Busy Weekend for M. Hockey

After have dropping four of its last five games, the Harvard men's hockey team hopes to regain early-season form this weekend. The Crimson travels to Hanover, N.H., tonight to take on Dartmouth, and will meet cross-town rival Northeastern at the Bright Hockey Center on Sunday.

The Crimson (5-5, 5-3 ECAC), entering the weekend tied for first in the ECAC with Yale and Colgate, defeated Dartmouth (2-5-2, 1-2-2) 7-2 in Cambridge in its second game of the season. Sunday's game will be Harvard's first this season against Northeastern (7-6-2, 4-4-2 America East).

In both teams' most recent action, Northeastern beat Dartmouth 2-1 in Boston last Saturday on a pair of goals from senior forward Bobby Davis.

Although the Crimson cruised past the Big Green at the start of the season on its way to a 4-1 start, the past couple of weeks have not been so smooth.

Its slide began with a 4-2 loss to lowly Brown at the end of last month and was punctuated by a 3-0 blanking at the hands of No. 6 B.C. last weekend.

The difference between the first and second half of this young season can clearly be seen in the Crimson's offensive production. In the first five games of the season, Harvard registered 20 goals, but has managed only 10 in the last five contests.

"We've been playing solid defense over the last few games, and we're hoping we can carry that into this weekend," senior goaltender J.R. Prestifilippo said. "If we can keep it tight in the defensive zone, create a few more scoring chances and generate some more goals, we should be all right."

Goal production has also been on the mind of Harvard coach Mark Mazzoleni, who has been pressing his offense to convert its chances.

"Coach [Mazzoleni] felt that in two of the last three games--in the losses to RPI and B.U.--we played pretty well," senior defenseman Mark Moore said. "But we need to take advantage of our chances in front of the goal. If we did that in the past couple of losses we could have been even or closer in both."

To get the puck in the back of the net the Crimson will look to freshmen forwards Brett Nowak and Dominic Moore, and senior forward Brett Chodorow, all of whom have four goals on the season.

With seven assists apiece, junior forward Steve Moore and sophomore defenseman Pete Capouch will also be integral if the Crimson is to have a successful weekend.

Against the Big Green, the Crimson has a good chance to erase the memory of the last five games.

The Dartmouth offense is young this year and has been outscored 30-20 on the season. On the power-play, the Big Green has been nothing but small, scoring only two goals in 42 man-up situations, including an 0-11 streak over its last two games.

If Dartmouth is going to get some offense, it will look to sophomore forward Mike Maturo, who leads the team with three goals and four assists on the season.

The Big Green's other top scorers, Trevor Byrne and Pete Summerfelt, are both freshmen defensemen, evidence that the Big Green is having scoring troubles this year. Byrne has three goals and two assists, and Summerfelt has one goal and three assists.

Between the posts, Dartmouth has tried two goalies and found success with another freshman, Nick Boucher. Boucher has won time over senior Eric Almon, who had gone 0-3-1 in his four chances this season with a 3.93 gaa, before being pulled in favor of the youngster.

Boucher has fared better, and carries a 2.73 gaa into tonight's contest.

Despite the Big Green's slow offense and a convincing win earlier in the season, the Crimson is not taking Dartmouth lightly.

"The team looks different since the first time we played them, and no one is taking them lightly," Presitifilippo said. "They've been doing a little better lately and seem focused."

But if the Crimson is worrying about Dartmouth, they have an even bigger challenge against Northeastern.

The Huskies have won four of its last five games, including a two-game sweep against Maine, in which Northeastern outscored the then-undefeated Black Bears 9-4.

In addition to Davis, who single-handedly defeated Dartmouth, the Northeastern offense features senior forward Todd Barclasy, who has nine goals on the season, including three game winners. Although Barclay is not a natural scorer, his 56 shots on the season suggest his knack for getting over the blueline and pulling the trigger whenever he sees the net.

Freshman goaltender Mike Gilhooly, who won the starting position towards the beginning of the season, has also been stellar in the crease. He has an impressive 2.50 gaa and a solid .903 save percentage in 12 starts.

Despite a strong Husky roster, the Crimson has a good chance to pick up a win. The Huskies are winless on the road this season, with a 0-5-2 record when away from Matthews Arena.

In addition to a weak road record, the Huskies will be without their top-scorer, sophomore forward Willie Levesque, who has four goals and nine assists on the season. Levesque is practicing with the Team USA junior squad in preparation for the World Championships which begin in Sweden later this month.

Despite a tough upcoming game on Sunday, the Crimson is keeping it simple.

"We're going to think about Dartmouth first, and get that win," Moore said. "We have a policy of never thinking about one game when we haven't played another."