ECAC Powers Under Pressure

Tonight, President Obama will give the State of the Union address on national television. But now, I offer a far less monumental analysis—the state of ECAC women’s hockey.

Back in November, I used this space to talk about the shift that was starting in the conference’s power dynamic. Clarkson and Cornell had gotten off to quick starts, but a part of me believed that they would fade—the Golden Knights have a recent history of dropping off in the second half of the season, and the Big Red’s roster is chock full of youngsters.

As it turns out, I was wrong on both counts.

With just four weekends left in conference play, Clarkson and Cornell have begun to distance themselves from the rest of the ECAC. The Golden Knights are sitting pretty at third in the national polls and tied No. 1 Mercyhurst two weeks ago.

The secret to Clarkson’s sustained success? That would be senior Dominique Thibault, who transferred from Connecticut this year and is leading the conference in total points.

The Big Red, on the other hand, is relying on a quartet of underclassmen—sophomores Catherine White and Chelsea Karpenko and freshmen Laura Fortino and Lauriane Rougeau—for its success.

Though Cornell fell out of the national polls a few weeks ago, when the absence of White, Fortino, and Rougeau due to national team commitments led to a three-game losing streak, the Big Red is unbeaten in four games since the trio’s return.

But with two surprises atop the conference, one big question comes to mind—where the heck are the powerhouses?

Well, Harvard—winner of the last two league regular-season titles—is right behind, sitting alone in third place and currently seventh in the national polls.

Like Cornell, and many other teams in the conference, the Crimson is a young team this year that has perhaps exceeded expectations thus far.

Junior Kate Buesser has stepped into the large shoes left by a talented offensive class of 2009, leading the team with 23 points. Her talented rookie linemate, Jillian Dempsey, is right behind her with 19—and her 1.00 points per game are third-best in the country among freshmen.

But Harvard is primarily a defensively-focused team, and the senior trifecta of co-captains Cori Bassett and Kathryn Farni and goaltender Christina Kessler has led the nation’s fourth-best scoring defense, allowing just 1.53 goals per game.

But the Crimson did face a setback last week when a torn ACL abruptly ended Kessler’s collegiate career. Rookie Laura Bellamy will be thrown into the fire, with a good deal of the team’s postseason chances resting on her young shoulders.

Harvard also has welcomed junior Kylie Stephens, a backup netminder for the last two years, back to the fold, giving the Crimson some much-needed insurance in the crease. And luckily for Bellamy, she has a battle-tested defensive corps in front of her—and Harvard’s winningest goaltender to guide her from behind the bench.

But for Bellamy and her teammates, there’s no time for practice. While the Crimson seems a lock for a postseason spot (the top eight squads in the 12-team conference will advance to the league tourney), there will be a dogfight for home-ice advantage over the next four weeks.

Just two points separate Harvard and seventh-place St. Lawrence, and the four teams right behind the Crimson in the standings all have at least one conference game in hand.

Perhaps the biggest surprise of the ECAC season has been the rise of the Quinnipiac program, currently sitting in a three-way tie for fourth.

The Bobcats have never made the conference playoffs since they joined the league in the 2005-06 season, but they are receiving votes in the national polls for the first time in history.

But equally surprising as Quinnipiac’s rise is the fall of the Dartmouth program. After winning the conference tournament and advancing to NCAAs a year ago, the Big Green is now fighting with Yale and Colgate for the eighth playoff spot.

For a team that has enjoyed sustained success in the ECAC over the last decade—and returned four of its top six scorers from a year ago—Dartmouth’s struggles are difficult to explain. Perhaps the hole graduated goaltender Carli Clemis left behind was too large to fill, but more likely, with so many teams on the rise, some program had to fall.

Harvard pays a visit to Hanover this Friday, and a win would help right the ship after the Crimson lost at home to Rensselaer, 4-2, last Saturday. Harvard’s league schedule the rest of the way is mostly favorable, with games remaining against four of the bottom five teams in the conference, but three road contests—at Renssealer on Feb. 12 and a brutal road trip to Clarkson and St. Lawrence in the regular season’s final weekend—will prove crucial to the Crimson’s quest for home-ice advantage.

Harvard is still a young team with a lot to prove, but with a lot of confidence and a little bit of luck, it has the talent to make noise in the conference playoffs. Will the Crimson have the legs to make it back to the NCAA Tournament after a year’s absence? It’s too soon to say, and the competition will be stiff.

But in a league where the power balance is so much in flux, be sure of this—it’s certainly possible.

—Staff writer Kate Leist can be reached at kleist@fas.harvard.edu.