Kessler's Record 12th Shutout of Season Leads Harvard in Semis Over Clarkson

It was everything you could ask for in a playoff hockey game. Fast-paced play, an energized crowd, a highlight-reel goal, a record-setting performance by a goaltender.

And a victory for the home team.

The No. 1 Harvard women’s hockey team (30-1-0, 14-0-0 ECAC) took down No. 9 Clarkson (24-9-5, 13-6-3), 3-0, Saturday afternoon at Bright Hockey Center to advance to the ECAC championship for the first time since 2006.

“I thought it was a great hockey game to watch,” Crimson coach Katey Stone said. “It was back and forth, the first period and a half were exciting for the fans and I think it was a matter of time before we chipped away and found our openings and when we did we took advantage of it.”

Although Harvard broke the game open in the third period, skating and defense and not a whole lot of shots marked the first 40 minutes of play.

Until Katharine Chute stepped up with two minutes to play in the second period.

The freshman, who is quickly becoming the Golden Knights’ nightmare, took a pass from junior Sarah Vaillancourt and fired it into the top right corner of the net to put the Crimson up, 1-0, heading into the second intermission.

Chute also scored two goals against Clarkson when the Golden Knights visited Bright in November.

Energized by Chute’s tally, Harvard came out hard in the third period and didn’t rest until it had sucked the life out of Clarkson.

The Crimson got its only power-play opportunity of the afternoon at 3:00 in the third, when Golden Knight Courtney O’Connor was sent to the box for interference.

Harvard didn’t waste the advantage. At 4:11, sophomore defenseman Kathryn Farni sent a slapshot in from the blue line. Though Clarkson goalie Eve Grandmont-Berube made the initial save, senior tri-captain Caitlin Cahow picked up the rebound and got it to junior Jenny Brine.

Brine buried the puck, extending the Crimson’s lead to 2-0.

Six minutes later, freshman Liza Ryabkina sealed the victory with a crowd-wowing breakaway goal.

Ryabkina, frustrated after being called for three penalties in the course of the game, stole the puck in the Golden Knights’ zone and broke toward the net. Utilizing some impressive stickwork to get around defenders, she faked out Grandmont-Berube before slipping the puck between the goalie’s legs.

“I can’t really describe it because I was kind of surprised myself,” Ryabkina admitted. “But I feel like everything comes out of a team effort.”

It was that team effort that held Clarkson scoreless in a high-intensity game.

In the first period, although the puck was constantly moving between the Harvard and Golden Knight nets, neither team could mount a serious offensive threat. The solid defensive play from both teams resulted in only seven combined shots on goal.

“They played very good defense, it was a matter of time before we sort of got our legs going,” Stone said. “In the first twenty minutes I thought we played fast and hard, but we played a little nervous.”

“I think it’s typical of playoff hockey, to be honest with you, to have close games and hopefully wear teams down and figure out a way to win,” she added.

Clarkson got two quality scoring chances in the second period. The first came on the power play, when Ryabkina was called for her second penalty of the game.

Crimson netminder Christina Kessler dropped her stick on the play and had to survive over a minute of the penalty kill with Vaillancourt’s smaller stick as a substitute.

Despite the disadvantage, Harvard stopped the threat without much trouble. The nation’s second-best penalty-kill unit held the Golden Knights scoreless in their five power-play chances.

Clarkson also had a major opportunity midway through the second frame, when it caught Kessler out of position. But once again, the team failed to capitalize.

“You have to take advantage of your opportunities,” Golden Knights coach Rick Seeley said. “You don’t get too many open nets against Kessler, and we missed it.”

Kessler finished the game with 13 saves and extended her NCAA single-season shutout record to 12. Her 15th career shutout ties her with Ali Boe ’06 for the Crimson’s all-time mark.

Grandmont-Berube put up 18 saves in the losing effort.

With the win, Harvard advanced to yesterday’s ECAC championship game, when it will host No. 6 St. Lawrence in a rematch of last year’s conference semifinal.

“I think it’s definitely to our advantage at this point,” Kessler said. “The crowd, the fans, just the feeling of being at home and knowing that this is our house and that no one is going to beat us in this rink.”

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