Men's Hockey Slams Old Rival at Bright, 4-1

For much of this season, the Harvard men's hockey team has encountered difficulties on both ends of its special teams play.

It suffered a string of 17 straight scoreless power plays [before breaking the streak last weekend against Union], and had problems clearing the puck when defending against opponents' man-advantage situations.

All that appears to have changed Saturday night.

Harvard's skaters scored three of their four goals on power plays, and survived a five-on-three threat late in the game to take the victory, 4-1.

It was Harvard's first three power-play goal game of the season.

Sharp passing and excellent positioning helped Harvard greatly on its first power-play score. Junior Peter McLaughlin's shot from the blue line was tipped in for the score by sophomore Joe Craigen, positioned directly in front of the goal.

It was the same story on the second power-play goal: a fine pass from freshman Geordie Hyland to senior Cory Gustafson, whose shot was deflected to senior Steve Martins, who found the net.

"We're getting off more shots," Hyland said. "Guys are really working hard."

But perhaps the biggest story of the game was at the other end, where Harvard defended against the man-down situation.

Early in the third period, the Crimson's penalty killers were sorely tested when forwards Doug Sproule and Tom Holmes were slapped with back to back penalties that left Brown with a five-on-three opportunity and the Harvard fans wondering if the third period would once again break Harvard's back.

Harvard's improved penalty killing met the challenge. Harvard managed to clear the puck several times during the five-on-three crisis. On one play, senior Steve Martins won a face-off after a Brown offsides and smartly cleared the puck.

"We didn't give them too many second shots," Harvard Head Coach Ronn Tomassoni said.

Harvard used every ounce of its speed to gain advantage over Brown.

"We have good, fast forwards," senior Michel Breistroff said. "They keep the opponents deep in the [Harvard] zone."

Harvard also played extremely physically on the man-down situations throughout the game, throwing the Brown forwards off balance.

"We forecheck so hard that they can't set up in our zone," Breistroff said.

"That kept Brown from concentrating on the puck too much," Hyland said.

Martins also played a huge offensive role on the penalty kill, setting up five quality scoring opportunities while playing with a man down.

"We pushed the puck by them," Martins said. "Unfortunately, I couldn't quite get the puck to [junior Tommy Holmes] to capitalize."

When Sproule's penalty expired, the Crimson was still faced with a five-on-four situation. But thanks to more solid defensive play and deft goaltending by junior Tripp Tracy, Harvard withstood the two minute assault.

"He's a big game goalie," Tomassoni said.

Just ten seconds later, Harvard lit the lamp on a beautiful pass from junior Brad Konik to senior Cory Gustafson.

That sequence was the story of the game: strong penalty killing, and a quick offense that took advantage of Brown's lapses and its own man-advantage opportunities.

"Everything is coming together," Martins said.