Early Lead, Penalty Kill Push Crimson Past RPI

Two weeks ago, a 2-1 loss at the hands of Rensselaer doomed the Harvard women’s hockey team to a record below .500. Friday night’s rematch at the Bright Hockey Center culminated in the same score, but this time, the outcome granted the Crimson its ninth win overall and second place in the standings.

Harvard (9-7-2, 8-3-2 ECAC) survived a late surge by the Engineers (9-9-6, 7-5-1 ECAC) in the game’s waning moments to come up with its third straight win over an ECAC opponent. The Crimson went up 2-0 early in the second period, a cushion that RPI couldn’t overcome, despite the Engineers’ score midway through the third frame.

Harvard tri-captain Liza Ryabkina provided the team’s first goal, while rookie forward Kalley Armstrong snuck the puck past RPI goaltender Sonja van der Bliek for the second tally.

“We came out flying,” Harvard coach Katey Stone said. “We could have buried them early; [van der Bliek] did well but she had a lot of luck, too. It could have easily been three, four, or five [goals]. It’s unfortunate because we made it close, and they’re a good team, and if we let them hang around, anything can happen.”

After dominating the first two periods, it seemed that the Crimson would run away with the win. The game started looking grim for Harvard three minutes into the final frame, though, as senior forward Katharine Chute was called for a hooking penalty. Thirty seconds later, the officials caught freshman defenseman Marissa Gedman tripping a player, leaving Harvard with a 5-on-3 situation—the second of the contest in Rensselaer’s favor.

It was the Engineers’ best power play of the game, producing six shots in the three-and-a-half-minute span. The Crimson managed to kill the power play but couldn’t hold off RPI’s eventual score.

With 11:35 left to play, the Engineers’ Alisa Harrison skated across the ice to blast a shot at sophomore goaltender Laura Bellamy. The puck ricocheted off Bellamy to the right and found opposing forward Jordan Smelker, who slid it past Bellamy while she was still down on the ice.

The defensive lapse shifted the momentum to Rensselaer, a team desperate to find the equalizer. Seven of the matchup’s final eight shots belonged to the Engineers, but Harvard maintained its defensive stance till the end to preserve the one-goal margin.

“[I told my team] to just keep it simple,” said Stone of the final minutes of the game. “Make smart plays and manage the game and the pressure. Don’t stand still and keep yourselves moving. We’re a young team that has to get used to handling pressure, and we did.”

The Crimson outshot RPI, 29-20, but through the first two periods the shots total was lopsided, 25-10, in Harvard’s favor.

After the first power play of the game—granted to Rensselaer with 17:10 left in the first period—it became clear that the home side would be the team to beat.

The Crimson constantly frustrated the Engineers by breaking up the flow of their passes despite the man-advantage RPI possessed. The visiting team mustered one shot during the power play, and it took another 10 minutes before the Engineers could get another look on goal.

Meanwhile, Harvard had eight shots in that span and finished the first period outshooting RPI, 12-5.

It seemed like Rensselaer came out from intermission determined to get some momentum on its side, especially with a 5-on-3 advantage to start the second period. Forward Taylor Horton released a shot on Bellamy a minute into the power play, but that would be the only shot the team could muster in the sequence.

At the 2:53 mark, sophomore forward Jillian Dempsey, skating down the left flank, provided Ryabkina with a behind-the-back, no-look pass. The tri-captain carefully placed the puck past van der Bliek into the bottom right corner of the net for the first score of the game.

With 14 minutes remaining in the frame, sophomore forward Whitney Kennedy weaved her way past a right defender and dished the puck across the ice to Armstrong, who found a tight angle to slip the puck past the goaltender.

“We executed better [Friday],” tri-captain Kate Buesser said. “I think we were able to use our breakout a lot better than we did in the first game [against RPI], and I think we were just all over them offensively. It was really important to get quality shots on their goaltender and attack the rebounds, and I think we did a good job of that.”

—Staff writer Brian A. Campos can be reached at bcampos@fas.harvard.edu.