CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - It's another big week for Harvard women's ice hockey, as the team prepares to take on Princeton this Friday, Feb. 3 before defending its Beanpot title in the first round against Boston College next Tuesday, Feb. 7. The Crimson will also celebrate National Girls and Women's in Sports Day throughout the duration of the contest against Princeton.
The matchup with the Tigers has major implications on the ECAC standings as the Crimson - currently in sixth-place - will look to improve its position on the Tigers who are slotted in eighth-place. As of right now, Harvard's 22.5 league points are 3.5 more than Princeton's 19. Princeton earned the win over Harvard earlier this season but Harvard still owns a 6-5-1 advantage in the past twelve meetings with the Ivy League foe.
Harvard will then have the weekend to prepare for the 2023 Beanpot Tournament in which it will defend its title against Boston College in the first round of the tournament. Harvard was missing a handful of injured players in its last matchup with the Eagles. Now, with a full lineup Harvard will look continue its successful run in the Beanpot.
Scouting The Competition
The Princeton Tigers are coming off one of the most surprising upset victories in women's college hockey this season as they dismantled the No. 4/4 Quinnipiac Bobcats 11-3 on Sunday. The win snapped a five-game losing skid that lasted nearly the entire month of January. The Crimson's Ivy League rival has struggled on the road in conference play, posting a 2-5-0 record thus far in 2022-23.
Statistically, the Tigers have been relatively even with opponents, playing a -1 margin as of Jan. 31. One of the most penalized teams in the ECAC, Princeton, however, has struggled on the penalty kill, allowing a 19-percent scoring clip to opponents.
Boston College comes into the matchup as the fourth-place team in the Hockey East. In addition, the Eagles snapped a multiple game losing streak with a win over Merrimack that halted the run at four losses. The Eagles have been impressive on the penalty kill this season, owning a .903 percentage that ranks fifth in the nation. The Eagles have struggled on the powerplay, scoring only four goals this season (.077).
Last time out
The Crimson split an ECAC series last weekend, defeating No. 10/9 Cornell, 7-6, before falling 3-1 to No. 5/5 Colgate. The seven goal output against the Big Red was a season best and included a hat-trick from Anne Bloomer who finished the game with five points to lead the team.
Bloomer Wins ECAC Forward of the Week Award
Senior captain Anne Bloomer's incredible performance in the team's 7-6 upset win over No. 10/9 Cornell netted her the ECAC Forward of the Week award for the second time in her career. Bloomer also added an assist in the following contest against Coglate to finish with six points over the weekend series.
Bloomer potted three goals to record her second career hat-trick while also notching two assists to total a career-high five points in the outing against Cornell. The five point total is the most points for a Crimson skater since Dominique Petrie in 2019-20.
Bloomer now leads the team in goals (12) and points (20) after 20 games played. The Chicago native has played a role in 48-percent of Harvard's goals this season, the highest mark in the ECAC.
Career Night for KDR
Senior captain, Kristin Della Rovere also had a productive weekend for the Crimson, finishing with five points on a goal and four assists. The four helpers all came in the win over Cornell, which was good for a career-high.
It was the first time a Crimson skater had reached the four assist mark since 2019-20 when Becca Gilmore tallied four against Princeton.
Hollands is Heatin' Up
Harvard Junior center, Shannon Hollands, has begun to find her groove offensively, notching points in six of nine games since the break. 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 goals against RPI (Jan. 20) and the game-winner against Cornell (Jan. 27).
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 the 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 405 wins on the dot, a total that is good for best in the nation.
Her .607 winning percentage is good for No. 13 in the country amongst qualified centers (100 or more attempts).
Despite playing fewer games, Della Rovere ranks first in the country with her faceoff wins total of 405. The senior captain has won 10 or more draws in 22 consecutive games, the longest such streak of her career. As a team, Harvard ranks sixth in the ECAC with a .520 winning pct. on the dot.
Winning Time
In games that Harvard has won this season, the Crimson is outscoring its opponents 21-10, holding opponents to a 1.43 goals per game clip. Scoring first has been crucial to the Crimson's success, as the team holds a 4-1-2 record when lighting the lamp before opponents.
Three of Harvard seven wins this season have come by way of the shutout, giving them the seventh-most in the conference.
Alex Pellicci has dominated in the games Harvard has won, recording a .956 save percentage while allowing only ten goals on 225 opponent shots. Her three shutouts also give Harvard the seventh most in the ECAC.
Captains Kristin Della Rovere and Anne Bloomer have also played a huge role in the team's victories, as the duo has posted 11 points each in the team's wins this year.
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 eight times this season - including a 46-save effort last weekend at Colgate- 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 804 total saves are third-highest in the nation despite playing fewer games than her opponents and her save percentage of .923 is good for No. 19 in the country.
Pellicci is on pace to make 1,014 saves in 2022-23, which would shatter the single season record of 927 set by Lindsay Reed in 2018-19. Currently, Pellicci has the third-most singles season saves in program history.
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 in 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 also bent the twine against Cornell (Jan. 27) and has now recorded five points in her past six games. GDA's 10 points are tied for the third highest total on the team.
Block Party
The Crimson defense has continued to put its bodies on the line for its goaltender, as three players now rank in the top 60 nationally in blocked shots.
Sophomore defender, Mia Biotti currently ranks eight in the nation with 53 blocked shots this season. That total is also the highest in the ECAC and already is the most since Kaitlin Tse in 2018-19.
Fellow sophomore, Jenna MacDonald and her 43 blocked shots rank T-24 in the country while Kristin Della Rovere has blocked 36 shots, a total good for T-57 in the NCAA.
Youngest Team in the ECAC
80-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.
100 Game Club
Senior captains Anne Bloomer, Kristin Della Rovere and Kyra Willoughby all joined the 100 game club after reaching the milestone earlier this season.
Hitting the Ice Flying
It didn't take long for the Crimson to put a tally on the board against Dartmouth on Oct. 21. In fact, it took only 11 seconds for captain, Kristin Della Rovere to score against the Big Green, which goes down as the fastest goal in team history and is tied for the eight-fastest goal in NCAA history.
KDR won the opening faceoff back to first-year defender, Jade Arnone, who cycled the puck up the boards to Anne Bloomer who found a streaking KDR in the slot. The senior forward put the puck in the back of the net, writing her name in the history books in the process.
More recently, Anne Bloomer also wrote her name in the record book, scoring just 14 seconds into the contest against No. 10/9 Cornell, recording the 18th fastest goal in NCAA Women's Ice Hockey history.
