M. Hockey Wins in Consolation Round to Dartmouth

LAKE PLACID, N.Y.--After earning its first trip in three years to Lake Placid for the ECAC tournament, the Harvard men's hockey team was poised to make a run for the post-season championship and the league's automatic bid to the NCAA finals.

However, the path to the conference title went straight through Cornell. Again.

A disheartening trend emerged during the 1995-96 season, as the Big Red defeated the Crimson 2-1 in the ECAC championship title match. Since then, Cornell (16-12-5, 11-8-3 ECAC) has thwarted the Crimson's efforts to advance in each of its next three post-season match-ups.

The Big Red ousted the Crimson (16-15-2, 12-8-2 ECAC) in the quarterfinals at the close of the 1996-97 season and handed Harvard a series sweep last year at Lynah Rink.

Last Friday, the Crimson faced off against Cornell in the semifinals round of the ECAC tournament, but the neutral ice could not break the curse. A rare burst of offense in the second period lifted the Big Red over Harvard 5-2, halting the Crimson's post-season plans.

Harvard battled back Saturday night against Dartmouth (16-14-4, 10-8-4 ECAC) in the consolation game and scored a pair of minor victories to close out the season. The Crimson triumphed over the Big Green, 3-2, in overtime to score an overall record above .500 and earned Harvard coach Mark Mazzoleni his 250th career victory.

"We had three goals this season," Mazzoleni said. "One was to have home ice for the playoffs, the second was to advance to Lake Placid, and the third was to have a winning record. We accomplished all three."

Harvard 3, Dartmouth 2 (OT)

Sophomore center Dominic Moore's stunning tally shortly into overtime nudged the Crimson's overall record above the .500 mark and sent the five members of the senior class off with a bittersweet victory.

Moore wrapped around the back of the net and lifted a wrist shot past Dartmouth goaltender Nick Boucher at 1:32 to conclude the consolation match-up.

The moment was especially meaningful for the younger Moore, as his game-winning goal--his Xth of the season--ended the squad's family dynasty. The victory marked the last game that the Moore brothers would skate together in their collegiate careers.

"To send the seniors out with a win was great," Dominic Moore said. "And to have my brother smile at the end of the day was awesome. It made me smile too."

Not surprisingly, the game did not have much flow in its early goings, stemming primarily from a lack of enthusiasm on both sides. The Crimson's first goal halfway through the first period raised the intensity level and brought the spark back to both sides.

At 10:30 in the opening frame, sophomore defenseman Aaron Kim took a pass at the blue line on the power play and rifled a shot on net. While setting a screen in front of the net, freshman winger Dennis Packard caught a piece of the puck and deflected the shot past Boucher to put Harvard on the board, 1-0, the Crimson's only tally on the man-advantage in five chances.

Packard's efforts during the stint at Lake Placid finally received recognition on the scoreboard, after his two goals during the first eight minutes of play against Cornell the previous night were disallowed.

Dartmouth began to pick up the pace in the second stanza, sensing that a victory for the sake of its pride would benefit its multitude of young players.

At 9:50 in the second period, the Big Green capitalized on a defensive breakdown in the Crimson's zone to knot the score at one apiece. Harvard's blueliners were pinching in and trying to make a clear, but Dartmouth captain Jamie Herrington took possession of the puck on the doorstep and netted a quick shot past senior netminder Oliver Jonas.

The Big Green's equalizer temporarily reset the score, but rookie winger Tyler Kolarik was able to put the Crimson ahead 2-1 at 12:26 in the middle frame. Kolarik took a pass from Packard behind the net that landed perfectly on his stick and lifted a shot past Boucher to regain the lead.

Like his linemates, Kolarik had an outstanding post-season run, amassing 10 points in four games. He picked up seven points in the two-game stint against Yale, and had a hand in both goals against Cornell Friday night.

Kolarik's tremendous effort earned him a spot on the all-conference team, making him the only player not in the championship match-up to make the team.

The final frame witnessed excellent early pressure from the Kolarik-Moore-Packard line, but the trio was unable to finish any of its chances. A pair of minor penalties at 10:46 and 11:18 whistled on the brothers Moore forced the Crimson into a precarious five-on-three situation.

