NOTEBOOK: Harvard Can't Come Through on Special Teams

Everyone knows that defense wins championships, but the Harvard women’s hockey team saw tonight how special teams can win games.

Despite holding a one-skater advantage for more than four minutes throughout the final 10 of last night’s match against Cornell, the Crimson was unable to convert the goal that would have secured a victory.

Harvard’s failure to light the lamp in each of its final three powerplay opportunities underscored the team’s struggles on special teams throughout the evening.

While the Big Red kept the Crimson off the scoreboard through nearly ten minutes with a player down, Harvard surrendered two powerplay goals to the visitors.

“I thought overall our kill was good,” Crimson coach Katey Stone said. “It’s just when you get so many chances whacking away with the goaltender on her tail something bad is going to happen.”

Although the stingy Cornell penalty kill, which has surrendered just one goal this season, kept Harvard from finishing, the Crimson was not without opportunities.

After the Big Red’s Laura Danforth was whistled for roughing with just over four minutes remaining in the third period, Harvard had two good looks at the net.

First senior Cori Bassett’s slap shot from center ice was blocked by a Cornell defender, and then senior Anna McDonald’s shot sailed wide.

“Those things happen,” Stone said. “As long as you’re generating chances and shots, eventually things will fall for you.”

Despite tonight’s unproductive results, Stone remains optimistic about her new special teams units, which were changed after the team’s previous matchup.

McDonald also feels that the new lines will help Harvard offensively.

“We were kind of getting stale with other ones so I think these are going to work out,” McDonald said.

IN THE NICK OF TIME

Cornell’s final tally with just 4 ticks left on the clock marks the second time this season that the Big Red has managed to score against its Ivy League rival in the game’s waning minutes.

When the Crimson travelled to Ithaca on Oct. 31 for its third match of the season, Cornell’s Melanie Jue came away with a goal with just 3:03 remaining to earn the 4-3 victory.

This time Cornell escaped defeat by evening the score at four with just seconds remaining.

“We said in the locker room between the second and the third that we had to come out hard because we knew they never stop,” McDonald said.

But that did not stop Cornell from netting two third period goals to come back from a 4-2 deficit entering the final frame.

“We got to close the deal,” Stone said. “One way or another, we’ve got to close the deal.”

Before this season’s loss and tie, Harvard had won six-straight contests against the Big Red, with Cornell’s last victory coming in the 2005-06 season, when the Crimson fell 4-3, just days after losing the Beanpot Championship.