After Stumbling Against Tigers, M. Hockey Rallies

Despite fast and physical play on both nights at Bright Hockey Center, the ECAC-leading Harvard men’s hockey team gained only a split against Princeton and Yale this weekend.

On Friday against the Tigers, the Crimson peppered Princeton senior goalie Dave Stathos all night long, but Stathos was inconveniently in position to stop every one. Harvard fell, 2-1.

“Their goalie was very good, but there were pucks that hit him that he had no idea were hitting him,” Harvard Coach Mark Mazzoleni said.

The Crimson met with more success in the second and third period against Yale, as the Crimson turned extended pressure against senior goalie Dan Lombard into four goals, good for a 4-3 win.

Harvard 4, Yale 3

Against perennial rival Yale, some bounces went Harvard’s way even if the calls didn’t and the Crimson pulled out a comeback victory.

Similar to the previous night’s game against Princeton, Harvard (9-6-3, 8-3-2 ECAC) outshot its opponent, this time 28-20. Lombard, however, was not nearly as successful as Stathos and four of the 28 shots he faced found the back of the net.

Yale (5-10-2, 5-5-2) began the game’s scoring in the first period, jumping out to a 1-0 lead on a goal scored by sophomore forward Mike Klema and assisted by junior forwards Evan Wax and sophomore Ryan Steeves.

That lead would stand up until the 5:27 mark of the second period, when sophomore forward Dennis Packard’s shot from the right circle flashed past Lombard, tying the score.

The goal was Packard’s seventh of the year and was assisted by sophomore defenseman Kenny Smith and junior forward Brett Nowak. The key play on the goal, however, was the effective screen provided by sophomore defenseman Dave McCulloch, who not only cut off Lombard’s view, but also lifted a defenseman’s stick off the ice to stop a potential blocked shot.

Yale pulled ahead once again with nine minutes left in the second period on a pretty passing play. Freshman forward Chris Higgins directed a pass from deep in Harvard’s left corner that went with alacrity to fellow forward Vin Hellemeyer and then to captain Luke Earl, who was camped out on Harvard goalie Dov Grumet-Morris’ doorstep. Earl slammed home the point-blank shot to give the Elis back the lead.

Harvard pulled even once more on a penalty shot by Moore, who wristed a shot past Lombard at 13:15 of the middle period. Moore earned the penalty shot himself when he received a long outlet pass from the Harvard blue line to the Yale blue line and, breaking in on goal, slammed a shot past Lombard that clanged the cross bar and dropped into the crease behind the Yale goalie.

A mad scramble for the puck ensued, during which Yale defenseman Greg Boucher gloved the puck in the crease, prompting the penalty shot.

In the six minutes that followed Moore’s seventh goal of the year, Harvard was whistled for five penalties, and spent the remainder of the second period and the beginning of the third period fighting off Yale power plays.

But fight those power plays off Harvard did and in the third period, it would be Harvard’s turn with the man advantage. The Crimson notched the game’s last two goals on the power play and that combination of penalty-kill success and power-play capitalization was the turning point of the game.

“We were able to withstand the penalties we took,” Mazzoleni said. “We come up with two very big goals in the third period off the power play. That was definitely the difference in the game.”

At 9:24 of the third, with Harvard on the power play, sophomore forward Tyler Kolarik tallied his fifth goal on the year, in the scramble a rebound in front of the net. The eventual game-winning goal came off the stick of Nowak, who notched his team-leading ninth goal with six minutes to play in the game.

Yale picked up a garbage goal from Higgins with 40 seconds to play, but at that point the outcome was all but decided.

“The atmosphere was pretty electric tonight,” Moore said.

After the game, both Harvard coaches and players stressed the importance of the win over Yale both because of the previous night’s loss to Princeton and the impending long exam break.

“That was a very big win for us after losing last night,” Mazzoleni said.

“Coming back and doing what we did tonight, shows how much character we have on this team,” Kolarik added.

Princeton 2, Harvard 1

In a game that Harvard dominated from wire-to-wire, Princeton (6-13-0, 5-7-0 ECAC) came away with the victory on the strength of excellent goaltending from Stathos and more than a few lucky bounces.

“We had our chances,” Mazzoleni said. “It was a great goaltending game for them and missed opportunities for us.”

Harvard (9-6-3, 8-3-2) indeed had its opportunities, posting 38 shots. In this area, Harvard’s domination of the game was most clear. By Mazzaoleni’s count, the Crimson generated 30 quality scoring chances, compared to nine by the Tigers. Princeton managed only 18 shots in the game.

Stathos, though, stymied the Crimson for the game’s first 50 minutes. Only at 12:41 of the third period did Harvard finally mark the scoreboard.

Working on the power play, Harvard captain Peter Capouch took a pass from junior forward Dominic Moore at the blue line and redirected it to sophomore forward Tim Pettit, who fired a shot from the right circle past Stathos for Harvard’s only goal.

The tally was Pettit’s eight of the year and his seventh on the power play. But Harvard would not get the better of Stathos again, and Princeton hung on.

Harvard next hosts an exhibition game on Saturday January 28th against the U.S. Junior National team.