Bellamy, Women's Hockey, Shutout Dartmouth, 6-0

The No. 5/6 Harvard women’s hockey team (8-1-0, 7-0-0 ECAC) racked up and squashed 11 penalties, moving the Crimson up to No. 2 in the nation for penalty-kill at percentage on the way to a 6-0 victory over Dartmouth.

Despite allowing the Big Green (4-3-2, 3-3-1) one-man and even two-man advantages throughout the game, Dartmouth failed to capitalize on power plays, going 0 of 10.

“The way we approached it was [to] just roll with it and adjust,” senior goaltender Laura Bellamy said.

Harvard put up three goals against Dartmouth in the first period alone. The Crimson’s first goal came in the opening five minutes from junior forward Lyndsey Fry who found the net after a deflected shot from co-captain Jillian Dempsey.

Five minutes later, Dempsey hooked the puck around the goal to find Fry who again rocketed it into the net, bringing her goal count to seven for the season.

“Our forwards played great,” Bellamy said. “They are just putting the puck away…. You’re going to win games if you can put the puck in the net like that. They played well, and [the defense] really helped them out, so it was a good team effort.”

At the end of the first period, Harvard led, 3-0, outshooting the Big Green, 10-3. The Dartmouth offense failed to take a single shot until the 18th minute of the contest.

“Today was a lot of fun to play,” Bellamy said. “We got the lead right away, and with the score 3-0 after the first period, we felt pretty good, and that makes it easy on me.”

Heading into the second period, the Big Green had more looks on goal because of a string of Crimson penalties.

But with less than two minutes of play left in the period, the dynamic duo of the night—Dempsey and Fry—had another assist-goal link-up.

Fry found Dempsey who powered the puck into the net for her ninth goal of the season. Dempsey averages 2.22 points per contest, tops on the team.

“Second period was a little crazy, but we weathered the storm,” Harvard coach Katey Stone said. “Those things are going to happen some days, and I think it got back to a more normal situation in the third.”

Although Dartmouth outshot the Crimson, 13-8, in the second period, Harvard still held the lead, 4-0, going into the final 20 minutes.

The Crimson defense, down two players at times, blocked any attempt by the Big Green on goal. Bellamy registered a total of 16 saves in the first two periods alone.

“[You have to] stay in the moment,” Stone said. “Just do the best you can, put the right personnel on the ice, and hopefully get good goaltending, which we did tonight. [Bellamy] was big in those special teams situations, and I think the kid stayed very composed and managed it very well.”

Harvard did not waste any time going into the final period, putting away a fifth goal in the first two minutes. Sophomore forwards Hillary Crowe and Samantha Reber worked the puck down the ice with a give-and-go, ending with Reber scoring off Crowe’s initial deflected shot.

After yet another Crimson penalty in the 12th minute of the final frame, Dartmouth looked to finally take advantage of the power play.

But junior forward Gina McDonald won the puck at the faceoff and took it down the middle of the ice through the Big Green defense to put away Harvard’s sixth and final goal of the match. The goal was McDonald’s first of the season.

“We had a lot of jump,” Stone said. “Everybody was on their toes. We moved the puck very quickly, we transitioned very quickly, and we had some great opportunities right off the bat, and it caught them off guard, I think. To get up on a team like Dartmouth three goals in the first period is pretty good for us.”

Bellamy ended the match with a total of 26 saves, bringing her to a sum of 92 saves this season.

The senior goaltender has secured three shutouts in just five starts in goal, the fifth highest shutout number in the country.

Bellamy also ranks No.1 in the nation in save percentage at 0.968 and goals against average at 0.60.

Freshman goalie Emerance Maschmeyer previously held the lead for goals against average before the Dartmouth contest.