Checking Yale Out

Memo to Yale: Forget about ever winning at Bright Hockey Center. You will never win there.

The Bulldogs have never picked up a W at Harvard's current home rink, and they didn't last night, either. For Harvard's enthusiastic crowd, at 3,114 one of the season's largest, last night's game was definitely worth the price of admission.

The Harvard men's hockey team, coming off a Beanpot first-round game that featured two strong initial periods followed by a disastrous finale, put that unfortunate ending behind them and played a solid, aggressive game last night.

Indeed, during the first pair of periods, the Crimson displayed a tenacity that left the Bulldogs with their tails between their legs.

Harvard made a living off of strong forechecking in the neutral zone that in turn created opportunities for manadvantage rushes at the Yale defensemen. One of the Crimson's first quality scoring opportunities came on a Jamin Kerner steal at center ice, which he promptly dumped to Rob Millar, who let fly a shot from directly in front of Yale netminder Alex Westlund (19 saves).

Harvard to Yale in the neutral zone: excuse us, but we'll take that puck now.

Not three minutes later, Craig MacDonald borrowed a puck from a hapless Fido at center ice and fired his own guided missile at Westlund, who deflected it.

But Harvard was not finished with the John Dillinger act yet.

Harvard's first tally again was set up by strong forechecking in the Bulldog zone. Doug Sproule was the culprit this time, grabbing the suddenly loose puck and getting it to his good buddy Craig Adams, who beat Westlund.

The rout was on!

Okay, it wasn't a rout. But at that point, Harvard owned the game.

That Pez dispenser on Westlund's chest--seen the Yale unis lately?--was looking more and more like a bullseye.

Harvard was playing heads-up hockey at center ice, but for the first two periods, Harvard's offense was clicking on all cylinders.

The second goal was a case in point, featuring some of the most crisp, alert passing the has displayed all year.

"Doug Sproule made a beautiful pass and Trevor [Allman] finished it off," Harvard coach Ronn Tomassoni said. "And it was a power play goal, which is so important for our confidence."

If there was any drawback to last night's game, it was the return of the Third Period Blues, a syndrome in which the Crimson inexplicably seems to enter a state of hibernation later in the game and relies on its defense and goalie J.R. Prestifilippo.

That's not always a bad strategy--Presto was his stellar self between the pipes last night, notching 28 saves in total, and 13 in the critical final period, during which he blanked the Bulldogs to seal the win.

"J.R. really shut them down, particularly in the third period," Tomassoni said. "He was real sharp tonight, as he has been all season."

And like last season, this team could do some damage in the postseason. And in the ECAC Tournament, it's the team with the hot hand that often progresses to the Final.

"I think this team is gradually getting better and better each time out, and that's encouraging," Tomassoni said. "And I think there is still a lot of time for us to continue to get better. I think we're going to be a pretty dangerous hockey team come playoff time."

If the team can cure the Third Period Blues and maintain the intensity of last night's first two periods, it may yet prove Tomassoni right.