The defending national champions caught a break from the grind of conference play Saturday evening as they played host to the Harvard Crimson in an exhibition match at Varsity Arena. The 3-3 tie turned out to be a skills exhibition, as both teams demonstrated some of the finer points taught by their respective top-notch programs.

Harvard brought a 3-4-1 overall record into the game, with a couple of their losses coming in tough non-conference play such as their visit to Toronto. Ultimately, Blues head coach Karen Hughes sees these types of games as an opportunity to get better.

“It was a good opportunity for us to play against a good team today,” she said of last year’s NCAA finalist. “They’re a good skating team.”

The Crimson took their first lead of the night on a goal that deflected off OUA All Star goaltender Ali Houston’s skate 5:04 into the final period. The Blues didn’t let that lead hold up long, as they responded just over a minute later when Jenny McRae put in a loose puck that was fired on net by Jill Savin. A number of scoring chances went whizzing by the net, but the rest of the game remained scoreless.

Hughes was pleased with her team’s performance against one of the tougher teams the Blues will be facing this year.

“We played pretty well today,” she said. “That’s a good game for us.”

Toronto started in a burst, scoring 1:57 into the game on a rebound that Donna Paul managed to flick past goaltender Emily Smith.

Despite the solid start early on, Hughes felt that the team saved its best play for the later periods, mentioning of good forechecking that helped counterbalance an 0 for 3 night on the power play.

“I thought we got better in the second and third period. We struggled a little bit on our power play [as far as] creating as many opportunities as we might have liked.”

As many students will be recuperating from finals by relaxing during December break, the Blues will be training to stay on top of their game when classes resume.

“We’ll work really hard through December,” said Hughes. “It’s an opportunity for us to train hard and get better.”

Toronto tied Laurier 1-1 Thursday night to partly atone for their earlier loss to the Golden Hawks. The Blues remain in first place in the OUA East with an overall record of 8-1-1.

Errata: Harvard was not ranked third entering Saturday evening’s contest.