Harvard Crimson 2013-2014

[Watson Rink]

Re: Harvard Crimson 2013-2014

Hey folks, Wisco fan here looking for perspective on Maschmeyer. We obviously don't get to see any of your games out this way. She wasn't really on my radar until the Patty nod. Then we hear she was benched. Then she returned against Cornell. So what should we expect to see.
It's likely she starts, correct?

It's difficult for someone who never sees her play to understand that Patty Top 10 when you look at stats that say she wasn't even the top goalie in her conference. But I'm guessing it wasn't a bribe or a fluke.

So can someone who has watched her all season tell us the situation with what got her the national attention, what's the situation with the "benching" - is it streaky play, etc ... - and what should we expect to see on Saturday?

Thanks!

Thanks for the question. Here's her biography from the team website. It's prolix, but her chief collegiate accomplishments are set forth at the beginning of "Sophomore" and her Canadian U-18 and U-22 credentials at "Before Harvard."

Best of luck, by the way, and hope the Wisco-Hvd game this year may be as exciting as the 4OT game in 2007!


Sophomore • 2013-14
Named a Patty Kazmaier Top-10 Finalist ... ECAC Goaltender of the Year ... ECAC Player of the Year Runner Up ... First Team All-ECAC ... Co-Ivy League Player of the Year ... First Team All- Ivy League ... Three-time ECAC Goaltender of the Week; Goaltender of the Month of December ... Denied 19 shots, allowing just two goals to No. 8 Quinnipiac in the season opener (W, 4-2) on Oct. 25 ... Set a new career high with 44 saves against Princeton, recording her sixth career shutout in the process on Oct. 26 ... Named ECAC Goaltender of the Week on Oct. 29 ... Stopped 13 shots, but gave up two in the 2-1 loss at RPI on Nov. 1 ... Blanked Union in the 3-0 win, recording 18 saves in the process on Nov. 2 ... Stopped 26 shots en route to a 3-2 win at St. Lawrence on Nov. 8 ... Shut out No. 6 Clarkson, 2-0, behind an impressive 36 saves against the Knights in Canton on Nov. 9 ... Was named ECAC Goaltender of the Week on Nov. 11 ... Steered away 28 shots in the gritty 3-3 tie against No. 3 Cornell at home on Nov. 15 ... Held No. 9 Boston University to a single late goal in the 3-1 win, padding away 34 shots on net to earn the win on Nov. 22 ... Stopped all 25 shots to come her way to earn her sixth win and fourth shutout in the 5-0 victory on Dec. 1 ... Ended the game against No. 6 Boston College with a career high 51 saves for the tie ... The two performances earned her ECAC Goaltender of the Month honors for the first time in her career (Jan. 3) ... Stopped 30 shots en route to Harvard's 3-2 win over Northeastern on Jan. 4 ... Earned her fifth whitewash of the season, stopping all 17 of Brown's shots in the 3-0 victory on Jan. 10 ... Allowed two goals but recorded 29 saves against Yale on Jan. 11 ... Let through four goals, but picked up 25 saves in the winning effort at Colgate (W, 5-4) on Jan. 17 ... Played brilliantly, racking up 30 saves to just one goal allowed against one of the nation's premier offenses in No. 3 Cornell; Harvard's 3-1 win over the Big Red was its first in Ithaca since 2008-09 ... Duplicated the 30-save, one-goal-allowed effort a week later in the Crimson's 3-1 win vs. RPI on Jan. 25 ... Picked up the win against Princeton, allowing two goals while stopping 22 shots (Jan. 31) ... Steered away 30 shots against high-powered Quinnipiac to earn the tie (Feb. 1) ... Handed the loss after yielding three goals in the first round of the Beanpot against Northeastern (Feb. 4) ... Bounced back with a 27-save, 1-goal allowed effort at Dartmouth to earn the 4-1 win (Feb. 7) ... Stopped 39 shots against BU in the Beanpot Consolation, earning the win over the Terriers in overtime (Feb. 11) ... Allowed just two goals, but earned a loss to No. 3 Clarkson on Feb. 14; made 37 saves against the Knights ... Tallied 47 saves in the 5-2 win over St. Lawrence on Feb. 15 ... Earned a tie after giving up three goals, stopping 23 shots, at Yale on Feb. 21 ... Stopped 45 shots (the fourth time reaching 40+ saves), but picked up the Game 1 loss to Yale in the ECAC Quarterfinals on Feb. 28 ... Allowed five scores to offensive-minded Cornell in the ECAC Semifinals, stopping 19 shots (March 8).

