Harvard Dominates St. Michael’s

The Harvard Crimson welcomed in the St. Michael’s Purple Knights to a Friday night tilt at the Bright-Landry Hockey Center. The Crimson came into this one off a season-opening home and home series where they hung a pair of dubs against Holy Cross. Meanwhile, the Purple Knights have had a tougher road thus far, and are still searching for the first win of their campaign.

At the end of 60, the Crimson dominated the Purple Knights to the tune of 12-0 sending the Harvard fans home happy. The Purple Knights played hard until the final horn and showed great effort and determination but more on that later.

Full Disclosure: The traffic/parking was an absolute gong-show for this one and when I got off Rt2 the GPS told me I had 0.9mi to my destination and that it was going to take me 28mins!! I still don’t know what was going on but it was as if Harvard was giving out scholarships or the new Pikachu toy based on the volume of kids and parents on hand. The fields surrounding Bright-Landry were mobbed beyond belief. So, now that I’ve set the stage, here’s the Mea Culpa: I missed the first 7mins of game time and the first 2 Crimson goals. Plus side of being so late is that I got to walk in with a dad and daughter from the Chicago Mission and they were stoked to see Carla McSweeney and the Harvard team. Shout out to them and the offensive minded lefty D that might be pulling on a Harvard sweater in the future.

And here’s McSweeney’s episode on the podcast for those that haven’t seen it yet.

While there is video of the first goal of the game (and the 4th) there’s not a lot else so I’ll sub in pics where I can find them. This is where Alex Paulsen notched the game-winner just 99 seconds in off a nice feed from Morgan McGathey.

Elle Sproule doubled up the score less than 2 minutes later and the Crimson were off and running (and roughly now is when I showed up).

In net to open the game was Jordana DeMarinis for the Purple Knights and for Harvard it was (one of) the Beanpot heroes from last season: Ainsley Tuffy. DeMarinis had the significantly busier time in the opening period as she saw a ridiculous 37 SOG (that’s a full game in beer league!) while Tuffy had to face only one. 

Lindsay Stepnowski scored the first goal (that I saw) to put Harvard up 3-0 and oh boy this was shaping up to be a long night for St. Michael’s.

Hilda Arhammar Pakarinen made it 4-0 with her first career goal when she was left alone in the LW circle and put the puck up under the bar. I mean, if you can, you should def make your first Geno a filthy snipe.

Sproule got her 2nd of the game when her wrister from the slot was too much for DeMarinis and caromed home off the netminder’s paddle. 

With time winding down it was (friend of the pod) Carla McSweeney that made it a 6 pack when she beat DeMarinis through a screen McSweetness went under the arm far side with a heavy wrister. That score held for the remainder of the first.

In the middle frame St. Michael’s had a mystery goalie in the pipes, (kind of). I don’t think they pulled someone from the concourse, but there was no #44 for the Purple Knights on the roster sheet and no #44 on the team’s website. There was also no nameplate on the jersey so maybe there was some type of snafu with the sweater? The box score confirms that it was Makena Underwood (listed as #1) so I’m going to assume that’s correct.

McGathey’s one-timer from low on the LW scored the touchdown for the Crimson. McSweeney circled the zone and found McGathey who beat the Underwood to the near post.

Stepnowski made it an 8 spot with a short-side over the shoulder and the Crimson were done celebrating. No more fist bumps down the bench, just line up and drop the puck. Nice bit of sportsmanship from the Harvard squad and coaching staff.

Angelica Megdanis got her first of the year when her wrister from the slot found the back of the net stick side. 9-0 Harvard.

Good to see the St. Michael’s players giving some love to the ‘tendy after each goal. Each player on the ice took the time to give some encouragement to Underwood. That’s having your teammates back for sure.

With time winding down in the middle frame, Harvard made it to double digits on Brooke Manning’s first of the year. Emily Hamann went low to high from behind the net to Manning on the inside of the RW circle. Manning’s shot pinballed home off a defender.

To open the final frame, Harvard rolled out Serra Yildir in relief of Tuffy. She was immediately tested as St. Michael’s had a breakaway in the opening minute. Yildir turned the bid away and the score remained static. Nice way to start your NCAA career!

Underwood made her save of the game when she came laterally left to right to deny Manning in the first half of the third. Great lateral movement and she was ahead of the feed and squared up to the shot. Completely shut the door. 

Zoe Boosamra fought her way down the LW wall through some heavy traffic before her backhand found Hamann in front. Hamann punched it home for her first of the year. 

A dribbler leaked through Underwood and Kaley MacDonald was right there to tuck in her first of the year. Say it with me: Good things happen when you go to the net! MacDonald’s tally made it 12-0 and that score held until the final horn. 

A couple of takeaways from this one. Both teams played this the right way. Harvard stopped celebrating goals and no one played “Hero Hockey” once they were up by 5 or so. At every level of hockey, there are players that just want to “get their points” and it didn’t seem as if anyone on the Crimson roster played that way. Stick taps all around.

Regarding St. Michael’s. So far this season, this has been a tough start for the program for sure. But I’ll tell you what, they don’t quit, they don’t hang their heads, they don’t resort to playing dirty and they continuously support each other. Besides giving some love to the goalies, the entire bench was on their feet the whole game cheering each other on. They played hard through the final horn and were legit playing all the way through. No quit for the Purple Knights and that reflects on the team’s character and the coaching staff.

A few players I’d like to highlight for St. Michael’s

• #15 Anna Jerylo – She was playing hard all night and through the final horn when she was out there still hunting the puck. The 4 year player from MN showed true leadership.
• #19 Kate Louder – Another one that ignored the scoreboard and just played in the moment. The freshman from MA was hustling all night and was noticeable on the ice for St. Michael’s.
• #16 Jen Birolini – In my humble opinion the best player in purple tonight. All gas and no brakes. The Tabor product was hard on the forecheck and back check and was filling the shooting lanes down by multiple goals. An absolute beautician that can play for Team Brownie any day.

It’s easy to coast on the back check when you’re losing like this. A lot of players would be doing the óle defense down by 5 but these 3 never took a shortcut and played hard in all phases. The entire team never gave up and kept supporting each other. Those are the building blocks of greatness. Keep your heads up and keep having each other’s backs.

Harvard hosts UNH tomorrow night while St. Michael’s heads to Merrimack.

If you’ve read this far you’re clearly a fan of the women’s game so please check out our podcast and follow us on all socials @BTGHockeyPod

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