Home Ice In Reach for M. Hockey

With playoff seeding and possible home ice advantage on the line, the Harvard men’s hockey team wraps up its regular season this weekend as it heads to New Haven and Princeton for a showdown with two of its Ivy League rivals.

The Crimson (11-12-4, 10-7-3 ECAC) is currently tied with Dartmouth and Clarkson for second place in the ECAC behind Cornell. Making the ECAC standings situation all the more interesting, Brown, Colgate, and RPI are all within two points of second place in the conference.

Harvard is coming off of a big 4-0 shutout of Union last Saturday at Bright Hockey Center, stopping a four-game winless streak. That victory is in the team’s thoughts as it closes out the regular season.

“We definitely want to carry the momentum into the weekend,” captain Peter Capouch said. “If we have a good weekend, we can finish second or third and carry that momentum into the playoffs.”

Before any thoughts of postseason, however, must come a tough game against the Elis in New Haven tonight. Yale (8-17-2, 7-11-2), despite its poor record, is still in the running for a playoff spot, awarded to the top ten teams in the league. Unfortunately for the Crimson, the Harvard-Yale series has historically been dominated by the home team—even Harvard’s 1989 national championship team lost in New Haven.

“It’s going to be a very good game [against Yale],” Capouch said. “They’re fighting for playoff position, and they always pull a good crowd in for the Harvard game. They’re going to be jacked up and ready to go.”

A factor that might help the Crimson is the probable return to the lineup of sophomore forward Tyler Kolarik, who will play this weekend, according to junior forward Dominic Moore.

Kolarik, who is one of the Crimson’s most dynamic offensive players, injured his thumb last weekend in a 5-1 loss to RPI. His return would ease the burden on the Crimson, who will also be without senior Jeff Stonehouse, suffering from a shoulder injury and junior forward Aaron Kim’s status is uncertain.

One person sure to be in the lineup is freshman netminder Dov Grumet-Morris. Fresh off last weekend’s shutout of Union, Harvard Coach Mark Mazzoleni announced that Grumet-Morris would draw tonight’s start against Yale.

Grumet-Morris’s first shutout of the season came at a crucial point for Harvard, which had suffered a string of inconsistent performances in goal. A strong showing from Grumet-Morris and sophomore goalie Will Crothers will help ensure a successful weekend for the Crimson.

On Saturday night, Harvard will face off against Princeton, currently in eighth place in the conference. The Tigers (9-16-2, 8-10-2) are sure to come out with extra intensity, as they will be looking to hang on to a playoff spot in their regular season finale.

Princeton has struggled this year offensively, ranking second-to-last in the ECAC in scoring. The Tigers’ primary offensive threat is forward David Del Monte, a dynamic player who leads the team with 20 points.

Earlier this season, Princeton upset Harvard, 2-1, behind the spectacular goaltending of Dave Stathos. Stathos stopped 37 shots in the win, including several from close range.

Harvard needs four points to keep pace with, and hopefully pull ahead of, Dartmouth and Clarkson. A Harvard sweep guarantees the team at least third place in the league. Harvard could finish second if Clarkson fails to win both its games. Clarkson controls its own destiny, but the Crimson does hold the tiebreaker over Dartmouth. Clarkson and Dartmouth face each other tomorrow night.

The Crimson have a small margin for error, however, as two losses could drop the team down to seventh.

“We’re hoping that we can get four points this weekend, get some momentum, and earn home ice,” Moore said.