Sweeping Bye: M. Hockey Tops St. Lawrence, Clarkson

Harvard coach Ted Donato ’91’s message to his skaters this weekend was clear: Find the offense so visibly lacking in the Beanpot, and find it quickly.

Lines jumbled and its second-leading scorer benched, the No. 9 Crimson responded Friday evening, blitzing Clarkson for 42 shots on goal en route to a 5-0 victory before tossing the same numbers up on the scoreboard one night later in its 5-2 win over St. Lawrence, which clinched a first-round bye in the ECAC tournament.

“That’s the first stepping stone to getting that ECAC championship and also the automatic bid,” senior Andrew Lederman said. “We’ve got to just keep winning games.”

Any less and Harvard’s playoff outlook will take a decided turn for the worse.

Both No. 4 Cornell and No. 11 Colgate, with whom the Crimson is jockeying for position atop the conference standings, swept their respective series this weekend, negating Harvard’s four-point showing and all but locking up the top seed for the Big Red.

But thanks to a game in hand over the Raiders—tonight’s contest versus Brown—the Crimson could claim second with wins in each of its final three games regardless of Colgate’s results, and in so doing improve its standing with the NCAA tournament selection committee, since each of its remaining opponents qualifies as a “team under consideration.”

Just one loss, though, would likely relegate Harvard to third or fourth entering the playoffs and further jeopardize already fragile hopes for an at-large bid.

HARVARD 5, ST. LAWRENCE 2

The Crimson celebrated senior night in style before a sold-out crowd at the Bright Hockey Center Saturday, night, netting the first of its five goals just 2:59 into the opening frame before cruising to its eighth straight in-conference victory.

As against Clarkson, Harvard (17-7-2, 14-4-1 ECAC) dictated the pace of play throughout, peppering goaltender Mike McKenna with 13 shots from inside the circles alone, three of which resulted in goals.

“You’re not going to score goals unless you crash the net,” sophomore Ryan Maki said. “Pretty much all of our goals were right around the net. Everyone’s just working hard to get in there and go to the net, just doing what you’ve got to do.”

Maki—promoted to Harvard’s top line one day earlier—kicked off the scoring, battling to control a loose puck behind the St. Lawrence net which he subsequently fed to defenseman Tom Walsh at the point. The junior’s one-timer appeared headed well wide, but assistant captain Tom Cavanagh, perched in the slot, redirected the errant effort top shelf past McKenna to put the Crimson on the board less than three minutes in.

“It was nice,” Cavanagh said of his second tally in eight games. “It was just nice to start off the game with the lead. When you do that at home, it makes it a lot easier. And, it being senior night, it was special.”

Only McKenna’s stellar play between the pipes maintained that one-goal margin for the balance of the first period and prevented Harvard from making it any more special. Pressing to strike a second blow, the Crimson came tantalizingly close to sneaking another shot home, but the Saints netminder rebuffed both Dan Murphy and Tyler Magura from point-blank range within the first 9:15.

But in the face of Harvard’s relentless attack, McKenna’s success would be short-lived. Just 2:46 into the second, defenseman Peter Hafner’s wrist shot from inside the blue line kicked off a skater in front of the net and in, staking the Crimson to a 2-0 lead.

A mere 52 seconds later, Maki added a third, backhanding home the game-winner off a rebound to McKenna’s left.

“They’re very good with a lead,” St. Lawrence coach Joe Marsh said. “A lot of the things we didn’t want to have happen happened fairly early on. But the goals they got were good goals on tip-ins. I can’t fault our goaltender on ‘em.”

Comfortably ahead, Harvard at once skated with diminished intensity, allowing St. Lawrence (14-16-2, 8-11-1) to draw within two less than three minutes later at 6:27.

With a power play drawing to a close, Saints blueliner Mike Madill hemmed in the Crimson’s attempt to clear its defensive zone before dumping the puck along the lefthand boards. Pivot Max Taylor worked the puck to Mike Zbringer in front, where the latter tucked a cross-crease shot just inside the left post to scuttle Dov Grumet-Morris’ hopes for a school-record 10th career shutout.

Shaken from its minutes-long slumber, Harvard answered in characteristic fashion—sophomore Kevin Du tipped home assistant captain Ryan Lannon’s effort from the point—just moments later, dashing the Saints’ comeback aspirations at 11:58.

“Whew,” Marsh said. “That was a killer.”

HARVARD 5, CLARKSON 0

It took the Crimson two full periods to squeeze off 10 shots against No. 2 Boston College in the consolation final of the Beanpot. On Friday against Clarkson, Harvard notched that many in the two-minute span of its first power play.

The opportunities came early and often for the trigger-happy Crimson as Harvard routed the Golden Knights (11-18-2, 7-11-1) on the strength of its special teams and yet another flawless game in net from Grumet-Morris, who notched his fourth shutout of the season and ninth of his career, tying the school record.

“Our penalty kill was fantastic tonight,” Grumet-Morris said. “We just executed our system and backchecked a lot better [than against the Eagles].”

With 2:15 remaining in the first period and 1:14 left on Dylan Reese’s obstruction-interference minor, Du deftly stripped Clarkson’s Grant Clitsome as he attempted to carry the puck out of the Golden Knights’ zone, allowing the sophomore center to skate in all alone on goaltender Dustin Traylen. Deking twice, Du brought the puck over to Traylen’s stick side before backhanding it just inside the left post for the game-winner, Harvard’s second shorthanded tally of the season.

But it was captain Noah Welch, who, as against Boston College, prodded the Crimson to continue tossing the puck on net, this time with much greater success. Welch fired seven shots on goal, three of which resulted in Crimson scores.

Credited with the primary assist on Harvard’s second goal—a rebound potted by Maki at 10:19 in the second—Welch sniped a power-play tally of his own from the blue line just under seven minutes later, courtesy of freshman Jon Pelle.

“It was just good puck movement,” Welch said. “And again, we just got the puck to the net.”

Welch returned the favor on the Crimson’s final score of the night, when his between-the-legs shot from just beyond the crease kicked to Pelle, who somehow managed to bury the rebound with a no-angle top-shelf effort.

For his part, Grumet-Morris, who leads the nation in save percentage with his .947 mark and is second in goals-against average with 1.62, turned aside all 28 shots he faced, only six of which were attempted from the ice immediately beyond the crease.

“It really does have to do with that—that we’re so much older and dress six drafted defensemen each night,” he said.

Harvard hosts its travel partner, Brown, this evening at 7 p.m. at the Bright Hockey Center.

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