Crimson Avoids Near-Upset With Brine Tallies

Close, but no cigar.

Trailing 2-1 to Cornell going into the third period, the Harvard women’s hockey team was 20 minutes away from losing its undefeated conference record on Friday night at the Bright Hockey Center.

But the Crimson rallied in the final frame on the strength of two clutch goals by junior Jenny Brine and held on for a 3-2 win in Game 1 of the ECAC Tournament quarterfinals.

“Definitely the game was a battle tonight, but we came in knowing that they’re going to give it all they got,” Brine said. “We just came out there and didn’t let down the whole game. We finished out strong.”

As Harvard took the ice against the Big Red, most of the 473 fans in attendance probably expected to see an easy win for the Crimson.

After all, given that Harvard came into the game a perfect 22-0-0 in conference play, ranked No.1 in the country and the top seed in the ECAC playoffs, the prospect of facing the eighth-seeded Big Red—a sub-.500 team that the Crimson defeated twice in the regular season—would seem to be far from a daunting challenge to the outside observer.

But Harvard coach Katey Stone knew better.

“I expected a really close game,” Stone said. “It’s playoff hockey. Everybody starts back at zero. I fully expected that they would come out and give us everything we could handle today.”

Cornell certainly met Stone’s expectations, not only staying close to the Crimson throughout the game, but taking a 2-1 advantage into the final period.

But Harvard stayed positive, and Stone provided some encouraging words for her players in the dressing room before the Crimson took the ice in the third, making sure that her team kept everything in perspective.

“It’s a hockey game. [We don’t want to] start to fragment ourselves and try to do things on our own,” Stone said. “We stay together and whatever happens, happens.”

A rejuvenated Harvard squad came out aggressive and determined in the last frame, and the dream of taking down Goliath quickly turned into a nightmare for the Big Red.

Cornell committed a quick penalty in the opening seconds of the final period, and the Crimson promptly took advantage. With Harvard’s second-ranked penalty unit on the ice, tri-captain Caitlin Cahow slammed a shot from the blueline which Brine deflected into the back of the net to tie the score at two.

“What we were saying in the dressing room was how great it would be if we could go out in the first five minutes and just pop one in,” Brine said. “Just to set them back a pace and really get ourselves back in the game.”

Brine’s late-game heroics would continue later on in the period.

With eight minutes left in the game, the Crimson found itself on another power play and took the offensive. Freshman Kate Buesser charged the net, launching a shot towards Big Red goalie Jenny Niesluchowski that popped into the air and landed in front of Brine, who drove the puck home to put Harvard up, 3-2.

“It was an exciting goal,” Brine said. “We worked really hard and we were hitting a lot of posts so it was nice to see it finally go in for us.”

Brine’s score, her 15th of the season, would turn out to be the game-winner. Cornell threatened a few times in the final minutes, but a tight Crimson defense and some clutch saves by sophomore goalie Christina Kessler reeled in the victory for Harvard.

The Crimson struck first on Friday. Junior forward Sarah Vaillancourt stole the puck in the Big Red zone 8:32 into the first period, and with two defenders and Niesluchowski between her and the net, Vaillancourt threaded a shot with pinpoint accuracy to put away her 22nd goal of the season and give Harvard a 1-0 lead.

“That goaltender is good,” Stone said of Niesluchowski, who made 53 saves on the night. “You have to take her eyes away. The less she sees the harder it’s going to be to save.”

Cornell proceeded to string together a pair of even-strength goals against Kessler, bringing a lead into the third period and giving the Big Red hope for an upset.

But the Crimson returned to No. 1 form in the third and left no margin for error for the Big Red, taking advantage of two Cornell penalties to regain the lead and take a 1-0 lead in the series.

“We showed a ton of character,” Stone said. “We capitalized on our opportunities and kept on our toes the whole third period and that’s exciting to watch.”

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