Cavanagh Lifts M. Hockey to Win

PROVIDENCE, R.I.—The last time Tom Cavanagh found the back of the net, Howard Dean was still a serious presidential candidate, Louie’s Superette dispensed alcohol to minors with impunity and getting poked by strangers wasn’t nearly so innocuous.

Needless to say, it had been awhile.

After rattling off 12 goals in Harvard’s first 16 games, Cavanagh lit the lamp just once over the next 16, with six- and nine-game goalless streaks bookending his most recent tally on Feb. 9 in the Beanpot consolation against Northeastern.

“He’s been a little snake-bitten goal-wise recently,” said assistant captain Tyler Kolarik.

But skaters with a knack for gathering the puck on the doorstep rarely stay that way for long, let alone 660:44, as Cavanagh had.

And after senior Tim Pettit’s apparent overtime winner was ruled no goal, Cavanagh ensured that both the series and his personal bout with ignominy would end in Providence, without a winner-take-all Game 3.

“I bet myself that Tommy was going to score,” Kolarik said. “And I was right.”

With 7:30 gone by in the extra frame, defenseman Dylan Reese intercepted a Brown clearance attempt just inside the blue line. The freshman whipped the puck at Yann Danis from straight on, forcing the Bears’ goaltender to shift slightly to his left to record the save.

But Danis could not control the rebound, which bounced hard off his padding and slid to his stick side.

And right onto the tape of Cavanagh’s expectant stick.

With Danis frantically shuffling back into position, Cavanagh had more than enough space to slap the second effort past him for the series ender.

“The rebound came right out in front,” Cavanagh said. “I was right there and just put it through his legs.”

But, as was the case during the goal-scoring drought, looking so narrowly at Cavanagh’s offensive production and considering only his own tallies tells just a fraction of the story.

In the stretch between the Monday-night showdown against the Huskies and Game 1 of the ECAC quarterfinals, Cavanagh had zero goals in nine games. And nine assists, including two in the opening matchup with Brown.

Following quickly on the heels of a slow-paced, neutral-zone trap dominated period to kick the series off, Cavanagh won the opening faceoff for the second, allowing Harvard to crash the Bears’ zone and apply immediate pressure. On the weekend, Cavanagh claimed 25 draws for the Crimson, one of just two skaters—senior Dennis Packard being the other—to win more than 50 percent of his attempts.

Earning those initial possessions gave Harvard opportunity. Cavanagh saw to it that the Crimson didn’t let it go to waste.

After receiving the puck back from sophomore Charlie Johnson, Cavanagh sent a cross-ice pass out to junior Noah Welch at the point, whose wrister cut back across Danis’ body and into the top right corner of the net, beating Danis.

On the ice for six of the varsity’s seven weekend scores, the Warwick, R.I. native wrought havoc on the Brown defense, even when not directly responsible for a tally.

“He can see the ice,” Welch said. “Stuff that other guys won’t see, don’t see. He sees.”

Stuff like a vulnerable spot in the Brown penalty kill. Stuff like Pettit streaking down the ice before the senior forward even starts skating.

Stuff like that.

Cavanagh chipped the puck up over the Bears defense into the corner with less than five minutes remaining in the second period of Friday’s Game 1 and Harvard looking to retake the lead following Brent Robinson’s equalizer.

Pettit dug it out, junior Brendan Bernakevitch teed it up, and Kolarik threw it on net from along the goal line and off Danis’ gear for the go-ahead goal.

Then, just 3:42 into the third period, Cavanagh intercepted an errant Brown pass in the neutral zone. Quickly shifting from the trap to the attack, Harvard’s playmaker led Johnson and Pettit past the blue line on a 3-2. Carrying the puck along the left boards, Cavanagh feigned a move inside and pulled the puck back towards the boards before snapping a pass just to the right of the goalmouth.

Pettit raced to catch up, streaking past his defender towards the right post. Barely reaching it, he swatted the puck past Danis—that had been left hanging by Cavanagh on the far post—for the eventual game-winner.

“It was one of those things where we read off each other,” Cavanagh said. “Timmy always goes to the net hard.”

Like Cavanagh doesn’t.

And if Harvard’s leading scorer—with 14 goals and 19 assists—keeps dancing in front of the goal the way he has, he won’t be snake-bitten again any time soon.

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