Freshman • 2012-13
Named to the ECAC All-Rookie team ... First goalie to win Ivy League Rookie of the Year since 1995 ... Made 16 saves in her winning debut to become the first Harvard goalie to win her first start since 2006 in a 9-1 win at Princeton Oct. 27 ... Recorded her first career shutout with 12 saves in a 4-0 win at Yale Nov. 3 ... Voted the Harvard COOP Athlete of the Week Nov. 6 ... Briefly led the NCAA in goals against average at 0.67 and tied for first in save percentage (.961) after a 21-save effort against Cornell Nov. 24 ... Named the ECAC Rookie of the Week after beating No. 2 Cornell, 3-1, Nov. 24 ... Earned her second straight win over a ranked team by taking down No. 9 Northeastern, 3-1, Nov. 27 ... Made 19 saves to beat RPI, 2-1, Jan. 5 ... Shut out Quinnipiac, 4-0, with 18 saves Jan. 12 ... Blocked a career-high 34 shots during Harvard's 2-1 loss to No. 2 Boston College in the Beanpot semifinal Feb. 5.

Before Harvard
Played on the varsity hockey team as a goaltender at John Paul II High School ... Member of the Bantam AA All-Star team and Bantam AAA All-Star team ... Won gold medals at the Alberta Winter Games and Canada Winter Games ... Captured a gold medal as part of Team Canada in IIHF U18 tournament in 2012 ... Played for Team Canada U-22 in a three-game series against the United States.

 

[robertearle]

Re: Harvard Crimson 2013-2014

………………….or to put it another way, Wisconsin is beatable because they have trouble scoring, but they are very difficult to beat because it's so hard to score on them.

(This also assumes that the defenses Wisconsin is trying to score against are 'equal' to the defenses Harvard, et al. are trying to score against.)

 

[Watson Rink]

Re: Harvard Crimson 2013-2014

(This also assumes that the defenses Wisconsin is trying to score against are 'equal' to the defenses Harvard, et al. are trying to score against.)

True enough. The not very robust body of data involving CoP trends in Wisco's favor (only common opponents were BU and NU, Wisco had a 2-0 record with an average 4 GF and 1 GA while Hvd had a 3-1 record with an average 3 GF and 1.75 GA) and I imagine SOS, a much more robust body of data, trends heavily in Wisco's favor.

 

[Trillium]

Re: Harvard Crimson 2013-2014

Hey folks, Wisco fan here looking for perspective on Maschmeyer. We obviously don't get to see any of your games out this way. She wasn't really on my radar until the Patty nod. Then we hear she was benched. Then she returned against Cornell. So what should we expect to see.
It's likely she starts, correct?

It's difficult for someone who never sees her play to understand that Patty Top 10 when you look at stats that say she wasn't even the top goalie in her conference. But I'm guessing it wasn't a bribe or a fluke.

So can someone who has watched her all season tell us the situation with what got her the national attention, what's the situation with the "benching" - is it streaky play, etc ... - and what should we expect to see on Saturday?

Thanks!

I'll leave it someone with goaltending expertise to speak to her particular technical strengths.

There is no doubt she is a top-notch goaltender. She has definitely come up huge in some games. Most notable among these would have been her 36 save shutout performance against Clarkson very early in the season, and 1 GA in 31 shots vs Cornell in January.

The simplistic answer to your question may be that she performed much better in the 1st half than in the 2nd half.

