M. Hockey Ties Dartmouth 2-2, Beats Vermont

HANOVER, N.H.—Two and a half years. Nine hundred eighty days. Seventy-four games.

It had been that long since the Harvard men’s hockey team missed out on a win like it did on Saturday night. The Crimson (1-1-1, 1-1-1 ECAC) took a one-goal lead into the third period before an iffy goal forced Harvard to settle for a 2-2 tie with Dartmouth, completing a three-point ECAC weekend that began with Friday’s 6-4 win at Vermont.

The last time Harvard failed to win a game it led after two periods was Mar. 3, 2001, when it tied Princeton, 2-2. That was Senior Night at Bright Hockey Center for the Class of 2001. Oliver Jonas ’01 had 38 saves. Chris Bala ’01, now married and playing in the American Hockey League, scored the first goal. Meanwhile, current Harvard freshmen Kevin Du, Ryan Maki and Steve Mandes were 15 years old.

In other words, an inability to close out opponents hasn’t been a problem in recent years for the Crimson. Last season, it was a predictable (and amazingly efficient) 22-0-0 when leading after two periods, compared with 0-10-2 when losing or tied going into the third.

But that changed Saturday night, when Dartmouth senior Mike Wheelihan scored four minutes, 24 seconds into the third period on the rebound of Mike Turner’s point shot. Harvard junior goaltender Dov Grumet-Morris appeared to have smothered Turner’s initial bid, but as he squeezed the puck tight to his chest, it popped out and landed beside him.

“Kind of a knucklepuck,” Grumet-Morris said. “It chipped off my elbow and went to the side.”

Wheelihan swept in along the left wing to put it into the open net. Instantly, the momentum the Crimson had built up with two second-period goals from junior Tom Cavanagh evaporated into the roar of the Thompson Arena sellout of 4,500.

Grumet-Morris stopped 26 of 28 Dartmouth shots. He could have stopped them all.

The Big Green’s took a 1-0 lead on a power play in the opening period—the fifth man-advantage goal allowed by Harvard in three games. It came on a wrister from the point by Grant Lewis that was redirected in front by Hugh Jessiman and trickled slowly through Grumet-Morris’s legs.

“Just a change of direction,” Grumet-Morris said. “That’s what they were going for. They tried it a couple more times. It’s part of the game.”

Grumet-Morris settled in from there, keeping the Big Green off the board for the rest of the first and all of the second, which gave Cavanagh ample opportunity to work with new linemates seniors Dennis Packard and Tim Pettit and build a 2-1 lead.

And outside of the Wheelihan goal, Grumet-Morris stood tall in the third, when Dartmouth held an 8-7 shots-on-goal advantage. Harvard coach Mark Mazzoleni said he “made a lot of key saves.”

Still, Mazzoleni didn’t seem completely satisfied.

“The two goals that went in...” Mazzoleni started, before stopping to collect his thoughts. He moved his head side-to-side, slowly and deliberately, then resumed. “We’ll leave it at that...The thing is, you only give up 24 shots each night on the road [26 in regulation on Saturday], that’s pretty good team defense.

“These are the types of games that you have to have your goalie step up in and shut the door on people. You’re not going to score six goals an awful lot [as Harvard did Friday]. Dartmouth’s not going to give up three, four goals a lot in this building, so you’ve got to come out and win some 2-1 games.”

Cavanagh, Packard and Pettit accounted for both goals and all five points against the Big Green, to go along with the five points they combined for Friday in Burlington.

The group hadn’t skated together for any substantial length of time before, and didn’t even begin the weekend together. Senior Rob Fried was slated to go with longtime pass-pals Cavanagh and Pettit, but everything changed early Friday night, when senior second-line wing Kenny Turano went down with a ankle broken in two places that will likely require surgery and a three-month rehabilitation.

Out of those unfortunate circumstances came a classic combination of smooth playmaker (Cavanagh), aggressive shooter (Pettit) and big body (Packard).

