CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - Harvard women's hockey hits the road this weekend for another ECAC hockey series against the Cornell Big Red and the Colgate Raiders. Both the Big Red and Raiders are ranked in the national top 10.
First, the Crimson will battle with No. 10/9 Cornell, who it beat earlier this season, on Friday night. The Ivy League series between Harvard and Cornell has been back and forth since its origin in 1981. Recently, the series has fallen in favor of the Crimson, who have won the past three matchups.
One of the best offenses in college hockey will host the Crimson on Saturday, when it travels to Hamilton, N.Y. to take on the Colgate Raiders. The two sides battles once before this season when the Raiders scored a late third period goal to edge the Crimson by a score of 5-4 in an instant classic.
The sixth-place Harvard Crimson looks to keep improving its ECAC standing by picking up more points this weekend. A win keeps the Crimson in the hunt for a home playoff series, but a loss would mean Harvard will hit the road for round one.
Scouting The Competition
The No. 10/9 Cornell Big Red come into the contest with a record of 12-7-2. The Ivy foe is 5-2 since the break but 2-2 in its past four. The Big Red has dominated on special teams this season, to power its ninth-ranked socirng offense. The Big Red powerplay is ranked third in the nation after scoring at a 25-percent clip in 2022-23. If the Big Red have a weakness, though, it is their penalty kill that is ranked fourth-worst in the nation (75-percent).
No. 5/5 Colgate has been an offensive juggernaut in 2022-23, ranking in the top 10 in nearly every scoring metric. The Raiders rank first in the ECAC in goals (104), assists (184), powerplay goals (24), scoring margin (+2.36) and scoring offense (4.16 gpg).
Last Time Out
The Crimson split an ECAC series last weekend, defaeting RPI while falling to Union to earn another three points in the conference standings. Harvard earned a 3-1 result against RPI before dropping the contest to Union by the same score.Harvard had four different goal scoreres this weekend in Anne Bloomer, Gabi Davidson Adams, Shannon Hollands and Ellie Bayard.
Hollands Heatin' Up
Harvard Junior center, Shannon Hollands, has begun to find her groove offensively, notching points in five of seven games since the break. First, Hollands kicked off the run with a goal on the Frozen Fenway ice against Quinnipiac (Jan. 6).
The Canadian followed that effort up with assists in three straight contests. Hollands dished out the assist on the game-tying goals against St. Lawrence (Jan. 10) and Dartmouth (Jan. 13) before scoring a goal against RPI (Jan. 20) last week.
Hitting Their Stride
A few Crimson skaters have begun to find their rhythm in the offensive end since the break including sophomores Mia Biotti and Paige Lester.
Biotti has registered points in four of her past eight games, inlcuding a game-winning and game-tying goal in each matchup against St. Lawrence (Dec. 3 and Jan. 10).
Lester has scored two goals since the break and also didshed out an assist at Frozen Fenway (Jan. 6).
Free Hockey
The Crimson played into overtime in all three contests the week of January 8-15, which is tied for the longest OT streak in program history. The Crimson have played three consecutive OT games four times since 1978-79. Harvard tied teh streak earlier this season with three straight OT games against Brown, Union and RPI.
Della Rovere Leads the Nation
First-line center, Kristin Della Rovere, has been dominating in the faceoff circle so far this season, posting 372 wins on the dot, a total that is good for best in the nation. Her .619 winning percentage is good for No. 9 in the country among qualified centers (100 or more attempts).
Despite playing fewer games, Della Rovere ranks third in the nation with her faceoff wins total of 372. The senior captain has also won 10 or more draws in 20 consecutive games, the longest such streak of her career. As a team, Harvard ranks fourth in the ECAC with a .528 winning pct. on the dot.
Donut Factory
Three of Harvard six wins this season have come by way of the shutout, giving them the seventh-most in the conference. In all four of Harvard's wins, the team is outscoring opponents, 8-1, killed off all six penalties and scored the first goal in three of those games. Kristin Della Rovere has a point in all four wins, additionally.
Alex Pellicci has dominated in the games Harvard has won, recording a .992 save percentage while allowing only one goal on 127 opponent shots.
Penalty Kill Prowess
Harvard has been solid on the penalty-kill in 2022, holding opponents to only eight goals on 58 powerplays. The mark is good for fifth-best in the conference and is No. 16 in the nation.
The Crimson have also made the most out of tough situations in 2022-23, netting three short-handed goals in the first half of the season.
Pellicci solid between the pipes
Sophomore goaltender, Alex Pellicci, has started every game in net for the Crimson, giving her team excellent goaltending efforts so far in 2022-23.
Pellicci has saved 40-plus shots seven times this season - including a 44-save effort against St. Lawrence on Tuesday - and 50-plus shots in two contests. Her 54 and 51 save games make her just the second Crimson goaltender to record two 50-plus save games in the same season in program history. Her 54 saves against Yale were also third-most all-time for a Crimson goaltender.
Her 727 total saves are third-highest in the nation despite playing fewer games than her opponents and her save percentage of .926 is good for No. 17 in the country.
Pellicci is on pace to make 1,004 saves in 2022, which would shatter the single season record of 927 set by Lindsay Reed in 2018-19.
Lester Leads the League
Sophomore forward Paige Lester has scored two short-handed goals this season, which is tied with three other players for the most in the ECAC. Lester is also only the fourth Harvard student-athlete to accomplish the feat in the past ten years.
Lester's short-handed goal against UNH also served as the game-winning goal. That is only the third time the feat has been accomplished in the last ten years and the first time since Dominique Petrie '21 did it against Union in 2019-20.
Davidson Adams is Dangerous
Sophomore forward, Gabi Davidson Adams, has started to find her rhythm as she gets more playing time in 2022-23. The winger scored the game-winning goal against the RPI Engineers (Jan. 20) on a great individual effort. GDA has recorded three points in her past four games and is now fourth on the team in total points with eight.
Youngest Team in the ECAC
77-percent of Crimson skaters are sophomore or first-years, giving them the highest percentage of underclasswomen in the ECAC and second highest in the nation. The only school with more is Stonehill College, who just moved up to Division I in 2022.
Cornell and Union are the only schools close to Harvard, as they own 70 and 68 percent marks in the undergraduate category.
Up Next
Harvard women's ice hockey will play just one game next weekend on Friday night against Princeton. The game is set for 6:00 PM on Feb. 3 against the Tigers. The following week will be the first round of the Beanpot Tournament at Boston College, where the Crimson will put its title on the line when it takes on the Eagles.
