Late Penalty Shot Helps No. 5 Crimson Escape Saints Upset Bid, 2-1

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Tara Freeman
Senior Maxie Weisz made 30 saves against No. 5 Harvard on Friday night.

Feb. 19: The St. Lawrence University women's hockey team's upset bid against nationally-ranked No. 5 Harvard came up just short on Friday night at Appleton Arena, as the Crimson tied the game late in the third period before Randi Griffin scored on a penalty shot with only 24.3 seconds left in regulation to help the visitors escape with a 2-1 win.

The victory moves Harvard to 18-6-4 (13-6-2) on the season and boost's the Crimson's chances for home-ice advantage in the ECAC Hockey Tournament's quarterfinals.  It also was the 337th win behind the bench for head coach Katey Stone, which ties the all-time women's hockey Division I record for victories. 

Meanwhile, St. Lawrence falls to 14-12-7 (10-8-3) on the year and will play on the road in the opening best-of-three round of the playoffs next weekend for the first time in program history.  The loss also spoiled a brilliant outing in goal by senior Maxie Weisz, who stopped 30 shots including 11 in both the first and second period.

With the game knotted at 1-1 in the final seconds of regulation, the puck was dumped into the corner to Weisz's right.  A St. Lawrence skater ran into the netminder, knocking her into the goal and out of the play.  The officials allowed the play to continue and Harvard appeared ready to capitalize with the net wide open.  However, with the shot on the way, a member of the Saints knocked the goal off intentionally, giving the Crimson a penalty shot with 24.3 showing on the game clock.

Though Weisz remained on the ice for some time and was attended to by the training staff, she was able to remain in the game.  On the ensuing penalty shot, though, Harvard's Randi Griffin snapped a wrist shot into the net to break the tie and propel the Crimson on to the 2-1 victory.

"The referee made the correct call in that situation," said St. Lawrence head coach Chris Wells.  "It was unfortunate, but it was truly a great game tonight against a really fun team to play.  I also want to congratulate Katey (Stone) on becoming the winningest coach in Division I women's hockey history."

The Crimson controlled much of the play in the first period and held a 7-0 advantage in shots on goal through the opening 10 minutes.  Weisz held her ground, though, and kept the visitors off of the scoreboard.  Though she didn't see as much action as her counterpart, Harvard goalie Laura Bellamy also played a perfect first period, making five saves.

Harvard seemed poised to take the lead on the power play early in the second period, as the puck found Liza Ryabkina's stick in the slot for a one-on-one try with Weisz.  However, the Severna Park, MD native continued to shine and robbed the Harvard standout of a goal to keep the game scoreless.

The Saints' offense also began to kick in during the second period, as they began to generate more quality chances in the Harvard end.  Their efforts eventually paid off at 18:58 of the frame when sophomore Vanessa Emond used a quick wrap-around shot to catch Bellamy out of position to score her 15th goal of the season and give the Scarlet and Brown a 1-0 advantage.  Classmate Alley Bero picked up her 11th assist of the year.

St. Lawrence continued to apply pressure throughout the third period, but Bellamy made key saves including a crucial stop on senior Tara Akstull from the top of the crease to keep Harvard within striking distance.  The Crimson would eventually tie the game at 1-1 when Kate Buesser centered a pass to Jillian Dempsey in the slot, and Dempsey was able to lift a shot under the cross bar at 12:37 of the third period.  The goal was Dempsey's 10th of the season.

Harvard finished with a 32-20 advantage in shots on goal, though neither team was able to score on the power play (SLU, 0-for-2; Harvard 0-for-1).  Bellamy finished with 19 saves including nine in the third, while Weisz closed with eight in the final period.

"We've played six consecutive solid periods of hockey," added Coach Wells, whose team will square off with Dartmouth in the 2009-10 regular season finale tomorrow at Appleton Arena.  "If we continue to play like we did tonight, I like where we're headed."

The puck will drop on the Saints and Big Green at 4:00pm tomorrow in what will be St. Lawrence's Class of 2010's final game at Appleton Arena.