The Puck Drops Tonight In ECAC First Round

According to Harvard women’s hockey tri-captain Caitlin Cahow, the Crimson sets five goals for itself before the beginning of each season.

“Beanpot.”

Check.

“Ivy League Championship.”

Check.

“ECAC Championship…and it goes on from there.”

Presumably, the last two items on that list left unsaid are a trip to the NCAA Frozen Four and finally an NCAA Championship. But part of the reason that Harvard (27-1-0, 22-0-0 ECAC) has been so dominant this season is because it has, to cite a popular cliché, taken things one step at a time.

As the Crimson prepares to enter the ECAC Tournament, having already won the regular season crown by going undefeated in conference play, the squad has no intentions to rest on its laurels.

“We’re completely disregarding everything that’s been accomplished so far,” sophomore goalie Christina Kessler said. “We’re going into our first game of the season [tonight].”

No. 1 Harvard will face Cornell in the first round of the ECAC playoffs, a best-out-of-three series at the Bright Hockey Center. The opening faceoff of the first game is set for tonight at 7 p.m. Game 2 takes place tomorrow at 4 p.m., with the rubber match on Sunday at the same time if necessary.

The Big Red (12-15-1, 9-12-1 ECAC) is a familiar sight for the Crimson at this point. The two teams faced off in the final game of the regular season last Saturday. Harvard came away with a 4-2 victory, scoring all of its goals in the first two periods before Cornell cut the lead in half in the third.

“They came out strong in the third period when we last played them,” Kessler said. They’re definitely going to bring that momentum this weekend. Obviously were going in being the superior team, supposedly, so as underdogs they’ve got nothing to lose.”

One of the Big Red’s goals in that third period came from freshman forward Rebecca Johnston, Cornell’s leading scorer. Johnston has racked up 16 goals and 15 assists this season, and her 1.29 points per game average is good for fourth in the nation among rookies.

Johnston—who is the younger sister of former Crimson player Katie Johnston ’07—was announced as the unanimous choice for Ivy League Rookie of the Year earlier this week.

“She’s highly skilled and she’s had international experience,” Cahow said, referring to Johnston’s time on the Team Canada U-22 squad. “It’s close to home for us because Katie played for us.”

But while Johnston is certainly a dangerous player, there is not much depth behind her, a stark contrast to a first-ranked Crimson team with a deep pool of talent.

There are Cahow and junior forward Sarah Vaillancourt, both top-10 finalists for the Patty Kazmaier Award—given annually to the best player in college women’s hockey—and both first team All-Ivy picks. Vaillancourt, who leads Harvard with 52 points, picked up what could be the first of several pieces of hardware for her this season after being named Ivy League Player of the Year.

There is Kessler, another first-team All-Ivy selection who led the nation in every goaltending category this season with a 0.89 goals against average and .959 save percentage.

Not to mention juniors Jenny Brine and Sarah Wilson, tied with Cahow for second on the team with 13 goals each.

If there is a question mark surrounding the Crimson, it lies in the team’s youth. Aside from its core of veterans, Harvard features five freshmen that have seen consistent playing time this season. The youngsters have performed admirably, playing sound defense and finding opportunities to score on a team full of scorers and making up for lack of experience with raw talent, but how they will respond to the pressures of the postseason remains to be seen.

Kessler isn’t worried.“[The freshmen] know what to expect,” she said. “They’ve done a great job so far this season.”

Cahow noted that the rookies—along with everyone else on the Crimson—should be on their toes and expect a new level of unpredictability to come along with the postseason.

“The playoffs are a crazy time and anything can happen,” Cahow said. “I try to tell my teammates as a very old and experienced captain that when you get into these situations it quite frequently is the kid who may not have gotten a ton of ice time who gets the game-winning goal.”

When Harvard meets Cornell tonight, the Crimson skaters won’t care who scores the game-winning goal, as long as its one of them.

—Staff Writer Loren Amor can be reached at lamor@fas,harvard.edu.