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A week before it begins its 2015-2016 season in earnest, the Harvard women’s ice hockey team defeated McGill University, 3-2, in the Crimson’s annual preseason exhibition game. Saturday’s contest also marked the first time No. 5/4 Harvard has been in the rink since reaching last year’s national Championship game.

At the end of two periods, McGill (4-8-0) held all the momentum. The game was tied at two apiece, and a carryover power play meant a man advantage coming out of the gates.

Early in the third period, though, Crimson freshman forward Grace Zarzecki reached the slot with the puck, got tripped, and still managed to shovel home a short-handed goal from her knees. The score, which also drew a McGill penalty, not only abruptly swung the momentum in Harvard’s favor, but also turned out to be the game-winner.

Before joining the Crimson, Zarzecki was a member of the U.S. Women’s National Under-18 Team. She was the only freshman to register a point in Saturday’s game.

“To come into the first game with a Harvard jersey on—it’s always nerve-wracking, a rush,” said sophomore forward Haley Mullins regarding Zarzecki’s key goal. “The fact that she was able to pull that out for us was pretty sweet.”

Long before Zarzecki’s goal, though, the Crimson seemed to have the game under control.

Harvard came out of the gates flying, scoring twice midway through the first period to take a 2-0 lead on goals by sophomore forward Karly Heffernan and Mullins. Heffernan’s goal was unassisted, while Mullins extended the lead by dumping an accurate pass from junior forward Miye D’Oench into the net for a power play goal.

D’Oench has been a steady force on the Crimson side, as she led last year’s Harvard team in goals scored with 19 and was tied for fifth in assists with 14. Over the last two seasons, she has totaled 72 points.

“We were on the power play, and I just skated hard to the net,” Mullins said. “Miye put the puck right on my stick.”

After the first period, the Crimson offense slowed heavily, generating three shots on goal throughout the entire second frame. Neither team was able to consistently keep the puck in the offensive zone.

“We had a great start, we had a good jump in our step, but in terms of our conditioning, we’ve got to maintain that pace,” said Harvard coach Katey Stone, now in her 20th season with the team. “The game was a good measuring stick for us, but it also says that we have a lot of work to do.”

McGill was able to take advantage of the lapse in urgency by scoring a power play goal at the 5:15 mark and an even-strength goal at the 17:44 mark to knot the game at two. McGill senior center Melodie Daust tallied both an assist and a goal.

“At the end of the second quarter, we didn’t kill the penalty very well,” Stone said. “They had a nice power play, and suddenly, we’re right back where we started. We got a little—I don’t want to say selfish—but we got a little too singular-minded; we didn’t move the puck. All of a sudden, we’re trying to create 1-on-3s instead of 3-on-1s.”

The Crimson held McGill scoreless in the final period, as backup junior goalie Molly Tissenbaum stopped all eight shots she faced.

Zarzecki’s crucial goal helped win the game for Harvard, but perhaps the most important aspect of the exhibition game was simply getting some ice time under the team’s belt.

“We worked on getting the jitters out the first game,” Mullins said. “We played a little bit rough on the edges. We need to get more comfortable playing with our lines teams.”

Ahead of the season opener at Dartmouth, the former women’s Olympic team head coach also acknowledged room for improvement.

“It was a good, hard-fought battle,” Stone said. “Some kids really stepped up, but it takes sixty minutes to win a hockey game. There’s a lot to work on for Friday night.”