Griffin’s Hat Trick Helps No. 5 Women’s Hockey to 3-3 Tie at No. 6 Clarkson

Pictured: Randi Griffin collected a natural hat trick against the Golden Knights.
Photo Courtesy: Gil Talbot

ECAC Hockey Tournament Bracket

POTSDAM, N.Y. – Senior Randi Griffin tallied her first career hat trick in her final regular-season game as the Harvard women’s ice hockey team (18-6-5, 13-6-3) tied No. 6 Clarkson (20-9-5, 14-5-3), 3-3, to clinch third place in the final league standings. As a result, the Crimson will have home ice in the first round of the ECAC Hockey Tournament and will host Princeton, the No. 6 seed.

Griffin’s hat trick was a natural hat trick, as all three of her goals came in succession in the second period and gave the Crimson a 3-2 lead to start the final stanza. Clarkson’s Dominique Thibault evened the score at 3-3 with a goal at the 13:35 mark of the third period, off feeds from Britney Selina and Genevieve Lavoie, and the score stood through the five-minute overtime, despite two Harvard penalties.

Clarkson got on the board 12:49 into the opening period as a Harvard penalty proved costly. Melissa Waldie converted feeds from Juana Baribeau and Selina to give the hosts a 1-0 lead after one period of play.

The Golden Knights extended their lead to 2-0 just over five minutes into the second period as Gabrielle Kosziwka potted an even strength goal off assists from Kali Gillanders and Lavoie. Griffin got Harvard in the game less than a minute later with her first goal of the game, a power-play effort, at the 6:10 mark. Griffin knotted the score at 2-2 two minutes later as seniors Cori Bassett and Anna McDonald got credit for the assists. Bassett and Griffin then combined for Harvard’s third goal at 16:17 to give the guests a 3-2 lead heading into the second break.

Harvard will now advance to the postseason and will host No. 6 seed Princeton in the first round of the ECAC Hockey quarterfinals. Game 1 is slated for Feb. 26 at 7 p.m. at Bright Hockey Center.