NOTEBOOK: Harvard Wins ‘Twice’ in Overtime

Sometimes one game-winning goal just isn’t enough.

Knotted up at 2-2 three minutes into overtime, the No. 1 Harvard women’s hockey team thought it had put the game away.

Junior defenseman Kati Vaughn launched a slapshot from the blue line that soared through traffic and into the back of the net. The red lamp lit up and the Crimson spilled the ice to celebrate its championship victory.

But the referees disagreed, pulling back the goal after ruling that it had been deflected in by a high stick in front of the net.

“We don’t know what the tape will look like, but we felt like we sort of won that game twice today,” Harvard coach Katey Stone said. “To think you’ve won the game and then 20, 25 seconds later to win it again—that’s a testament to our kids character.”

Tri-captain Caitlin Cahow’s breakaway goal less than a minute later settled the score and nullified the question of whose stick drew the call.

“In the end, it doesn’t matter now, fortunately,” Stone said. “The good news is I felt like we really came out of the locker room into overtime ready to win the game, not sit back and wait and see what happened. We were going after it.”

“Obviously it was frustrating having the goal called back, but you can’t really control those things,” Cahow added. “It just got me good and motivated to make something happen.”

A TEAM EFFORT

After being named ECAC Player of the Year on Friday night, junior forward Sarah Vaillancourt was held to just one point in the tournament.

“You’ve got to watch, obviously, their top line,” Saints coach Paul Flanagan said. “When you see 26 [Vaillancourt’s number] up over the boards, you want the right matchup if you can.”

But even when the game was on the line, the Crimson didn’t need to rely on Vaillancourt to bring home the championship.

“I think the tendency in overtime is to sort of focus on high-scoring forward players and I think St. Lawrence was really looking to take out our top forwards like [junior Jenny Brine] and Vaillancourt,” Cahow said.

Although Cahow was the one to get the job done in overtime, Harvard wouldn’t have found itself in that position if it hadn’t been for the outstanding play of freshman Liza Ryabkina.

After scoring the Crimson’s third goal on Saturday, Ryabkina broke the scoreless tie against the Saints when she netted the puck from the blue line on Harvard’s first power play.

“I think that we go into every game thinking that any one of the people on that bench can put the puck in the net,” Cahow said. “In big games like this it’s always going to be that freshman on the second or third line who just has a tremendous individual effort and hustles and puts the puck in the back of the net.”

Brine had an excellent tournament as well. After scoring the second goal in the Crimson’s victory over Clarkson on Saturday afternoon, she put Harvard up, 2-1, yesterday with just over four minutes to play in regulation.

“On the bench we were just saying, ‘let’s get lots of shots out there, you never know what’s going to go in,’” Brine said. “I drove it to the goal, trying to get something on net, you never know what’s going to happen, and luckily it went in.”

THE BEST OF THE BEST

Cahow was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player after her game-winning overtime goal gave the Crimson its fifth ECAC tournament title. She also recorded an assist in Saturday’s semifinal game against Clarkson.

Cahow was joined on the all-tournament team by Brine, Ryabkina, and goaltender Christina Kessler. St. Lawrence defenseman Brittaney Maschmeyer and forward Chelsea Grills rounded out the team.

Brine, Ryabkina, and Grills all scored in the championship game after recording goals in the semifinals. Grills also added an assist in the Saints’ 3-1 semifinal victory over Dartmouth.

Maschmeyer scored St. Lawrence’s third goal on Saturday afternoon, while Kessler finished the weekend with two victories and a total of 44 saves.

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