Half-Minute Men

BOSTON—If only this were the Beanpot.

One week removed from its stunning upset over then-No. 1 Boston College, the Harvard men’s hockey team toppled No. 10 Boston University 2-1 last night at Walter Brown Arena, again staking its claim to the unofficial title of Best in Boston.

“[BU]’s a good hockey team,” Harvard coach Ted Donato ’91 said. “They were on a roll, they’d won four in a row, and we knew it was going to be a battle. But I thought our guys responded after the first period and really played well.”

Already down a goal before being awarded its first man advantage of the contest 2:50 into the second period, the Crimson (4-2-1, 2-2-1 ECAC) wasted little time drawing even.

Senior Andrew Lederman slapped the puck wide of the target from the point, but a favorable carom off the boards allowed freshman Jon Pelle to pounce on the rebound at the doorstep. The rookie chipped the equalizer past Terriers netminder John Curry for his fourth goal of the season at 3:20, compensating for a similar opportunity he’d failed to capitalize on just seconds earlier.

“Jon Pelle is a very smart hockey player,” Donato said. “He’s in the right place in the right time. Yeah, he scored the goal, but he made another five or six real good decisions with the puck on the power play.”

Scarcely allowing BU (7-4-0, 6-1-0 Hockey East) to catch its breath, senior Brendan Bernakevitch, smothered along the boards, fed assistant captain Tom Cavanagh who carried the puck into the offensive zone.

With the Terriers caught out of position, Cavanagh pushed on net to draw the defense, then slid the puck diagonally across the crease onto freshman Mike Taylor’s tape at the far post. Curry had no play on the Maple Grove, Minn., native’s one-timer—Taylor’s first collegiate goal and the eventual game-winning score—at 3:51, just 31 seconds after Pelle’s tally.

“I just watched Bernakevitch and then Cavanagh take it down, and I just skated as hard as I could to the net and stood there,” Taylor said. “And Cav hit me and I just put it in. It was pretty easy. It was pretty exciting, though.”

Dov Grumet-Morris, whose brilliant play in net guided Harvard through an uncertain first period, ensured that the narrow lead would stand up, recording 20 of his 30 saves in the final two periods.

With 3:45 remaining, Grumet-Morris turned away three consecutive backhanded whacks from forward Peter MacArthur at point-blank range, all but sealing the victory.

“It’s hard to start any conversation with any of our wins when you don’t talk about Dov Grumet-Morris,” Donato said. “He’s been stellar for us all year. It’s nice and reassuring as a coach to know you’re going to get a great effort in the net every night.”

Grumet-Morris’ solid play at the back allowed the Crimson to weather a tumultuous opening 20 minutes, during which BU seized an early momentum edge and Harvard forward Charlie Johnson was assessed a five-minute major and ejected for hitting from behind.

With the puck pinned deep in the Crimson end for much of the frame, Grumet-Morris repeatedly kept out shots served up from inside the circles, once turning away defenseman Bryan Miller’s undefended effort from just beyond the crease.

But after more than three minutes of Johnson’s penalty had been killed, the Terriers finally broke through courtesy of an unlikely no-angle shot.

Skating along the endline, defenseman Sean Sullivan threw the puck towards the net, desperately hoping for a deflection in front. Instead, the shot kicked off Grumet-Morris’ skate and in with just 5.7 seconds left before the first intermission.

“It happens,” Grumet-Morris said.

But it wouldn’t again.

The Crimson handily killed each of the Terriers’ two subsequent 5-on-4s and owned the ice surrounding Grumet-Morris’ crease, thwarting BU coach Jack Parker’s first stab at 700 wins.

“They’re a very quick team—I don’t know if they were this quick last year,” Parker said. “And they’ve got good size on defense...They did a great job out in front of their goaltender tonight. They were rattled a little bit early on, and then they got their poise back.”

NOTES: Assistant captain Ryan Lannon returned to the lineup last night, one week after injury sidelined him against BC...Sophomore forward Ryan Maki, expected to skate yesterday after practicing on Monday, was scratched, apparently still suffering from the remnants of a chest injury. He will likely dress Friday...The Crimson, which converted on one of its two power plays against the Terriers, improved to 10-of-26 with a man advantage during its current four-game winning streak. Opening the year 0-2-1, Harvard converted on just one of its 17 5-on-4s...Harvard and BU combined for just seven penalties in last night’s contest, despite a renewed emphasis on obstruction enforcement. “It was more like last year than this year,” Parker said.

—Staff writer Timothy J. McGinn can be reached at mcginn@fas.harvard.edu.