Women's Hockey Tops Cornell, Colgate

At the sound of the final buzzer, the stands erupted in cheers and the Harvard women’s ice hockey team skated onto the ice to embrace freshman goalie Emerance Maschmeyer.

The reaction was justified considering the No. 7 Crimson (6-1, 6-0 ECAC) had just toppled No. 2 Cornell, 3-1, to end a losing streak that dated back to 2008. The win capped a perfect home weekend for Harvard, which downed Colgate, 4-1, on Friday night.

For everyone on the team, from seniors on down, it was the first time they had ever beaten the Big Red.

“Every single time we play them it’s a really challenging game, and they’re tough and competitive,” said co-captain Jillian Dempsey who had the biggest weekend of all. “To come away with a win, it feels amazing right now.”

HARVARD 3, CORNELL 1

And yet based on the Crimson’s performance on Saturday, the outcome did not seem so amazing.

Harvard outplayed the Big Red, outshooting its opponent, 33-22. While Cornell came in averaging 4.66 goals per game, it scored only when Erin Barley-Maloney beat Maschmeyer early in the second period to make it 1-1.

Then junior Kalley Armstrong scored the winner for Harvard 7:42 into the third, and junior Lyndsey Fry finished it off with an empty-netter.

Coming into the season, Cornell was the overwhelming favorite to repeat as ECAC champion, but with the Crimson’s big win the conference championship is now put in a different light. The win puts Harvard two points behind the Big Red in conference standings, with the Crimson playing two fewer games to date.

“We really focused on our forecheck,” Armstrong said, “getting on their sticks as fast as possible. Getting on them quick to stop them from setting up really helped us.”

Dempsey, who had five shots through the game, scored the first goal early in the opening period. The co-captain was able to nudge the puck past Cornell goalie Lauren Slebodnick to put Harvard up, 1-0. Dempsey extended her streak of games with at least a point to 21.

“[Friday] night we [talked about] getting a lot of shots on net,” Dempsey said. “This time we were really trying to just get pucks in the net, get the rebound, and create chaos in front of their goalie.”

The Big Red came out swinging in the second frame. Barley-Maloney scored from out wide only two minutes into the period, but Harvard quickly put the shackles back on the Big Red.

“Everybody was busting their tails all over the ice,” Dempsey said. “There was a lot of talking, and our defense and goaltending was phenomenal today. We were backchecking hard and giving a lot of pressure, and we had a solid, cohesive unit back on defense.”

The Crimson shut down the Big Red on all four of its power plays. Harvard is now 20 for 21 in penalty kill, which leads the nation.

Harvard, aside from having more shots on goal, had many more chances to score than Cornell did. Freshman Mary Parker rattled a shot off the far post late in the first period. Senior Kaitlin Spurling received a penalty shot 15 minutes into the second period after being hacked on a breakaway but barely missed the ensuing shot.

The Crimson defense was anchored by Maschmeyer, who had 21 saves. Several clutch saves near the end of the game kept Big Red from making a comeback.

“She was phenomenal,” Dempsey said. “Being a freshman too, to step up and play that huge, we needed that from her, and we’re hoping [for] a lot more like that for the rest of the season.”

Sophomore Michelle Picard also geared the offense with three assists, contributing on every goal of the night. Parker and sophomore Sarah Edney each notched an assist as well.

But nobody had a weekend quite like Dempsey.

HARVARD 4, COLGATE 1

Dempsey began her four-point weekend with a two-assist performance at Bright Hockey Center.

Both helpers came in a standout second period in which Harvard had 13 shots on net with three goals and limited the Raiders to only one shot in the 20 minutes. The explosive frame put the Crimson ahead 4-1 and put the game out of reach.

With the score 1-1 entering the second period, Harvard came out and dominated on offense and defense. Hillary Crowe scored early in the second period before Sarah Edney cashed a power play and put the puck past Raiders goalie Ashlynn Rando.

Hilary Hayssen scored late in the period off an assist from Dempsey to extend the lead to 4-1.

Dempsey notched two assists on the day. The senior leads the team with eight assists.

The only black spot on an otherwise solid outing was Phillips’ goal for the Raiders that came off a power play. Phillips’ goal marked the first power-play score the Crimson has allowed this season.

The defense was anchored by co-captain goaltender Laura Bellamy, who tallied 10 saves.