach Katey Stone said afterwards. “It was a great effort by both teams, up-and-down hockey and some great goaltending. Anyone who was in the building tonight should be convinced that women’s hockey is a tremendous sport to take in.”

“I think if you’re going to have a final senior game,” Chu added, “why not make it two games and plus?”

And in hindsight, the Crimson played the best team in the country, in its own arena, as close as it could possibly be played.

“I think that was pretty much the national championship game right there,” Martin said. “The fact that we played for that long in such a low-scoring game says a lot about our program and the determination that we have.”

—Staff writer Jonathan Lehman can be reached at jlehman@fas.harvard.edu.