Eight-Goal Explosion Helps Dartmouth Deal Men's Hockey Third Straight Loss

HANOVER, N.H. — The last time the Harvard men’s hockey team stepped foot inside Thompson Arena, the Crimson erupted for seven goals. But “only” seven.

Junior goaltender Merrick Madsen's night came to a close early in the third period Tuesday night when Dartmouth scored its sixth goal on just its 18th shot on net. By Jake Meagher

In Tuesday night’s affair, Dartmouth proved it was not to be outdone. The Big Green could have won a batting title for its offensive efficiency against No. 6 Harvard, exploding for eight goals on just 24 shots to hand the stumbling Crimson yet another stunning defeat—this one by a final score of 8-4.

“We’re looking at ourselves; we need to be a lot better,” Harvard coach Ted Donato ’91 said. “We were reckless with the puck and our decision-making, and it cost us. It’s frustrating [and] disappointing, but I don’t think we at any point played with the type of structure we need to have success.”

This latest snag comes on the heels of a disappointing weekend in New York for the Crimson (11-5-1, 7-4-1 ECAC), who has now lost three straight games and dropped from second to 12th in the PairWise rankings. This is the fifth consecutive year in which Harvard has dropped three or more games in the time between January 1 and the conclusion of winter break.

The Crimson was well on its way to righting the ship early on, as Harvard netted the game’s first two goals in a span of 2:05 midway through the first period—a welcoming sight for Donato considering the Crimson offense was held scoreless for a stretch totaling 119:50 over the weekend.

But Harvard’s largest lead of the night lasted all of 26 seconds. Almost immediately, Dartmouth’s Troy Crema converted on a 2-on-1 break to cut the gap in half, and in the periods that followed, the Big Green (7-8-3, 4-5-2) exposed a rickety unit that consistently left holes all over the ice.

“We were on the verge of taking over the game,” Donato said. “And we just really played with no concern for both sides of the puck.”

Dartmouth celebrates after Connor Yau's first career goal pushed the Big Green ahead, 6-4, with 16:52 remaining in the contest. By Jake Meagher

Dartmouth scored four times in the middle frame—twice to jump out to a 3-2 lead, then twice more to erase a 4-3 deficit and head into the second intermission with a one-goal edge. Then once sophomore defenseman Connor Yau tacked on goal number six at 3:08 in the third, Donato gave his goaltender the hook for the second time in three nights, swapping in freshman Cameron Gornet for junior Merrick Madsen, who stopped just 12 of 18 shots.

The Big Green’s backup netminder also entered the game on Tuesday following the Crimson’s fourth goal, a Tyler Moy power-play slapper midway through the second period. Freshman Adrian Clark took over for junior Devin Buffalo with his team trailing, 4-3, and his 14-for-14 performance in relief gave Dartmouth stability between the pipes while its offense took over. Backed by Clark, the Big Green scored three unanswered goals at even strength, then added two empty-netters in the final minute of play to push the final scoreline to 8-4.

When asked how his team needs to go about fixing the holes that were apparent on Tuesday night, Donato said it would take more than “X’s and O’s.”

“I think it’s an attitude thing,” Donato said. “I think we’ve lost a little bit of our focus on the process and are worried more about the results. And unfortunately the results we look like we’re playing for are goals and assists, not wins and losses.”

Donato’s son, Ryan, also echoed a need for change, calling the result “a tough pill to swallow.”

“Obviously there’s a lot of things we need to fix if we’re losing games like that, especially to teams we know we can beat,” Ryan Donato said. “I think we just need to work hard and stick to our systems, get back to what we know and how we can play, and eventually we’ll figure it out again.”

After hitting both a post and a crossbar, the sophomore center opened the scoring at 13:54 in the first, blowing by rookie defenseman Ben DiMaio in front of the Dartmouth bench and finishing off a breakaway in front of Buffalo. DiMaio’s misfortune didn’t end there, as co-captain Devin Tringale’s centering pass from behind the Big Green net just two minutes later bounced off the skate of freshman Will Graber, then ricocheted off DiMaio and into the goal.

But Crema’s 2-on-1 tally at 16:25 quickly pulled Dartmouth within one. The senior center flew up the right wing, and an outnumbered John Marino retreated a few steps too many, allowing Crema to creep into the slot and fire a shot past Madsen from point-blank range.

“I think one thing we’ve got to learn is once we score to not let up and not to cheat,” Ryan Donato said. “I think we got too comfortable after we [took] the lead, and we would take risks, and those risks came back to bite us.”

In the second period, Big Green center Kevan Kilistoff backhanded home a rebound on the power play to tie the game at 2:24. Exactly a minute later, three Harvard skaters drifted behind their net in hopes of winning a battle for a loose puck. They did not, and freshman Shane Sellar was the beneficiary all alone in the slot. His first career goal put Dartmouth ahead, 3-2.

The PA announcer quickly learned that his work was cut out for him in period two, as the goals just kept coming. Crimson sophomore Lewis-Zerter-Gossage logged his first tally since Nov. 26 from Buffalo’s left post at 5:23 to tie the game at three. Then Moy’s power-play goal from the left dot a little more than a minute later put Harvard back in front, 4-3.

Nonetheless, a turn-around blast from freshman Ryan Blankemeier and an odd-man rush finished off by associate captain Grant Opperman at 15:10 and 19:08, respectively, produced the game’s third and final lead change. Yau’s blast from the point plus the hosts’ two empty-netters represented all the goal-scoring in the last period of play.

GAME NOTES

—When asked if a goalie competition could potentially lie ahead, Donato said "we'll talk about it." In very limited action against RPI and now Dartmouth, freshman Cameron Gornet is a perfect 15-for-15 between the pipes.

—Both teams finished 1-for-2 on the power play.

—Harvard should have earned a third power-play opportunity after Dartmouth's Corey Kalk slashed the stick of co-captain Alexander Kerfoot with five seconds left in the second period. But Kerfoot dropped his broken stick following the slash, and the officials handed him an embellishment penalty as a result. Ted Donato and Kerfoot were both unsurprisingly furious, and the co-captain threw the stick onto the ice just before taking a seat in the penalty box, drawing boos from the Hanover crowd.

—Dartmouth captain Carl Hesler sat out due to injury.

—Staff writer Jake Meagher can be reached at jake.meagher@thecrimson.com. Follow him on Twitter @MeagherTHC.