In her first 12 games through to early Jan, she gave up only 14 goals for a stratospheric .960 save percentage. In that period, she only gave up 3 goals once, in a 3-3 tie vs Cornell. Besides the Clarkson game, she had 3 other shutouts albeit against weaker teams. Her only sub-par performance (statistically at least) in the front half was giving up 2 goals in 15 shots in a 2-1 loss to Rensselaer.

However, in the back half of the season though the strength of schedule was comparable, her stats definitely came back down to earth somewhat because she was not nearly as consistent. In her next 12 games, she did not attain another shutout, and gave up 25 goals for a save percentage of .933. Her weakest performances were giving up 4 to Colgate in an eventual 5-4 comeback win for Harvard, allowing 3 goals on 13 shots to Northeastern in the Beanpot before being pulled in a 4-3 loss, and 3 goals versus Yale in her last start of the regular season in an eventual 3-3 Tie.

In 2 post-season games so far she has given up 8 goals on 72 shots for .889%. After giving up 3 goals again versus Yale in a 3-2 Harvard loss, she did not play in the remaining 2 games of the series. She played next in the 6-4 loss to Cornell.

It's open to much debate as to whether she herself has become less effective as the season has worn on (perhaps nagging injuries taking a toll?), or if it is the team defense in front of her that has weakened, or both. There is some suggestion statistically as to her ability to rise to the occasion under late season and playoff pressure relative to some other goalies. Though in fairness she may not yet have had sufficient opportunities to draw any clear conclusions, she hasn't yet proven the ability to elevate her play in these conditions either.

 

[dave1381]

Re: Harvard Crimson 2013-2014

I agree completely with all that Maschmayer has yet to really prove herself as a top flight goalie in high pressure situations. The NCAA QF loss to BC last season was no good for sure.

I agree it was good to start Laing against Yale since Laing had proven she could handle teams of Yale's caliber, and Maschmayer seemed to perform better against better teams.

Maschmayer deserved her Kaz top 10 & ECAC first team based on regular season games she stole against the best. I think you have to go with Maschmayer going forward since you gave only her the chance against these teams and she excelled.

Harvard gave Maschmayer basically zero D support vs. Cornell, so stats alone are not representative of her ability there, but I also would agree she didn't bail the team out like they needed at the time.

So I hope that clears up what to expect - someone capable of greatness who hasn't done it on the biggest stage just yet.

 

[Veritas]

Re: Harvard Crimson 2013-2014

Trillium -
Thanks for that statistical analysis. It provides some reassurance that Harvard might be matched fairly well versus Wisconsin. I did notice that that the Wisconsin bench has 7 D and 13 forwards. I could not find any data on minutes played but did note that most of those players have played in every game or almost every game so it would appear that Wisconsin does favor a longer bench.

 

[robertearle]

Re: Harvard Crimson 2013-2014

Trillium -
Thanks for that statistical analysis. It provides some reassurance that Harvard might be matched fairly well versus Wisconsin. I did notice that that the Wisconsin bench has 7 D and 13 forwards. I could not find any data on minutes played but did note that most of those players have played in every game or almost every game so it would appear that Wisconsin does favor a longer bench.

7 D and 13 forwards?

13 forwards, yes; seven D, no.

They dress 12 forwards per game, with the non-dressing forward 'rotating' between Kim Drake, Rachel Jones, and Mikayla Johnson (unless somebody's injured - Molly Doner off and on the last few weeks.)

But unless you're including Stephanie McKeough (who has unfortunately missed the entire season with concussion problems, and is likely done playing hockey forever), only six defense. The fourth line plays, though obviously less than the others.

 

[robertearle]

Re: Harvard Crimson 2013-2014

7 D and 13 forwards?

13 forwards, yes; seven D, no.

They dress 12 forwards per game, with the non-dressing forward 'rotating' between Kim Drake, Rachel Jones, and Mikayla Johnson (unless somebody's injured - Molly Doner off and on the last few weeks.)

But unless you're including Stephanie McKeough (who has unfortunately missed the entire season with concussion problems, and is likely done playing hockey forever), only six defense. The fourth line plays, though obviously less than the others.

