M. Hockey Drops to Cornell 2-1, Tops Colgate 4-1

First place was up for grabs Saturday at Bright Hockey Center as thousands of loud and raucous Cornell fans made their annual pilgrimage to Cambridge.

To the Crimson's dismay, the Big Red proved to be just as rough and tough as its fans, pounding out a 2-1victory in a physical contest.

"It's a great rivalry," said Harvard coach Mark Mazzoleni. "The fans saw two great teams lay it all out on the line tonight."

The loss puts No. 13 Cornell (11-6-4, 9-3-2 ECAC) one-point ahead with the Big Red holding a game in hand. Harvard (10-9-1, 9-5-1) remains tied for second with St. Lawrence with seven conference games remaining.

On Friday night, the Crimson downed a supprisingly tough Colgate (6-16-4, 4-9-1) team 4-1.

Cornell 2, Harvard 1

The Big Red came out hitting early and never stopped, jumping out to an early 2-0 lead and then stifling the Crimson attack for the remainder of the night.

"They played a physical game," Mazzoleni said. "There was a lot of clutching and grabbing going on tonight. It was not to our advantage. It slowed the game right down."

The Crimson skated well with the Big Red through a crucial first period but came away with nothing to show but two crossbars and a two-goal deficit.

"It was a competitive game," Mazzoleni said. "But the difference in the game was we didn't finish our chances and they did. In the third period, we had four 2-on-1 chances and didn't get a shot off."

Harvard had a golden opportunity to score the equalizer late in the third, when Big Red sophomore forward Stephen Baby drew a boarding penalty, but the Crimson couldn't find the back of the net.

The Crimson powerplay was suffering from the loss of assistant captain Chris Bala, who is second on the team in scoring with nine goals and 18 points. Bala was not cleared to play after suffering a concussion in Friday night's win against Colgate.

The powerplay is normally one of the Crimson's strengths, but without Bala, Harvard went 0-for-5 on the night.

In the first period alone, the Crimson had three powerplay chances but failed to score. Cornell had just one opportunity in the period but made it count, scoring 4:02 into the game on a Baby point shot that was skillfully screened and redirected by junior defenseman Brian McMeekin.

Harvard had its best chance with the man-advantage at the 10 minute mark of the first when sophomore defenseman Aaron Kim rattled one of the crossbar.

Freshman forward Tyler Kolarik, who is always dangerous with the puck, followed up with two more excellent scoring opportunities but couldn't find the twine.

Sophomore forward Dominic Moore, who lead's the team with 11 goals and 29 points, cut the lead to one at 6:53 of the third.

While shorthanded, Moore crept up behind Cornell sophomore defenseman Mark McRae, stripped him of the puck, and then casually roofed a shot over junior goaltender Matt Underhill.

It was Moore's third shorthanded goal of the season and second in two days.

Cornell's second goal came at 12:58 of the first when freshman forward Jason Kuczmanski scored with first collegiate goal, stepping in to the center of the circle untouched and firing top-shelf blocker side.

Harvard 4, Colgate 1

Traditional hockey wisdom holds that good goaltending and special teams will take you far in the playoffs.

If Friday night was any indication, the Crimson should be looking at Lake Placid or beyond.

"Special teams have been a real strength of our team," Mazzoleni said. "The powerplay's operating on the high end and the penalty kills at 92 percent. When you get that and good goaltending you have a chance to stay in every game."

Jonas delivered an acrobatic 47-save performance, and Harvard's special teams chipped in a pair to down Colgate 4-1.

"If there was a vote in our league right now for an MVP, Oli would get it," Mazzoleni said. "He's very difficult to beat right now."

After Harvard captain Steve Moore was called for holding at 9:23 of the third, he didn't have to wait long for his little brother to bail him out.

Off the ensuing face-off, D. Moore tapped the puck through the legs of Red Raiders captain Cory Murphy, side-stepped the defender at the blueline, and skated 114 feet untouched to put Harvard ahead 2-1 nine seconds later.

"When you are coming down the stretch big players have to make big plays, and Domi did," Mazzoleni said. "I have not seen a sophomore in the country as good as him and we've seen a lot of great players."

It was Moore's team-leading fifth game-winning goal and second short-handed goal of the season.

In conference action, the Crimson is plus-one while down a man. Harvard has scored eight short-handed goals and allowed only seven powerplay goals in 15ECAC games.

Harvard nursed a precarious 1-0 lead through most of the game, and the Crimson penalty killers ensured that Colgate stayed off the board, despite 19 shots on goal, through a wild second period.

"I like the way our kids responded to adversity tonight," Mazzoleni said. "If we're going to have a chance of making a run at it in our league, that's what we have to do--respond like that."

Starting with a minor penalty to junior forward Jeff Stonehouse for holding the stick at 6:19, Harvard was called for five consecutive penalties in a span of five minutes in the second.

With 1:24 still left in the penalty to freshman winger Tyler Kolarik, freshman defenseman Kenny Smith was assessed a five-minute major and a game misconduct for hitting from behind to give Colgate its first 5-on-3 opportunity.

Then with 2:43 still remaining in the penalty to Smith, assistant captain Chris Bala was dinged for a questionable boarding call in the offensive zone.

Despite a full two minutes with a two-man advantage, Colgate could not convert, and the normally reserved Bright crowd responded with a standing ovation as the final seconds ticked off Smith's penalty.

"We did a good job of keeping them on the points," Mazzoleni said.

At the end of the game, Steve Moore had a few words and a courteous hand-shake for referee Tim Catyra. Prior to the string of penalties against Harvard, Moore was driven into the boards head first by a Colgate player but the referee declined to make a boarding call on the play.

Kolarik made it 3-1 at 17:19 of the third courtesy of a no look pass from fellow freshman winger Tim Pettit stationed behind the net.

Kolarik scored his ninth of the season 2:20 later on an empty net goal assisted by junior defenseman Peter Capouch and D. Moore.

The Crimson opened the scoring 12:40 into the first on a powerplay goal from sophomore winger Brett Nowak. Kolarik used his speed advantage to cut in from the right-wing on the rush and Nowak had an easy time of tapping in the rebound.

Sophomore winger Scooter Smith scored Colgate's lone goal 1:21 into the third, banging in the rebound off senior defenseman Bryan Long's point-shot to tie the game 1-1.