Harvard Wraps Up Regular Season ECAC Crown

In a season that has been full of victories, the No. 1 Harvard women’s hockey team picked up another important championship on Friday night. The Crimson (24-1-0, 19-0-0 ECAC) followed up on its Beanpot win with a gritty 3-1 victory over Princeton (12-8-5, 10-7-2 ECAC) at Baker Rink to clinch the ECAC regular-season crown.

Freshman Kate Buesser knocked in the game-winning goal with just five minutes remaining in the game, breaking a 1-1 tie and propelling Harvard to its fifth ECAC regular-season title.

“We understand [other teams] are going to bring their best. No one wants to blow anyone out,” head coach Katey Stone said. “We want to play close, intense hockey games.”

And in the Crimson’s seventh game in two weeks, a close, intense game is just what it got.

“What we saw was a little bit of mental and physical fatigue, but it was a great effort by Princeton. I don’t want to take anything away from them,” tri-captain Caitlin Cahow said. “It showed what kind of team we are that we can come into a hostile rink and figure out how to win.”

Harvard went on the power play at the 13:27 mark of the third period after Tiger Maddie Endicott was called for holding. Near the end of the power play, the Crimson found itself with an opportunity on the transition.

After Cahow launched a shot at the Princeton net, junior Jenny Brine picked up the rebound to set up Buesser.

Buesser took care of the rest, sending the puck past Tiger goaltender Kristen Young to put Harvard ahead for good.

“Her goal was phenomenal,” Cahow said. “Buesser’s been playing fantastically all season. She’s just accelerated to the top of her game very quickly.”

The play also marked an important personal milestone for Brine, as the assist was the 100th point of her collegiate career.

Up until Buesser’s goal, however, the game was a back-and-forth affair.

Princeton struck first, capitalizing on a power play opportunity eight minutes into the game. Tiger Brittany Salmon got the puck past Crimson sophomore goalie Christina Kessler to give Princeton the 1-0 advantage.

But Harvard didn’t stay behind for long. At 11:48 in the first, a shot off of Brine’s stick was deflected to the right side of the goal.

Junior Sarah Vaillancourt picked up the rebound and knocked a seemingly impossible shot past Young to tie the game at 1.

“It was certainly just hard work going to the net,” head coach Katey Stone said of the goal. “[Vaillancourt] deked the goaltender.”

Strong penalty kills from both teams marked the second period. The Crimson was 0-for-2 on the power play during the period, and the Tigers went 0-for-3.

The teams fought evenly through the first 15 minutes of the third frame, trading power play opportunities.

Buesser’s go-ahead goal led Princeton to pull its goalie with 1:36 to play. Harvard fought off the six-man attack and was able to add an insurance empty-net goal with under a minute left in the game.

It was sophomore Randi Griffin who put the puck in the empty net. Vaillancourt and Cahow recorded assists on the play.

“When you get into a situation where the opposing team pulls their goaltender, you know it’s going to be stressful,” Cahow said. “We pretty much had control during their time with their goaltender pulled. In that situation, I had tremendous faith in our team.”

The Tigers outshot the Crimson, 31-24, for the game. It was the outstanding play of Kessler, who recorded a season-high 30 saves, that kept Harvard in the game.

“Christina got a fair amount of shots that she wouldn’t normally see. There were a lot of odd-man situations and she handled it seamlessly,” Cahow said. “My only regret is that we gave her that many shots to have to handle.”

“She did everything she needed to do for her team,” Stone added.

Now, going into its last weekend of regular-season play, the Crimson can breathe a little easier, knowing that it has both the Ivy League and ECAC titles—and home-ice advantage in the ECAC tournament quarterfinals—locked down.

“Once this regular season is over, it’s a brand new season,” Stone said. “It’s nice to have home ice.”

—Staff writer Kate Leist can be reached at kleist@fas.harvard.edu.