You can see who did and didn't dress by clicking on the player's names here (and in doing so, I probably overstated things by including Drake on that 'list'; she only sat out twice this year.)

http://www.wcha.com/women/wis/stats14.php

 

[YabaDabaDoo]

Re: Harvard Crimson 2013-2014

Skate79 ???

Who is the 9th forward then? #14? Frazier?

They only have 15 skaters and 2 of them are White and #14. White's a D and #14 plays very little.

I watched the game in person, and I thought both goalies played well.

This was wide open offence with great scoring chances both ways.

The goals on Maschmeyer were:

1st 5 - 3 with a goal mouth pass, 2nd was a D backing into Maschmeyer and the Fulton ripping one shelf, 3rd was a 2 on 1 with Saulnier shooting blocker (1.5' of the ice), 4th was where Maschmeyer made a blocker save and was then taken out by her D (lost stick) and then puck goes to the corner and get passed out to Saulnier (where a Harvard D could have picked her stick/and didn't) and 5th was a 5 on 4 shot from the point and deflected over Maschmeyre's blocker (Brown makes a pass out of the corner and then goes to the net without being picked up). Cornell could have scored 8 - 10 (scored 5). Harvard D although a young D, should really focus on their assignments in front of the net (I didn't see sticks being controlled, I saw loose gap from the red line in.

Does anyone understand goaltending out there??? Have any of you played. It's like everyone just looks at #'s, but I would like to hear from real students of the goaltending game.

Slobodnik played well and gave up 4 goals. Harvard could have scored easily 6-7 (scored 4). I can review those goals as well if you would like.

Howe had 1 goal in 40 shots over the weekend and ends up the loser, but she had the best save %. Slobodnik wins goalie of the tourney (with 4 goals against). I don't disagree that Slobodnik should be the goalie MVP. Observers have to look at chances and really study them. If not, then really your just a fan talking trash.

I thought she (Slobodnik) deserved it, but people really don't seem to know what are great scoring chances, and what are just shots. Just saying

I agree with your observation regarding goaltenders!
Regarding the Patty Kaz I think that there are several deserving goaltenders, I feel that the Patty Kaz committee in selecting a goalie or even considering them cannot spend to much time on stats. Both Harvard Goaltenders are very good a lot of time it is really about who's in front of them, not only the D but are the forwards fore and back checking, does the team have the ability to compete? Look at Brown's Moore or Union's Lundberg both teams are in the cellar but their goalies give them a chance. Rigsby, Howe or Slobotnick look at the team in front of them? if they give up a goal chances are they can get it back. The whole goalie of the week/month is really a mess as is probably the selection of goaltenders for the the Patty Kaz. The person with the stats wins, whats up with that? so a team plays Brown and Union, the goalie sees 40/45 shots gets 2 shutouts "Goalie of the week" while the brown/union goalie sees 60/65 and loses 1 or 2 to 0 against a team like Clarkson or Cornell and gets passed over?

 

[Trillium]

Re: Harvard Crimson 2013-2014

Trillium -
Thanks for that statistical analysis. It provides some reassurance that Harvard might be matched fairly well versus Wisconsin. I did notice that that the Wisconsin bench has 7 D and 13 forwards. I could not find any data on minutes played but did note that most of those players have played in every game or almost every game so it would appear that Wisconsin does favor a longer bench.

I really wish the NCAA kept stats on minutes actually played like the IIHF. The WCHA fans could tell you how much the third, and fourth, line players for Wisconsin actually see ice in a typical game. The problem with the "games played" stat alone is that it doesn't account for instances where a player was merely dressed and on the bench but not on the ice at all, or only played rare minutes during the games. As a result, some players who may seem of limited offensive value actually have significant untapped potential to contribute more significantly in the event of injuries, etc. Similarly, some players' stats may be somewhat inflated moreso because of disproportional minutes rather than huge talent disparities between players.

 

[ARM]

The WCHA fans could tell you how much the third, and fourth, line players for Wisconsin actually see ice in a typical game.

