Tournament Run Starts Tonight

Playoff hockey returns to Bright Hockey Center tonight, when the No. 2 Harvard men face No. 10 Vermont (13-18-3, 8-14-0 ECAC) in a best-of-three playoff series. And though the Crimson (19-8-2, 17-4-1) has home ice advantage and recent history on its side, the team is not underestimating the Catamounts.

“Vermont has a history of upsetting higher ranked teams in the playoffs,” captain Dominic Moore said.

Two years ago, Vermont won a playoff series two games to one against top-seeded Clarkson. This year history repeated itself, as Vermont again faced Golden Knights in upstate New York at Cheel Arena. And this time, the series wasn’t so close—a 3-2 win on Friday and a 6-1 blowout Saturday—proof that the Catamounts are playing well.

“We’re not expecting the same team we played in the regular season,” sophomore goaltender Dov Grumet-Morris said. “They beat Clarkson, they have confidence and they have some momentum.”

Part of Vermont’s confidence originates back in its 5-2 loss to Harvard’s in Gutterson Fieldhouse near the end of February. Despite the seemingly comfortable three-goal margin of victory, the Crimson left Burlington impressed with the progress the Catamounts had made since an early November Harvard win.

“The first time we played [Harvard] at Bright, they just outclassed us,” Vermont coach Mike Gilligan said. “Back up here [in Vermont], we played a closer game.”

Moore was of the same opinion, and both he and Harvard coach Mark Mazzoleni emphasized the difficulty Harvard had in that game dealing with the frenetic pace of Vermont’s offense.

“Vermont is going to be a challenging matchup for us,” Mazzoleni said. “They play an up-tempo game the whole time. They really pursue the puck to the point that they over pursue the puck.”

That up-tempo game was evident in the 5-2 Harvard win, when Vermont rallied from a 3-0 deficit to make the score 3-2 with two minutes to go in the game. The Catamounts had numerous chances to tie the game, and their open style of playing allowing them to get a half-dozen odd-man breaks that led to quality shots on Grumet-Morris.

“It’s easy to fall into the trap [of playing a back-and-forth game] and get sloppy,” Moore said. “We need to be disciplined to the style that has made us successful.”

That style revolves around the team’s defense, a youthful unit that has made strides this season.

“Our offense is generated off our ability to play well defensively,” Mazzoleni said. “Our key is to play real well defensively and to counter-attack against their aggressiveness.”

Another factor cited by both coaches was the special teams’ play of their opponent. Harvard enters the weekend with the second best powerplay in the ECAC, converting 24.3 percent of its chances. Vermont is one slot behind, converting 20.2 percent of its opportunities.

“Our biggest concern is to do the things that we’ve been doing well,” Gilligan said. “We haven’t been giving up unforced mistakes. We need to not turn the puck over and not go into the [penalty] box because when you play special teams against Harvard, you get into trouble.”

Mazzoleni, who knows his team holds the advantage when both teams have five guys on the ice, echoed Gilligan’s comments.

“Vermont can score goals on the powerplay,” Mazzoleni said. “You can control Vermont when they’re not on the powerplay.”

In the matchup of powerplay versus penalty kill, the Crimson does hold an edge. While Vermont has the third best team in the ECAC with the man-advantage, Harvard can answer that with the third best penalty kill unit. The Catamounts are not so lucky when one of their own is in the box—they are last in the conference in penalty killing.

Strategy aside, Mazzoleni and his players felt the bye week helped the team heal nagging injuries before the playoff run. Although sophomore winger Brendan Bernakevitch is questionable to play this weekend, junior forward Tyler Kolarik is set to resume his place on the top forward line. Kolarik’s temporary fill in, sophomore Rob Flynn, will drop down to the second line with junior Tim Pettit and sophomore Tom Cavanagh.

And even though the Crimson’s hottest line from last year’s playoffs (Pettit-Cavanagh-Bernakevtich) is temporarily decommissioned, Mazzoleni said he is relying upon Grumet-Morris to continue the stellar play that began at the start of the ECAC Tournament a year ago and helped to fuel Harvard’s playoff run.

It’s a tried and true hockey axiom that states a hot goaltender can take a team on his back and carry them through the playoffs. If that is the case, the reverse must be true as well.

“If your goaltender is not on his game, you’re not going anywhere in the playoffs,” Mazzoleni said. “Our thought is we have a guy back there [in Dov] who is tournament tested.”

And based on that litmus test, Harvard looks to have the balance to again make a run through the ECAC playoffs.

—Staff writer Timothy M. McDonald can be reached at tmcdonal@fas.harvard.edu.