Harvard Wins Penalty-Filled Contest

BOSTON--The Harvard men's hockey team's 4-1 victory over Northeastern at newly renovated, Olympic-sized Matthews Arena was the Crimson's first game against a Beanpot team this year. The Beanpot rivalry also includes Boston College and Boston University.

"I was so excited to come out there to play Northeastern, regardless of how many people were there," freshman goalie Peter Zakowich (29 saves) said.

Harvard's supporters were numerous, including the Harvard Band, who celebrated the Crimson victory with a post-game rendition of "Montezuma."

Despite the thrill of beating the Huskies--to whom Harvard lost 4-2 in last year's Beanpot consolation match at Boston Garden--and the exceptional performances by Zakowich and captain Brad Konik (three goals), the Crimson seemed to regress to the Huskies' Hockey East style of play. Hockey East is notorious for favoring a more physical push-and-shove approach as opposed to the finesse and smoother skating more characteristic of the Crimson's ECAC.

With the score tied at one up to the middle of the third period, Harvard committed some blatantly bad penalties that left it a man down too often. The second period, in which the Crimson took four consecutive penalties, was the team's worst.

Northeastern finally capitalized on Harvard's generosity, getting its only tally of the contest during that stretch. However, Harvard was able to kill off the other three shorthanded situations.

Harvard is not solely to blame for the unusual amount of time it was left a man down. The Huskies did Hockey East proud, luring the Crimson into their physical style of play. Senior left winger Tommy Holmes and Konik were both assaulted by angry Huskies in the third period when the officials were not looking.

Then again, the referees didn't pass up the chance to call something when they did see an infraction.

"In general I think [the officials] were somewhat consistent," Konik said. "All the interference stuff and holding--I think it caught us by surprise because after last game it seemed like the refs were letting everything go, and tonight it seemed like there were some touchy-feely penalties...[but] there was no way we were going to let the refs or anyone take the game away from [us]."

"I don't know [why there were so many penalties]," coach Ronn Tomassoni said. "I'm not an official."