How much a fourth line plays is dictated a lot by the score. In a game versus a lower team where the scoreboard is under control, a team like Wisconsin can just roll its four lines. In a game like Friday versus North Dakota where both teams have a decent fourth line, the fourth lines will get out a few times early, but once Wisconsin falls behind, it can't give shifts to the fourth line, because the fourth liners aren't likely to score. Instead, it may substitute a member of that line in certain situations. As far as I can tell, teams like Wisconsin and UND are a touch deeper than Minnesota in terms of how much the fourth line plays. Meanwhile, a lower team like St. Cloud might play its fourth line almost as much as the other lines, because there isn't that much of a drop off from one line to the next.

 

[robertearle]

Re: Harvard Crimson 2013-2014

How much a fourth line plays is dictated a lot by the score. In a game versus a lower team where the scoreboard is under control, a team like Wisconsin can just roll its four lines. In a game like Friday versus North Dakota where both teams have a decent fourth line, the fourth lines will get out a few times early, but once Wisconsin falls behind, it can't give shifts to the fourth line, because the fourth liners aren't likely to score. Instead, it may substitute a member of that line in certain situations. As far as I can tell, teams like Wisconsin and UND are a touch deeper than Minnesota in terms of how much the fourth line plays. Meanwhile, a lower team like St. Cloud might play its fourth line almost as much as the other lines, because there isn't that much of a drop off from one line to the next.

Since about Christmas break or so, Wisconsin does this interesting thing with the second and fourth line centers.

Before Christmas, Erica Sowchuk was the 2nd line center (with Packer and Karley Sylvester). But after Xmas, Kaity Harding was moved up to 2nd line center, with Sowchuk down to 4th line... except when it gets late - 2nd half or third period - Sowchuk goes back to 2nd line as the 4th line maybe disappears from the game.

I don't really know if that's a way to 'balance' the strength of the lines early, or if Harding has some sort of 'endurance' issue, or what. But they've done it pretty consistently the second half of the season.

 

[driventoit]

Re: Harvard Crimson 2013-2014

How much a fourth line plays is dictated a lot by the score. In a game versus a lower team where the scoreboard is under control, a team like Wisconsin can just roll its four lines. In a game like Friday versus North Dakota where both teams have a decent fourth line, the fourth lines will get out a few times early, but once Wisconsin falls behind, it can't give shifts to the fourth line, because the fourth liners aren't likely to score. Instead, it may substitute a member of that line in certain situations. As far as I can tell, teams like Wisconsin and UND are a touch deeper than Minnesota in terms of how much the fourth line plays. Meanwhile, a lower team like St. Cloud might play its fourth line almost as much as the other lines, because there isn't that much of a drop off from one line to the next.

Fourth line! What's a fourth line?????

 

[OnMAA]

Re: Harvard Crimson 2013-2014

Fourth line! What's a fourth line?????

Some teams don't have one, and some teams don't know they have one.

 

[john0128]

Skate79 ???

Who is the 9th forward then? #14? Frazier?

They only have 15 skaters and 2 of them are White and #14. White's a D and #14 plays very little.

I watched the game in person, and I thought both goalies played well.

This was wide open offence with great scoring chances both ways.

The goals on Maschmeyer were:

1st 5 - 3 with a goal mouth pass, 2nd was a D backing into Maschmeyer and the Fulton ripping one shelf, 3rd was a 2 on 1 with Saulnier shooting blocker (1.5' of the ice), 4th was where Maschmeyer made a blocker save and was then taken out by her D (lost stick) and then puck goes to the corner and get passed out to Saulnier (where a Harvard D could have picked her stick/and didn't) and 5th was a 5 on 4 shot from the point and deflected over Maschmeyre's blocker (Brown makes a pass out of the corner and then goes to the net without being picked up). Cornell could have scored 8 - 10 (scored 5). Harvard D although a young D, should really focus on their assignments in front of the net (I didn't see sticks being controlled, I saw loose gap from the red line in.

Does anyone understand goaltending out there??? Have any of you played. It's like everyone just looks at #'s, but I would like to hear from real students of the goaltending game.

Slobodnik played well and gave up 4 goals. Harvard could have scored easily 6-7 (scored 4). I can review those goals as well if you would like.

