Let the Crunch Time Commence

After its disappointment against Boston’s best, the No. 9 Harvard men’s hockey team must now set its sights on something far more important, and now, far more difficult: achieving an NCAA tournament berth.

The puck drops on the team’s final five games tonight when the No. 9 Crimson hosts a struggling Clarkson team. Tomorrow, the men will seek vengeance on a St. Lawrence squad that edged the Crimson, 4-2, in November.

Harvard’s normally potent offense fell off pace during its Beanpot bust. The Crimson (15-7-2, 12-4-1 ECAC) put up one run-of-the-mill goal per game in losses to Northeastern and Boston College.

The stall is uncharacteristic of a Crimson offense that was held to only one goal four times in non-tournament competition this season. Harvard’s losses during these offensive aberrations came at the hands of league rivals—No. 12 Colgate and No. 4 Cornell (18-4-3, 14-2-2), the only two teams that sit above Harvard in the ECAC standings.

The Raiders (20-8-2, 12-4-2) remain the only squad that has beaten the Crimson twice this season, and if Harvard doesn’t kick into gear come face-off tomorrow, St. Lawrence (13-15-2, 7-10-1) could validate its place among teams with Harvard’s number.

ECAC foes Dartmouth, Vermont, and Brown are not out of the picture either—three points separate the Crimson from the first two teams, against which Harvard will close out regular-season play next weekend. The Bears, meanwhile, will skate into Bright Hockey Center on Tuesday.

Needless to say, losing simply isn’t an option for a Harvard squad that badly wants one of the four, first-round byes.

“It’s important,” said assistant captain Ryan Lannon of this weekend. “Not just for the standing and the rankings and all that stuff, but as a team, to rebound from the loss on Monday.

“Nobody likes to lose,” he added, “and that feeling is magnified in the Beanpot.”

Even if the Crimson falters in its efforts to win the ECAC tournament, an NCAA berth in the form of an at-large bid is still attainable.

That is, of course, assuming the team gets back on track after two Beanpot losses in the span of seven days.

“It’s good to be playing at home against two competitve teams that have given us trouble in the past,” Lannon said.

“We just have to learn from Monday night. I don’t think we had the effort that we wanted or played the game we had hoped to for 60 minutes.”

With pressure mounting in the late season, though, Harvard must try to bounce back against a Clarkson squad with a road record of 2-1-0 and an overall record of 4-1-0 in its last five games.

The Harvard offense may find respite in the fact that in conference games, the Golden Knights have given up 28 goals as compared to the 18 it has scored.

The fact that Harvard put up three goals when it faced Clarkson in November also bodes well for the Crimson.

But if Clarkson (11-17-2, 7-10-1 ECAC) is coasting on a hot streak, then St. Lawrence is a team on the rocks.

The Saints dropped five of their last six games and have not won since a 7-2 shellacking of Union on Jan. 22.

In its six-game stint in the gutters, St. Lawrence has given up 3.8 goals per game and forfeited at least three goals in five of the contests.

And in conference play, the Saints aren’t picky—they have losing records both at home (3-5-1) and away (4-5-0).

But the team did put up four goals in its Nov. 26th defeat of the Crimson, so despite its low luck of late, St. Lawrence is by no means down and out.

When the Saints seek to down Harvard for the second time this season, they won’t only have to overcome their recent losing trend, their lowly road record (6-10-0 overall), and their defensive woes, but also a Crimson squad that has dropped just one of ten contests when skating in the Bright Hockey Center.

Moreover, the Crimson has a history of big bounce-backs after losses and has dropped two games consecutively only twice this season. In both instances pesky Colgate has delivered the second blow.

But even after those two losses, Harvard has rebounded to beat Ivy League competitors and regain momentum.

After the Crimson’s 4-1 loss to the Raiders on Nov. 6, Harvard mounted a comeback against Yale that would begin its first win-streak of the season.

And when Colgate beat Harvard after Christmas break, the Crimson edged the Big Red—a team that had manhandled Harvard earlier in the season—1-0 the next night.

Harvard has lost two games within the period of a week only once this season.

But home-ice and history alone surely won’t give the Crimson the ‘W’s it needs.

If the team is to get back on track, its recently impotent power play and low shot production will need to come around 180 degrees.

While coach Ted Donato ’91 dismisses last week’s lopsided shot total in the 3-0 victory over Rensselaer as inconsequential, it is clear that Harvard’s offensive production must improve.

“I don’t really concern myself too much with the shots,” said Donato. “We’ve won a lot of games and been outshot in those games, but a lot of it is that when you’re playing with the lead, you’re going to play a different way.”

And if the cost of a victory includes more work for senior net-minder Dov Grumet-Morris than his counterpart across the ice, then Donato will not be concerned.

Grumet-Morris’ NCAA-leading save percentage of .945 is reason for confidence.

As postseason hopes rest on the line, Donato is confident.

“Our guys are pretty focused, he said. “And they know...[that] we have our fate in our own hands.”