Harvard Baked in Beanpot

BOSTON—A tremendous effort by the Harvard men’s hockey team turned into yet another missed opportunity, as the No. 13 Crimson suffered a heartbreaking 2-1 loss to No. 14 Boston University in the first Beanpot semifinal last night at the Fleet Center.

“I couldn’t ask any more of our guys than what they gave,” Harvard coach Mark Mazzoleni said. “They played their hearts out, and we’re very proud of them.”

For one brief moment, it looked like Harvard would pull through. The Crimson had a golden opportunity to break a 1-1 tie with under eight minutes left to play when freshman forward Charlie Johnson set up sophomore defenseman Noah Welch perfectly on a 2-on-1 rush. But Terrier goaltender Sean Fields managed to slide across the crease in time, just deflecting Welch’s shot with his skate.

Less than a minute later, BU captain Freddy Meyer would net the game-winner.

“We couldn’t finish our chances,” said a dejected Welch. “I had one that probably would have won us the game. I had the whole net, and I couldn’t finish it.”

The loss puts a serious dent in Harvard’s hopes for an at-large NCAA bid. With No. 6 Boston College’s 5-2 victory over Northeastern in the late game of the Beanpot semifinals, last night’s contest marked the final chance Harvard would have at knocking-off a ranked non-conference foe. The Crimson finished the season 0-5-1 in such games.

Harvard (13-7-1, 12-3 ECAC) must once again settle for the Beanpot consolation game. The Crimson has not reached the tournament final in four years under Mazzoleni and has not won the Beanpot since 1994.

“This was our best team by far,” Mazzoleni said. “We felt we had the ability to get to the final. That’s probably why the disappointment is greater.”

For BU, yesterday’s victory continued a remarkable run of Beanpot success. The Terriers (16-10-2) have advanced to the title game 19 times in the last 20 years—losing only to Harvard in 1994—and have won seven of the last eight Beanpots.

Yet the great play by Johnson almost made BU a rare Beanpot loser. Johnson appeared contained on the fateful 2-on-1 break, but then cut in front of the net, drawing the attention of Fields and defender Ryan Whitney. He then slipped a perfect pass back to Welch, who was streaking down the other side. Welch got off a good shot, but it just wasn’t enough to beat Fields.

The brilliant save re-energized the Terriers, who had been outplayed for much of the third period. That momentum would pay off with 6:39 left to play, when Meyer capitalized on a BU faceoff win and fired a slapshot past Harvard goaltender Dov Grumet-Morris, who was heavily-screened on the play.

“At the last second, I picked up the puck as it went past me,” Grumet-Morris said. “But it was a good shot, and he put it right where he needed to.”

That goal would stand as the game-winner despite a third period dominated at times by the Crimson. For the second time this year against BU, Harvard created several quality scoring opportunities but could not convert on its chances. In two losses to the Terriers, the Crimson managed just one goal on a combined 65 shots.

“The biggest difference between us and them is that we didn’t finish,” Mazzoleni said. “You’ve got to give credit to their goaltender, but we had our chances and we didn’t make the plays.”

Harvard scored its lone goal on sophomore defenseman Kenny Smith’s slapshot off a faceoff at 6:59 of the second. The goal gave the Crimson a 1-0 lead and appeared to be a good omen. Entering the contest, Harvard had been a perfect 12-0-0 in games when scoring first.

This time, however, BU would answer quickly, knotting the game minutes later when defenseman Bryan Miller beat Welch and slipped the puck over Grumet-Morris’ glove.

That goal marked the beginning of more exciting play after what had been a lackluster first half of the game. Neither team could generate many quality scoring chances early. The Crimson had only three shots in the entire first period.

“In general, it was not as exciting as you normally see when these two teams play,” BU coach Jack Parker said. “The pace just didn’t seem to be there.”

Although the Beanpot title is out of reach, Harvard still has a shot at the ECAC regular-season crown. With No. 4 Cornell’s shocking loss to Colgate last Thursday, Harvard now controls its destiny in conference play, but it will need to regroup for Friday’s 7 p.m. game at RPI.

The Crimson will play Northeastern in the Beanpot consolation at 5 p.m. this coming Monday.

Staff writer Elijah M. Alper can be reached at alper@fas.harvard.edu.