"You can’t put a price tag on experience," Flanagan said. "There is only one way to get experience and that is by getting there."
St. Lawrence graduated 10 seniors after last year’s campaign, leaving it with a decidedly younger bunch this season.
Both Boe and Barrie rose to the occasion last night, each making a number of key saves when the pressure fell on them.
Following the contest, Harvard coach Katey Stone had one word to describe the level of goaltending.
"Superb."
The Saints struggled to shoot the puck on net and, once the momentum changed, the Crimson dominated. The number of shots Harvard threw on goal paid off again when it managed a couple of unusual scores.
However, the Crimson felt like it came out a little flat and was not quite clicking with the movement through the middle part of the ice.
"We struggled a little bit through the first period of this game, which having won I don’t feel so bad about," Stone said. "Sometimes you end up reaching a lot more than skating."
But on the defensive end, Harvard was stifling.
Until the 14-minute mark in the period, the Crimson kept the Saints from having even a single shot on Boe.
St. Lawrence managed to pick up the pace late in the period and into the next, though almost every chance was a long wrister on Boe with no screen in between her and the shooter.
Before the Saints could manage any real opportunities to tie the score, Harvard put another one past Barrie.
With a minute and a half left in the second frame, freshman defenseman Caitlin Cahow—who has stepped up late in the season with injuries to the defensive core—rocketed a slapshot at the goal.
Sophomore Jennifer Raimondi got her stick up in the air and was able to deflect the puck up into the upper right part of the net-extending Harvard’s lead to two goals.
"We struggled in the first period tonight, but now that we won I won’t feel so bad," Stone said. "It’s championship hockey and there’s a lot of desperation on the ice. I’m anxious for Sunday, we’ll play a lot better."
Playing against top-seeded Minnesota for the NCAA national championship, Harvard will need its best hockey of the year. Opening face-off for the deciding game will be tomorrow at 4:00 p.m.
—Staff writer Gabriel M. Velez can be reached at gmvelez@fas.harvard.edu.