Men's Hockey Wins Big On Senior Night

UPDATED: March 1, 2015, at 1:59 a.m.

Everything went right for the Harvard men’s ice hockey team within the confines of the Bright-Landry Hockey Center on Saturday.

In a 5-0 drubbing of Princeton (4-21-3, 2-18-2 ECAC) on Senior Night, fourth-year goaltender Steve Michalek delivered a shutout, junior forward Jimmy Vesey clinched the conference scoring crown, third-line sophomore Tyler Moy struck twice, and even fourth-line sophomore Devin Tringale put one in.

Yet in other ECAC Hockey rinks across New England, things did not go so well for Harvard (15-11-3, 11-8-3), which will skate next weekend as the sixth seed in the conference tournament in a best-of-three matchup against Brown.

The Crimson entered the final day of the regular season looking for help around the conference.  Losses or ties from Colgate and Dartmouth would have provided an opening for Harvard to clinch a first round bye with a win over the Tigers.

Less than an hour before puck drop, Colgate earned the final bye seed with a 4-2 win at Brown. During Harvard’s game, Dartmouth beat Quinnipiac, 3-1, to lock up the fifth seed.

After compiling ECAC Hockey’s best record to start the season, the Crimson will now confront the consequences of a second-half slide.

“We didn’t necessarily get a ton of help around the league,” Harvard coach Ted Donato ’91 said. “But I think that in a lot of ways, we’re a very young team and we’re excited to play next weekend, excited to be home.”

Donato and his team will have home playoff games for the first time since 2012, but the Crimson will need to reset after a difficult February. Saturday night’s effort could help the Crimson do just that.

Junior co-captain Kyle Criscuolo started the scoring on the game’s first power play with a knuckling wrist shot that found the far post at 6:49 in the first. Moy followed with two goals—one at 9:05 on a wrap-around backhander and one at 17:15 off a neutral zone turnover.

“Today I think our team was looking to refocus here in the last game of the regular season,” Moy said. “It was a good effort all around.”

The Tigers, who finish last in the conference standings for the second straight season, struggled to mount any real offensive push yet held Harvard scoreless in the second period. The Crimson’s second line, bolstered with the new addition of junior Colin Blackwell at right wing, hit the iron a couple of times but did not convert.

In the final frame, Vesey scored a shorthanded goal in the slot off a Criscuolo feed at 15:22. With a goal and an assist on the night, Vesey became the first Harvard player to capture both the conference goal and conference point scoring titles since Peter Ciavaglia ’91 in 1991.

“I think Jimmy has made a huge step as a player and a leader,” Donato said. “I’m happy to see him get the scoring title and get the goals title, and I am happy because I know he went about it in a very unselfish way.”

Vesey finishes the regular season with 22 goals and 44 points, 18 and 34 of which came in conference games.

Tringale extended Harvard’s lead to five with less than 2:30 left to play, picking up a rebound from senior linemate Mike Seward. It was the first goal of the season for the sophomore, who has played in every game this year, and the first point for Seward.

After skating on the fourth line on Friday, Blackwell saw more ice time on Saturday on the second line and penalty kill. Before this weekend, the San Jose Sharks draft pick had only played a game in November this season and had missed all of the 2013-2014 season with a chronic upper body injury.

“We’re all big Blackwell fans,” Moy said. “All the team is really happy to have him back and see him competing on the ice. He had a few big hits today, and it’s nice to see him mix it up.”

Blackwell has at least one semester of eligibility left yet was among Harvard’s seven players recognized in Senior Night festivities following the game. Michalek, co-captain defenseman Max Everson, and injured defenseman Patrick McNally were also recognized despite the chance that they might see NCAA ice beyond this year.

While Phinney struggled in net, Michalek stopped 27 pucks to pick up his third shutout of the year and first since Nov. 18.

“The guys were talking about [the shutout] on the bench in the last five minutes,” Donato said. “They were really battling and wanted to get the shutout for him. I think it was a fitting ending to the season.”

CORRECTION: March 1, 2015

An earlier version of this article misstated that Harvard honored six players after the game. In fact, the team honored seven. In addition, the earlier version stated that Seward was a walk-on. In fact, Seward was a recruited player.