Power Play Finds New Role

And now, Case Study No. 23,573 on why hockey is the least numbers-based of the four major sports: Harvard senior winger Tim Pettit has zero power-play goals, but is arguably the most important player on the unit.

Oddly enough, that wasn’t the case last year, when he had seven power-play goals and a career-high 47 points. Pettit acknowledged those lofty numbers came because opposing penalty kills treated Dominic Moore ’03 and Brett Nowak ’03 as the Crimson’s top options, leaving Pettit—and his blue-line bazooka of a shot—to roam free.

But when Moore and Nowak left, so did Pettit’s time and space. He became The Guy to Stop. Sticks and shoulders that used to harass Moore and Nowak were sent Pettit’s way.

So rather than score himself, Pettit has had to make plays for his teammates. And the fact that he’s averaging about an assist per game over Harvard’s current 7-1-1 run tells you he’s doing a fine job of that.

“I’ve taken a much different role,” Pettit said yesterday, after the team’s final practice at Bright Hockey Center before tomorrow night’s ECAC semifinal against Dartmouth. “Now, it’s about drawing men to me and feeding other people.”

Junior defenseman Noah Welch—another special teams linchpin without a power-play goal—said Pettit is doing an “unbelievable job” quarterbacking the unit.

“Teams are focusing on him, trying to front his shots, but he sees the ice extremely well and he’s finding the [passing] seams,” Welch said. “He’s not shooting as much as he used to, but he’s more effective.”

Not that the adjustment was necessarily easy for Pettit. A preseason All-ECAC selection after scoring a career-high 17 goals last season, he potted only one in his first 12 games this year. “I didn’t have enough energy, game in and game out,” he said.

But in between the Crimson’s depressing midseason stretch (5-11-1) and postseason revival, Pettit remade himself, first on the power play and most recently at even strength.

The stagnant power play hit a mid-season low of 13.5 percent just before exams, but adopted a new look early in the second half. Pettit moved from his familiar spot on top of the left circle to the point, where Welch had been.

The result? Harvard has scored on the power play in 12 of 14 games, at a 22.2 percent clip since the end of first semester. Pettit, meanwhile, leads the team in power play assists (10) and is second on the team in overall point-scoring (32). He has also become a commanding presence on the first power play unit, alongside Welch and forwards Brendan Bernakevitch, Tom Cavanagh and Tyler Kolarik.

“I don’t think you can measure someone’s productivity by the number of goals he scores on the power play,” Harvard coach Mark Mazzoleni said. “A lot of people know that Tim has a very quick, hard release, so they key on him a lot. Now he’s getting the puck to Bernakevitch or Welch up top, or Kolarik or Cavanagh down low.

“That’s the sign of a real good, heady player. They take away your option, you move on to the next option.”

Pettit’s improved performance and added confidence on the power play has translated into increased craftiness at even-strength. He skated the past five games on a speedy second line with Cavanagh and sophomore Charlie Johnson, a trio Brown coach Roger Grillo admitted “killed” his team last weekend.

Pettit and Cavanagh had played with one another for most of this season—not to mention the previous two—so it was Johnson’s return from a shoulder injury that sparked the line’s scoring.

“We’re spreading the ice out more now,” said Pettit, who scored on an assist from Cavanagh last Friday, and Johnson on Saturday, in the Crimson’s sweep of the Bears. “Charlie’s an amazing passer and a great goal-scorer. He can make plays.”

In three short weeks together, the Johnson-Cavanagh-Pettit line is a combined plus-18.

“They’re scary,” Welch said. “I play against them four days of the week in practice. I feel sorry for other teams’ defensemen.”

So if you want to be nitpicky, sure, you can point out that Pettit, with 10 goals heading into the weekend, may finish with the lowest single-season output of his standout career.

But he doesn’t seem too worried about that. The players around him are scoring instead.

“As long as the puck’s going in the net,” Pettit said, “I’m not going to complain too much.”

—Staff writer Jon Paul Morosi can be reached at morosi@fas.harvard.edu.