Howe had 1 goal in 40 shots over the weekend and ends up the loser, but she had the best save %. Slobodnik wins goalie of the tourney (with 4 goals against). I don't disagree that Slobodnik should be the goalie MVP. Observers have to look at chances and really study them. If not, then really your just a fan talking trash.

I thought she (Slobodnik) deserved it, but people really don't seem to know what are great scoring chances, and what are just shots. Just saying

As I commented earlier, Harvard's defense struggled with Yale. They are not as strong as they appear to be. Many comments I have seen on this thread about goaltenders are completely exaggerated. There is more to goaltending than statistics. Not every puck is stoppable, bottom line. Every goalie needs a team in front of them, imagine how well a kid like Leonoff, who finished the season with over 1000 saves or Moore who had over 800 saves could have done at Harvard statistically. The Yale and Brown dmen were as weak as they come. You saw it in the Yale series just how much better Harvard's opportunities were than Yale's and how many opportunities Harvard had. So how do you compare a goalie who faces 15+ quality shots a game but has weaker stats to a kid who sees at most 5 quality chances a game?

As to why Howe didn't win MVP, I am kind of baffled. Don't get me wrong, she sees the least shots and scoring opportunities than any other goalie in the NCAA. But I guess the real answer is Slobodnick beat her when it counts and her lack of action is what cost her MVP. I still think Howe should have won it since slebodnicks play other than vs clarkson was not the reason her team won the tournament.

 

[Watson Rink]

Re: Harvard Crimson 2013-2014

A random thought about playing nine or eight Fs:

Wonder how much the closeness of the three-way ECAC race (which ended with Hvd 1 pt behind Clarkson and Cornell 3 pts behind) impaired the coaching staff's ability or inclination to develop the entire squad over the season by a more equal distribution of ice time. If you do so against "easy" teams, you have to worry that whenever you lose a game against an "easy" team, you lose ground in the conference standings; likewise in the Pairwise that affects your NCAA tournament placement.

 

[ARM]

Wonder how much the closeness of the three-way ECAC race (which ended with Hvd 1 pt behind Clarkson and Cornell 3 pts behind) impaired the coaching staff's ability or inclination to develop the entire squad by a more equal distribution of ice time. If you do so against "easy" teams, you have to worry that whenever you lose a game against an "easy" team, you lose ground in the conference standings; likewise in the Pairwise that affects your NCAA tournament placement.

That's a great point in general about the women's game now compared to the start of the NCAA era. Back then, there were games that a team like Harvard knew it was going to win no matter what it did. Give a fourth line heavy minutes, rest a Kazmaier finalist -- no problem. Particularly with backup goaltenders, those were opportunities to give some spot starts to get some seasoning and get used to the stage. Now, if you start a backup and she flops, any team can make it hurt and as you say, the PairWise can be unforgiving.

 

[Watson Rink]

Re: Harvard Crimson 2013-2014

In regard to playing 8 F, an added wrinkle we've forgotten to emphasize is that MParker is the center on the second line. So while the third line center can certainly fill in at second line center, she's not the first candidate for playing 30 minutes a game as would be the case if you simply played two centers 30 minutes each as you might do if you had, say, Patrice Bergeron and David Kreji on your team. All the Hvd first line players, especially D'Oench, appeared to get extra minutes, but not just by playing extra minutes as a line, they appeared to be shifted in individually with second and third line players in some very complex fashion with Crugnale and EParker taking most of the draws on jumbled lines. I couldn't discern the pattern being followed. This obviously involves a sacrifice of line chemistry.

 

[Trillium]

Re: Harvard Crimson 2013-2014

Some teams don't have one, and some teams don't know they have one.

Good one. Thanks for my laugh of the day

 

[NMH]

Re: Harvard Crimson 2013-2014

Thanks everybody for answering about Maschmeyer - it's a long week with nothing to do but gnash teeth, over-analyze etc ... and that's hard to do without some information. Thanks for helping feed the need for info.

Let us know if we can answer anything for you.