Women's Ice Hockey To Face McGill in Season Opener

When the Harvard women’s ice hockey team takes to the ice against McGill at the Bright Hockey Center on Saturday afternoon, it will do so without coach Katey Stone at the helm for the first time since before some of the players on the team were born. Stone, who has been the head coach since 1994, is currently taking the year off to coach Team USA for the Olympics.

Stone will not be the only friendly face missing. The program faces the absence of key players, such as Michelle Picard, Lyndsey Fry and Josephine Pucci, who are also taking the year off to train, and the graduation of major contributors Jillian Dempsey ’13 and Laura Bellamy ’13.

Lucky for the Crimson, however, Bellamy has not gone far, as the goaltender ranked No. 2 in Harvard history for overall shutouts has been hired to work with the team as an assistant coach this year.

“What they were looking for was someone with a lot of familiarity with the players and the team and how the program runs,” Bellamy said. “[They] don’t have to worry about finding someone for so short a time.”

Now leading the squad is interim head coach Maura Crowell, who has been with the Crimson for the past three seasons as an assistant coach.

“Coach Crowell has been great as head coach,” junior forward Samantha Reber said. “She has made it an easy adjustment for all of us, and we are excited for what’s ahead this season.”

The team rides a wave of high expectations leading into the season after splitting the Ivy League title with Cornell and losing to Boston College in the quarterfinals of the 2013 NCAA Championship.

In a repeat of last year, Harvard will open its season against McGill (4-3). In 2012, the Crimson downed the Marlets, 4-1, with Dempsey notching two goals and Reber and then-freshman Miye D’Oench each scoring one apiece.

Reber and sophomore forward Mary Parker are the top two returning points leaders from last year. Both had 24 combined assists and goals over the 2012-13 season. Reber had 19 assists last year, the third most on the team behind Dempsey and Fry, who had 21 and 20, respectively. Likewise, Parker had the third most goals last season, with 12, behind Dempsey and Fry, who together found the back of the net 40 times.

Sophomore Emerence Maschmeyer will assume the reins as the team’s leader in the net as the starting goaltender. Last season, Maschmeyer split her time in goal with Bellamy to record 400 saves and a percentage of .935.

Junior Sarah Edney, who was named to the All-ECAC third team, will anchor the defenders. Edney trailed Reber in assists, with 18, last season and crossed the ice for three goals of her own. Junior Marissa Gedman and senior Elizabeth Parker are the only other members of the D-team who return to the roster this year.

Seven freshmen join the team. They bolster the defense heavily in the form of one goalie and four defenders. Sydney Daniels and Hannah Zarzecki are the group’s two forwards.

“The freshmen are great,” Reber said. “They have come in and filled roles immediately. We obviously lost a lot of players from last year, but our freshmen have done a great job of adjusting quickly, and we know that they will be huge factors come game time.”

While Saturday’s game opens the season for the Crimson, the Marlets have already begun their 2013-14 campaign with four wins and three losses. Besides playing local Canuck rivals, they have also faced off with peers of Harvard in the NCAA, besting Princeton and Yale but falling to Providence and Northeastern.

McGill returns its two top scorers, Leslie Oles and Katia Clement-Heydra, who had 37 and 36 scores last season, respectively. Oles has already accumulated seven points split over two goals and five assists. Clement-Heydra has so far found the back of the net three times in the Marlets’ seven contests.

“McGill brings a different game every year, so it’s hard to predict exactly how they will play this year,” Reber said. “What I can say is that every year it is a battle with them, so we can expect the same this year. We are all just so excited to finally play a game, and I think McGill will be a great first test for us.”

—Staff writer Cordelia F. Mendez can be reached at cordelia.mendez@thecrimson.com. Follow her on Twitter @CrimsonCordelia.