M. Hockey's Momentum Grows With Win, Tie

CANTON, N.Y.—Facing the longest—and some would say toughest—road trip of the season, the Harvard men’s hockey team took three out of a possible four points and headed back to Bright Hockey center with a share of sixth place in the ECAC.

The Crimson (10-13-3, 8-9-2 ECAC) needed a strong showing in the North Country because both St. Lawrence and Clarkson were a slot behind it in the conference standings. By virtue of the Crimson’s win and a tie, Harvard is now tied with Yale for sixth and has added a bit of breathing room, at least over Clarkson.

The wins are likely to be crucial for the Crimson because Harvard hosts a Dartmouth team that is tied for third in the ECAC and one of the hottest teams in the conference in Vermont during next weekend’s home regular-season finale.

HARVARD 3, ST. LAWRENCE 3

Fresh off a 4-0 thumping of previously conference-No. 1 Brown, the Saints gave Harvard all it could handle over 65 minutes.

The contest remained a back-and forth affair, with three ties and three lead changes, as the teams looked much closer in ability than they did at a post-Thanksgiving Harvard shutout earlier this season. And although Harvard had leads of 2-1 and 3-2, the team was still very happy to leave Appleton Arena with a point.

“It’s a tie. We got a point,” Mazzoleni said. “Like our team, I was disappointed we didn’t get two… everyone knows this is not an easy road trip – and to come up here and take three of four...”

Harvard was lucky to even take that many from the Saints after the way St. Lawrence controlled the game in the third period and in overtime, outshooting Harvard 17-10. This came after the Crimson firmly controlled the second period, putting nine more pucks on net than St. Lawrence did.

To start the scoring, the Saints T.J. Trevalyn put the home team up 1-0 at 7:23 in the first with a shot from the right face-off circle that Harvard junior goaltender Dov Grumet-Morris could get any pads on. Harvard senior winger Kenny Turano answered right back, and his reply was nearly the same—a hard shot from the right face-off circle that the Saints Mike McKenna couldn’t stop.

Later in that same period, aided by a penalty on the Saints Jaime Parker that set up a Harvard power play, Kolarik took a pass from Pettit and beat McKenna on a long shot, this one from beyond the circles.

But St. Lawrence kept answering back, tying the score again at 13:35 on a front-porch tip in by the Saints’ Kyle Rank.

Harvard took a 3-2 lead in the second period after Kolarik’s second goal of the night, and managed to maintain the lead into the third until Rich Peverley knotted the score at 3-3.

Peverley followed up a shot from Ryan Glenn, scooped up an appetizing rebound left just outside the crease by Grumet-Morris, and popped home the puck.

Despite quality scoring chances going both ways in the end of the third and in overtime, the game ended with the score tied at 3.

HARVARD 2, CLARKSON 1

Against Clarkson on Friday night, Harvard began its road trip in style, recording a determined defensive effort and holding off the feisty Golden Knights in front of their fans in Cheel Arena.

The Crimson fell behind early on a goal by Jay Latulippe, but tied the game late in the first period on a beautiful slap shot by Welch.

The goal started off of a face-off in the Clarkson zone. Senior forward Dennis Packard took the draw, stepping in for Bernakevitch who had been tossed from the face off for attempting to anticpate the drop. Packard won the puck back cleanly to Welch, who fired a rope that beat Traylen over his right shoulder.

“That was a pretty big moment in the game,” Grumet-Morris said. “It’s very difficult because not only is the shot a good shot but the other players are in a position to tip, rebound, screen. So it’s just eight pairs of legs in front of your eyes and its very, very difficult to get the puck and also to watch it pinball off eight legs.”

Then Harvard added the game-winning goal, a power play conversion after Bernakevitch crashed the net following a Pettit shot. That goal, coming just over three minutes into the third, gave the Crimson the confidence it needed to hold off a furious rally by the Golden Knights.

The rally culminated in a Clarkson power play with just over two-and-a-half minutes remaining, but through a combination of excellent defense and solid goaltending the Golden Knights didn’t have a chance to tie the score..

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