Familiar faces will be pitched against each other this weekend in Minnesota, as the No. 8/8 Harvard women’s ice hockey team (7-1-1, 5-1-1 ECAC) travels to Duluth, Minn. to take on the No. -/10 University of Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs (5-9-0, 3-7-0 WCHA) in a pair of non-conference tilts.

While this weekend will be the first time the squads have matched up since 2006, there will be plenty of familiarity between the two benches, as Harvard coach Katey Stone and the Crimson will be reunited with old members of the women’s hockey program.

New UMD head coach Maura Crowell served as an associate head coach at Harvard for five years, while assistant coaches Laura Bellamy ’13 and Samantha Reber ’15 played for the Crimson–with the former also serving as an assistant for Harvard–prior to joining the Bulldogs.

“Their coaches have been a huge part of our program in years past,” co-captain Michelle Picard said. “It will be great to see them again obviously, but at the same time they’re our opponents this weekend…. We’re both two talented teams and this weekend will be a battle.”

The Crimson will look to continue its seven game win streak, and go in to the weekend on a wave of momentum after blanking out No. 4/4 Northeastern, 3-0, at home on Tuesday.

After struggling to find its rhythm early on in the season, the Harvard offense has roared to life, outscoring its opponents 25 to six in the past seven games after finding the net just three times in the first three games. Senior forward Miye D’Oench has led the way, amassing six goals and 12 points for a front line unit that has seen five different players score more than one goal so far.

A large part of this surge has been due to the increased comfort the players have experienced playing with each other as the season progresses, particularly the rookie members of the squad.

“We’re at a point where we’ve had our lines pretty much the same and we’re getting to know each other,” junior forward Sydney Daniels said. “We have a lot of freshman on the team who are getting more comfortable with the system…. They’re familiarity is helping us generate offensive momentum.”

The Crimson go into this weekend’s matchups averaging just short of three goals a game, good for 11th in the nation, while the Bulldogs have conceded almost as many goals a game.

Harvard’s depth will be a key asset in exploiting one of the weaker backlines in the nation, as 14 different players have chipped in at least one point so far this season. Having various athletes that can continue to produce has made the Crimson a dangerous team to play against regardless of who is on the ice.

“Depth is a big part of our game,” Picard said. “No matter who we have on the ice, they’ll get the job done, which means that we’ve got a lot of people that can play a lot of minutes and everyone gets to stay fresh and put their best foot forward when they get on the ice.”

While the Harvard offense has found its spark, the defense continues to exert itself against its opponents. After keeping NCAA goals leader Kendall Coyne and a potent Northeastern attack in check on Tuesday, the Crimson improved to a mere 0.89 goals allowed per game, good for second in the nation.

Picard and co-captain Emerance Maschmeyer have led the charge for Harvard. While Picard has kept the defense steady, particularly against the power play–the Crimson is fourth in the nation in penalty kills percentage–Maschmeyer has continued her stellar play in goal.

The Bruderheim, Alberta native has conceded less than a goal per game, only one of two goaltenders to do so, and is currently top in the nation with a .976 save percentage. The senior is 174 saves away from becoming the all-time saves leader in Harvard history after passing Christina Kessler ’10 recently.

With the Crimson squad firing on all cylinders right now, Harvard heads into the weekend in good shape and will look to head back into conference play with their perfect nonconference record intact.

Though there will be some intrigue surrounding the game due to the reunion between the Crimson and a few of its coaches and players, the squad maintains that they go into this game with the same approach it has going into every other game.

“Every game we come in and try to play the same way but I think going against former Crimson coaches and players will be a little bit weird, to see them out there,” Daniels said. “But after warmups… It’ll just be another game with another coach and another team.”

–Staff writer Julio Fierro can be reached at julio.fierro@thecrimson.com.