Barely 10 seconds later, the Big Green once again leveled the score, 2-2, with a shot right off the faceoff. Dartmouth winger Mike Murray ripped off a bullet at Jonas at 11:27. Jonas closed his pads and appeared to have made the routine stop, but the puck squirted through and tricked across the goal line before anyone could react.

Cornell 5, Harvard 2

Cornell extended its unbeaten streak against its arch-rival Harvard to six games after its 5-2 victory over the Crimson last Friday in the semifinals round of the ECAC championships. The only blemish on Cornell's otherwise untainted record came last November when the teams skated to a 1-1 tie.

Despite posting a season-high 47 shots on net and holding the Big Red at bay with only 25 tries, Harvard could not topple Cornell. Big Red netminder Matt Underhill earned his stripes against the Crimson, making 45 stops, 33 of which came in the final two periods of play.

"This was a tough game to analyze," Mazzoleni said. "I thought we did a lot of things we needed to do. Underhill was the difference in the game."

Still smarting from having two goals recalled during the first eight minutes of play, the Crimson allowed a normally defensive-minded Cornell squad to explode early in the second stanza for three unanswered goals in 2:37.

Big Red winger Stephen Baby netted the final goal in the trio at 4:53 in the middle frame to seal the game for Cornell by beating Jonas one-on-one with a wrist shot.

It appeared the Crimson had jumped to an early lead at 1:12 in the opening stanza. Steve Moore left a drop pass to Kolarik in the left circle. Kolarik quickly moved the puck to Packard at the crease, but the official recalled Packard's goal because the puck had been knocked in off his skate.

Looking to redeem himself, Packard struck again at 8:16 but Kim was bowled in to the net, knocking it off its moorings only a fraction of a second before Packard's tally. Upon further review thanks to video replay, the referee recalled Packard's second would-be goal.

Still reeling from the Crimson's offensive pressure, the Big Red instead looked to its strengths--the power play--to gain the advantage.

Cornell struck first on the tail end of the man-advantage. At 2:16 in the second stanza, Baby sent a pass up to Doug Murray in the slot. Winger Sam Paolini deflected Murray's slapshot to put the Big Red up 1-0.

Only one minute later, the Big Red's David Francis netted his first of two goals on the night at 3:18 by putting the insurance tally hard past Jonas short side.

Baby's breakaway goal minutes later put Cornell up 3-0, giving the Big Red its first three-goal lead all season.

"We came out in the second period and did a lot of the things we have been talking about all year," Cornell coach Mike Schafer said. "It was the first three-goal lead we had all year and I don't think our kids knew what to do with it."

As evidenced by the rapid-fire sequence of Cornell's shots, it was more opportunity than deliberate offensive pressure that gave the Big Red the advantage. Jonas registered one of his easier nights between the pipes in terms of shots, making 20 saves on 25 attempts.

The Crimson refused to give up as Kolarik brought Harvard within two goals, its closest margin all night, with a rebound shot from assistant captain Pete Capouch's bullet from the left point at 15:04 in the second period.

With under four minutes to go, Harvard had a chance to pull within one, but Bala rung a wrist shot off the post from the left circle, just inches from hitting the twine.

Francis iced the game for the Big Red at 6:16 in the final frame on a two-on-rush with Shane Palahicky, putting Cornell up 4-1.

Down three goals with about six minutes to play, Mazzoleni employed the unorthodox strategy of pulling Jonas to gain a six-on-four advantage when the Big Red took a penalty.

Unfortunately for the Crimson, the tactic worked against Harvard when defenseman Ben Wallace unleashed a wrist shot from center ice to put Cornell up 5-1 at 17:05 in the third period.

Bala lifted a wrist shot on a pass from Dom Moore to shorten the Big Red's lead to three with 1:46 to play, but the effort was not enough.

"Cornell is a very good team with the lead," Mazzoleni said. "Even when they got to three, we responded well and continued to fight and attack their net. In my two years here, it was the most offense we generated against them."

The victory allowed Cornell to advance to the title round, where two-time champion St. Lawrence downed the Big Red, 3-1, to end its season.