Women's Hockey Held Winless Against Minnesota

When it keeps all of its skates on the ice, the Harvard women’s hockey team has shown the ability to outshoot some of the top teams in the nation.

But struggles with penalties have proven to the Crimson’s kryptonite this season, and this weekend’s contests against No. 7 Minnesota (10-5-0, 5-5-0 WCHA) were no exception. Entering the weekend ranked last in the nation on the penalty kill, No. 9 Harvard (4-4-2, 4-2-2 ECAC) surrendered four power-play goals over two games en route to losing back-to-back contests at Ridder Arena. The Golden Gophers felled the Crimson, 3-0, on Friday before topping Harvard’s skaters, 4-2, in yesterday’s game.

“[On the penalty kill], we have a lot [to] work on,” tri-captain Liza Ryabkina said. “We made minor mistakes that could be avoided.”

The lapses overshadowed a weekend in which Harvard outshot Minnesota, 59-44.

“The whole team put in an incredible effort. We were determined to play our game, no matter what the score said,” Ryabkina said. “If we see them [again], we’re going to be ready.”

MINNESOTA 4, HARVARD 2

Three Gopher goals in 20 minutes of ice time put to rest any hopes the Crimson had of splitting its weekend slate.

“I think we let them have a lot more shots [during that time],” senior forward Katharine Chute said. “We came out with a lot of intensity. We let that fall back...one thing we’re looking to do is to play a full 60 minutes. We gave them a few too many chances during that stretch.”

Minnesota junior Kelly Seeler was the first skater to put the puck in the net. Barely inside the offensive zone, the defenseman rifled a slapshot past Harvard rookie netminder Lauren Joarnt. Four minutes later, the Gophers struck again, this time with a goal from Sarah Erickson.

After Joarnt had allowed her fourth goal, she was replaced by sophomore Laura Bellamy. The duo has been splitting time of late, alternating in the starter’s spot over the past three weekends.

“They’re both playing to the best of their abilities,” Ryabkina said. “We weren’t there on the rebounds. We never expect goalies to get the second, third rebounds.”

“I think they played pretty well,” tri-captain Kate Buesser added. “We just need to give them some better defensive support.”

The Crimson provided Bellamy with that support in the second half of Sunday’s game. The sophomore only faced four shots and was able to turn them all away.

Having outshot Minnesota all game long, Harvard finally converted with a little over two minutes left in the second period. On the power play, the Crimson was able to mount enough pressure in front of the net to confuse Gopher sophomore goaltender Noora Raty and give Buesser room to find the net. Almost 20 minutes later, Buesser struck again to bring the game within two, but by then a Minnesota victory was all but assured.

“[They] were a couple of really fun games,” Chute said. “I think we stepped it up a notch...Everyone brought their best game.”

MINNESOTA 3, HARVARD 0

After a scoreless first 15 minutes, two power-play goals in a six-minute span doomed the Crimson on Friday and set the stage for a winless weekend in Minneapolis.

Harvard actually outshot the Gophers in the first period, 11-4, but a slashing penalty by Crimson sophomore Hilary Hayssen opened the door for Minnesota. The Gophers capitalized on one of their few opportunities of the period when sophomore defenseman Mira Jalosuo scored her first goal of the season off assists from freshman Amanda Kessel and sophomore Becky Kortum.

Harvard closed out the first period with another penalty, this one a holding penalty by freshman Marissa Gedman, which paved the way for a second Minnesota power-play goal.

This time, it was Gopher junior Jen Schoullis who lit the lamp.

“I think their best chances came on the power play,” Chute said.

The Crimson has now surrendered 14 goals in 43 penalty-kill chances, a nation-worst kill rate of 67.4 percent.

Schoullis’ goal paved the way for a second period in which Minnesota outshot Harvard, 14-4, but Bellamy turned away every shot that came her way in the frame.

The sophomore would only allow one more goal all weekend, a Schoullis tally in the third period.

Meanwhile, the Gophers were able to shut out the Crimson despite losing their top goaltender, Raty, in the second period, after the netminder collided with Harvard sophomore defenseman Josephine Pucci.

“[Raty] is always in the right place at the right time,” Chute said of the Finnish Olympic goaltender.

But on Friday, so was Minnesota’s second-stringer Jenny Lura, a senior from British Columbia, who finished the game with 10 saves in 29:49 of play.

—Staff writer Christina C. McClintock can be reached at ccmcclin@fas.harvard.edu.