Women's Ice Hockey Plays to a 2-2 Draw Against Dartmouth

For the second consecutive weekend, the No. 3/4 Harvard women’s hockey team went up against a formidable conference opponent on the road. And for the second consecutive weekend, it played its foe to a disappointing result. Just a week after falling to No. 6 Clarkson, the Crimson failed to earn a win as the squad played Dartmouth to a 2-2 draw in Hanover.

“It’s probably the best we played as a group in a couple of weeks,” junior forward Lindsey Fry said. “We were bummed to get the tie, but we weren’t disappointed in our performance necessarily.”

The third-ranked team in the nation traded goals with a Big Green side that hasn’t dropped a game at home since Nov. 23 when No. 5 Cornell paid Hanover a visit.

“That was fun,” co-captain Laura Bellamy said. “We want games like that. We want a good back-and-forth team.”

Both goalies took a few minutes to settle in as three of the first four goals were scored within the first 10 minutes of play. Bellamy surrendered an early goal to Lindsey Allen off of a faceoff but soon found her rhythm to stop all but one of Dartmouth’s next 25 shots.

Bellamy has been splitting time with freshman Emerance Maschemeyer this season. The tandem ranks first and second, respectively, in save percentage in the ECAC.

The fruitless overtime period was closely contested as both teams had opportunities to find the back of the net.

The Big Green’s chance came first as Laura Stacey put the puck on net. The rebound bounced its way straight to Sasha Nanji who fired the puck right into Bellamy’s midsection for the easy cover-up.

Harvard came close but failed to punch it in during the closing seconds. Dartmouth’s goaltender Lindsay Holdcroft had to fall down and reach behind her in order to keep it out and make her last of 41 saves on the night.

“It can be kind of discouraging,” said Fry of the team’s difficulty finishing. “But at the same time it is so encouraging because you see how many opportunities you are getting and think one of them is bound to go in.”

That was the case early as a Big Green turnover led to the game’s first scoring opportunity two minutes into the first. After being played into the corner and worked along the boards, the puck skidded to junior forward Kalley Armstrong who stickhandled her way past two defenders before abruptly directing the puck at an unsuspecting goaltender.

The cushion created by the backhander did not last long as Allen’s quick strike allowed Dartmouth to draw even thereafter.

The puck slid under Bellamy’s pads to find its way into the back of the net and erase the early lead.

The squad’s top line, spearheaded by co-captain Jillian Dempsey, displayed its offensive prowess, accounting for both of the night’s goals. The three players who comprise the unit have combined for 36 goals thus far this season.

“That line...has been great for us all year. They know where each other are at all times and that was a great play,” Bellamy said of the precision passing that allowed the Crimson to go up for the remainder of the first period.

The progression involved a no-look pass from junior forward Lindsey Fry to find Dempsey with an unobstructed path to the net.

In the first three minutes of extra session though, the Big Green kept the puck on Harvard’s side of the ice, peppering Bellamy.

The Crimson power play went zero for four on the night. Yet this line in the box score was not due to a lack of opportunity.

Harvard might have been able to put the game away early, hitting a post and a crossbar on the power play preceding Dartmouth’s first goal.

The squad kept up the offensive at the close of the second, firing multiple pucks on net before Holdcroft could dive on the puck and clear it to safety.

“Their goalie made some good saves, and we just couldn’t put one away,” Fry said.

Fry led all skaters for the Crimson with eight shots on net.

The tie compresses the top of the standings, as Cornell beat Union and Rensselaer to inch within a point of Harvard entering the season’s final stretch.

—Staff writer Daniel A. Grafstein can be reached at dgrafstein@college.harvard.edu.