NOTEBOOK: Women's Hockey Looks Hard To Beat

The Harvard women’s hockey team dominated Russia en route to a 4-0 victory in an international exhibition friendly.

The Crimson came into the exhibition game on a four-game winning streak, in which it outscored opponents, 16-3.

Co-captain Jillian Dempsey and sophomore defender Michelle Picard faced a similar team to the one they met at the 2012 women’s world championships while skating for the USA. This year at the world championships, the United States topped Russia, shutting the Russians out, 9-0, en route to a second place finish. Russia finished sixth.

SPREADING THE LOVE

All four of the Crimson’s goals were scored by a different player. Each goal also came off a touch from multiple other Harvard skaters.

The Crimson was able to bring the puck behind the net and cross it in front many times, creating traffic in front of the goalie. This led to open shots on goal and rebound opportunities. Freshman Mary Parker scored the first goal of the game off assists from seniors Kaitlin Spurling and Kelsey Romatoski. Parker returned the favor, finding Spurling to put Harvard up, 2-0.

“That second goal was perfect, going to the net mid-drive,” said Crimson coach Katey Stone, who also coaches the USA Women’s national team. “Mary Parker made a perfect pass to Katie Spurling.”

Harvard relied on its stick skills, using seamless strings of passes to move the puck up the rink quickly and get into attacking position.

“We work on [our passing] all the time,” Stone said. “One of the things we want to do is be the best passing team in the country.”

The Crimson’s speedy crisp passing was needed to beat a much older and sizeable Russian squad.

“We are moving the ball well, using our speed,” said Stone. “It was a physical game, so it was a good balance.”

One of the most notable omissions from the Crimson stat sheet was a goal from Dempsey. At times, Dempsey was able to break to the net, but was held scoreless. But Dempsey’s current 21-game goal-scoring streak remains unbroken, as the matchup was an exhibition game.

TIME FLIES

The Crimson tallied five penalties in the game, but was able to kill each successfully. Currently Harvard ranks second in the country in penalty kill percentage at 88.6 percent.

Freshman goalie Emerance Maschmeyer has been a big reason why the penalty kill has been so effective for Harvard. On the season, she boasts a .75 goals against average.

“We are getting strong goaltending,” Stone said. “You’re goaltender really has to be your best penalty killer.”

Fellow freshman goalie Molly Tissenbaum got her first game action of the season, allowing no goals as well and tallying six saves.

The defense is so crisp that Maschmeyer feels confident that even if Harvard commits penalties, the Crimson will be able to keep its opponents off the board.

“As a goalie, I feel really comfortable with everyone in front of me,” Maschmeyer said. “I’m never worried about it when we get a penalty, it’s like ‘yep, we’re going to kill it.’”

The Crimson held Russia without a shot on three of the five man-advantage opportunities.

“We tend to be really aggressive, and with that comes a lot of communication,” Spurling said. “Our team is really, really close this year, and on the [penalty kill] that’s essential.”

In Friday’s game against Dartmouth, the Crimson killed 11 penalties without giving up a goal, despite being down two players at one point.

WHEN HOCKEY GIVES YOU PENALTIES, SCORE GOALS

On the other side of the ice, Harvard also dominated its foreign opponent. The Crimson came into the game converting 18.9 percent of its power play opportunities, good for 10th in the country.

Compared to its season average, Harvard was more than twice as efficient on power plays, converting two of its four power-play chances.

“Our coaches have been really focused on making sure we do well on the power play,” Spurling said. “We have to take advantage of those opportunities.

Penalties helped the Crimson get on top early, capitalizing on both chances in the first period.