M. Hockey Looks Forward to Bye

BURLINGTON, Vt.—With a week’s rest ahead, Noah Welch relaxed his guard just long enough to share how he really felt following Harvard’s 2-2 tie with Vermont Saturday night.

“I’m sore. I’m not going to lie,” Welch said. “[The bye] is huge for me.”

Welch had entered play against the Catamounts relatively healthy, no small accomplishment given the limps and bruises many of his teammates sport after 29 games and a nasty case of the flu making its way down the Crimson’s roster.

But with 6:15 remaining in the first period, Vermont forward Ben Driver checked the Crimson captain from behind as play developed well up-ice, spinning Welch around before he collapsed on his back.

Momentarily dazed, Welch skated gingerly to the Harvard bench, taking care not to place his weight on his left leg.

Though he returned minutes later and gritted his way through the two remaining periods with little noticeable difficulty, Welch conceded that the hit had “tweaked” his knee, but said that he expected to skate at full-strength when the Crimson hosts its second-round matchup in the ECAC tournament, beginning March 11.

A TALE OF TWO EVENINGS

Harvard’s power-play units were particularly effective against Vermont, generating nine shots and striking twice in five opportunities. Though at times thwarted by fatigue and the Catamounts’ penalty kill, eighth-best in the country, the Crimson moved the puck well in the offensive zone, producing several open looks, the best of which resulted in forward Charlie Johnson’s goal at 4:26 in the first period.

And many of those that didn’t go in were greedily pounced upon by Harvard’s forwards.

When defenseman Dylan Reese tested Vermont netminder Joe Fallon from just inside the blue line, forwards Dan Murphy and Brendan Bernakevitch had only to battle each other to reach the rebound first, with the latter poking home the go-ahead score.

Not so one night earlier in the Crimson’s 2-1 loss to Dartmouth, though not for lack of effort. Harvard’s two power plays were both short circuited by minors assessed to the Crimson 17 and 10 seconds, respectively, into its pair of 5-on-4s.

JESS’ DO IT

Big Green forward Hugh Jessiman, Dartmouth’s second-leading scorer a season ago, returned to the ice Friday, nearly four months after tearing two ligaments in his right foot in a 3-0 loss to Princeton on Nov. 6.

The junior, a pre-season All-ECAC first team selection and New York Rangers first-round draft pick, was expected to miss the remainder of the season, though rumors began to swirl early last week that he might be healthy enough to rejoin the Big Green by the first round of the ECAC tournament.

“It kinda seems like it just happened all of a sudden—now he’s back in the lineup—and I think he did a great job,” said Dartmouth forward Mike Ouellette. “He didn’t overextend himself tonight. He was having good, quick shifts. He wasn’t making mistakes and he wasn’t trying to do too much.

“You can’t just have him jump in there and expect Hugh Jessiman to score four goals.”

Though Jessiman failed to tally a point on the weekend, he was, true to form, whistled for unsportsmanlike conduct in Friday’s third period after getting into a scuffle with Harvard forward Charlie Johnson.

BETWEEN THE PIPES

Dartmouth’s win snapped the Crimson’s 10-game series unbeaten streak. Harvard had been 8-0-2 against the Big Green, a stretch dating back to Feb. 9, 2001...Ouellette, who notched both Darmouth’s goals on Friday, has scored every goal the Big Green has scored against the Crimson this season...Senior Brendan Bernakevitch’s goal against the Catamounts on Saturday was his first in nine games. He last scored in Harvard’s 8-1 victory over Union on Feb. 1...Neither the Crimson nor Vermont managed a single shot on goal during Saturday’s overtime frame.

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