“Pettit and Cavanagh have always played well off each other, and Dennis Packard is a very bright hockey player. He’s got good hands and a good feel for the game,” Mazzoleni said. “They have real good chemistry. They read off each other very well.”

That is, after all, how they scored the game-tying goal. Midway through the second, Pettit moved into the zone in transition, squared to goalie Dan Yacey, and unleashed a patented slap shot. It went only as far as a defender’s shin guards. Luckily for Pettit, the rebound came back his way. His shot fake drew everyone’s attention, and before they could recover, Pettit slid a quick pass to Cavanagh, unmarked on Yacey’s left.

With Cavanagh’s finishing skills, it was no contest. He went top-shelf. Tie game.

Cavanagh’s second goal came with 2:24 left in the second, capping a 30-second possession in the Dartmouth zone. Packard warded off a defender with one arm to gain possession, and used the other to send a pass to Cavanagh in front. He crept in, took aim and picked the far corner for his 24th career goal.

“That was a great job by Dennis, the way he held off his man,” Cavanagh said. “He gave me a lot of room.”

And when the second-period horn sounded with the Crimson still ahead 2-1, history said this one was over. It wasn’t.

“A tie was tough for us,” senior wing Blair Barlow said. “We definitely came in here looking for two points.”

Harvard 6, Vermont 4

BURLINGTON, Vt.—Trailing 3-2 in the second period Friday, the Crimson was halfway to its first 0-2 start under Mazzoleni before scoring four of the game’s final five goals, including two by Packard, to overcome Turano’s devastating injury and defeat the host Catamounts, 6-4, before a sellout crowd at Gutterson Fieldhouse.

“The guys knew what they had to do, and they did it,” said assistant captain Tyler Kolarik, who had a goal and three assists in the game. “They worked hard. Everyone played really gutsy.

“We lost a guy early. That’s a gut check. We were behind. That’s a gut check. The guys showed they’ve got a lot of balls out there.”

Mazzoleni said his team did “a lot of good things” Friday night that it didn’t do in last Saturday’s 2-0 clunker against Brown.

“We had some guys step up for us,” he said.

One of them was Packard, who had a hat trick against Vermont in last year’s ECAC playoffs and has scored seven of his 23 career goals against the Cats. Harvard has had similar success, with 30 goals in its last six games against Vermont—all victories.

“I don’t know about that,” Packard said, smiling, when asked if there’s something special that makes him play well against the Catamounts. “I just got some chances. I don’t know if it has anything to do with UVM or not, but I guess I’ve had a few good games against them.”

Both of Packard’s goals involved him doing what he does best: play strong in front of the net.

His first goal came on a feed from Pettit less than two minutes after Charlie Johnson tied it 3-3 midway through the second period. Harvard never trailed again.

A minute later Vermont star Jeff Miles literally skated a circle around the Crimson penalty kill to score a show-stopping, game-tying power play goal, Packard responded with a workmanlike goal that proved to be the game-winner.

With Harvard coming off a fresh line change and the Cats’ defensemen logging a minute-and-a-half shift, junior Brendan Bernakevitch kept play alive along the left boards before dishing into the slot for Kolarik. Vermont goaltender Travis Russell made the initial save, but left a rebound for Packard to gobble up.

So Packard swept past the weary-legged UVM rearguard, making a complete loop around the goal—an imitation, albeit shorter in radius, of what Miles had done moments before. Packard then wheeled at the left faceoff circle, beating Russell to the far side with only 57 seconds remaining in the second.

“I just kept coming around, coming around,” Packard said, “and then I finally saw an opening.”

Kolarik iced it with a little more than seven minutes left in the third on a keen feed from Mandes, and sophomore goaltender John Daigneau kept the Cats at bay in the third to finish with 20 saves.

“It’s a great sign that, even with our injuries, we were able to score six goals and get some opportunities,” Packard said. “I think that’s a good sign that we’re going to have a good offense this year.”

That offense will need to be clicking again this weekend, with Princeton and Yale visiting. Mazzoleni has never swept those teams in a home series.

—Staff writer Jon Paul Morosi can be reached at morosi@fas.harvard.edu.