Crimson Holds on for Tie, Secures Playoff Home-Ice Advantage

Her name may resemble the Andy Griffith Show, but Randi Griffin’s performance against No. 6 Clarkson (20-9-5, 14-5-3 ECAC) was no laughing matter. The Harvard senior neutralized the Golden Knights’ three goals with a hat trick of her own in a 3-3 tie at Cheel Arena, turning a showdown between ECAC powers into a one-woman show.

For all Griffin’s brilliance, it was Clarkson that stole the show early on, storming out to a two-goal lead in the first half of the game. The No. 5 Crimson (18-6-5, 13-6-3) held off the Golden Knights for the first 10 minutes, but Clarkson kept the pressure on while its first power-play unit lay dormant in the arsenal.

“We knew [their] strength was their first power-play unit,” Griffin said. “They’ve got some kids who can really shoot the puck. We knew it was coming.”

The Golden Knights were finally able to unleash that weapon when Harvard junior Liza Ryabkina got sent to the penalty box for slashing at 12:33. Sixteen seconds later, Clarkson junior Melissa Waldie found the back of the net off a rebound of sophomore Juana Baribeau’s slapshot. It was Waldie’s ninth power-play goal of the season.

The Golden Knights struck again a little over five minutes into the second period, when sophomore Gabrielle Kosziwska tapped in a rebound to put Clarkson up by two.

And then it was time for the Randi Griffin show.

“It’s been something that’s coming all season,” junior forward Kate Buesser said. “She’s had so many chances.”

A stroke of luck didn’t hurt either, as the senior’s intended pass on the power play bounced into the cage for her first tally of the afternoon.

“The first goal was a little fluky,” Griffin admitted.

Fluke or not, the goal was a momentum changer, as it moved the Crimson from an imposing two-goal deficit to a more routine one-goal margin—which Harvard had already overcome the night before.

“When you’re down two goals, two goals seems like a lot,” Griffin said. “One goal doesn’t seem so far off.”

The unheralded senior continued to take the Golden Knights by surprise, with her second goal coming on a line change.

“We like to keep one player on the ice to keep the pressure on,” Buesser said.

While many of the skaters were zooming to and from the bench, Griffin was speeding toward the goal, where she was hit with a pass from co-captain Cori Bassett.

And, just as before, the senior converted.

“She hit the top corner,” Buesser said, “which was awesome.”

But Griffin still had one more goal left in her, and, once again, Bassett was there to help her out, sliding Griffin the puck as she darted down the weak side. The senior completed her hat trick and notched her fourth goal of the weekend by sending the puck past Clarkson goaltender Lauren Dahm.

“She gives the team a lot of intensity and a lot of fire,” Buesser said.

In just 10 minutes, Griffin had turned a two-goal deficit into a one-goal lead that the Crimson carried into the final period. It was the first hat trick of Griffin’s career.

“I don’t think I’ve ever scored more than one goal in a game before,” she said. “Some days you shoot the puck, and it just goes in.”

But just as Harvard hadn’t folded when it fell down two goals, the Golden Knights didn’t disappear, going shot for shot with the Crimson in the third period.

“No team’s going to go away,” Buesser said. “No team’s going to give up this time of year.”

A loose puck in Harvard’s defensive zone stirred up the Crimson enough for Clarkson to slip past it.

“They were able to get the puck off the scrum,” Buesser said. “No one could locate the puck. It wasn’t great, but at the same time, you have to give credit to them for working hard the entire time.”

While Harvard couldn’t bring home a win, it still had enough fuel to secure the third seed in the playoffs and will open the conference tourney next weekend against Princeton at Bright Hockey Center.

“Clarkson is a great team,” Buesser said. “We just counteracted that just fine. It’s a good setup to what this tournament is going to be—very tight hockey. It was a good game to go into the playoffs with.”

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