Men's Hockey Splits Bright Return

It had been twenty days since the Harvard men’s hockey team last played, and nearly two months since its last game at Bright Hockey Center.

Facing the same two teams it had battled in its last pair of games, the Crimson found itself suffering from the same problem it had dealt with before—having to come from behind in the third period.

On Friday, it rallied to win 3-1 against Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (11-12-3, 5-5-3 ECAC). The next day, the Crimson fell to Union (12-11-5, 5-6-3) by a score of 2-1.

“We are not always going to get the first goal,” junior right wing Steve Mandes said. “If we don’t, we need to find a way to come out with the same jump, same enthusiasm, and the same energetic approach.”

As a result of those games, Harvard (11-8-2, 8-7-1) remains in fourth place in the ECAC. Though it will play three of its next four league games on the road, the Crimson is hoping to improve its place in the standings in preparation for the ECAC playoffs.

“These games set the table for an interesting finish for us,” said Harvard head coach Ted Donato ’91. “We really have to step it up a notch.”

UNION 2, HARVARD 1

Battling hard through the first two periods of a slow, physical game, the Crimson entered the final frame expecting to make up the one-goal difference it found itself facing.

But Union goaltender Kris Mayotte and his defensemen had other ideas.

Mayotte made eight saves in the third period, including a terrific save on freshman blueliner Jack Christian with twelve minutes left in the game. He also denied Kevin Du twice in the last six minutes.

Harvard called a timeout with 1:16 to play and pulled goaltender John Daigneau shortly after that, but it was all for naught, as Dutchmen defensemen blocked two shots in the final half-minute.

“We played a very strong third period,” Donato said. “But when you chase from behind, it’s like playing with fire; you are not going to always be able to put it out.”

Down 2-0 in the second period, the Crimson got on the board when Mandes took a pass from freshman Nick Coskren in front of the Union net and shot it in for his fifth goal of the season at 9:47. He was also assisted by sophomore forward Tyler Magura, who forechecked the puck away from a Union player behind the net.

“As soon as we got the first goal, we started going,” Mandes said. “I just wished it happened earlier in the period so we would have the whole twenty minutes to use the momentum off of that goal.”

Less than a minute before, at 9:18, the Dutchmen executed a two-on-one to perfection as Torren Delforte took a pass from Mike Harr and scored to give the Dutchmen a two-goal lead.

Union scored first in the game after beating Harvard to a loose puck at the Crimson end and passing it to the front of the net. Chris Potts put it past Daigneau for his fifth goal of the season.

HARVARD 3, RPI 1

For two periods, Harvard could get nothing past RPI goalie Mathias Lange at Bright.

And then the puck finally bounced the Crimson’s way.

Sophomore forward Dave Watters deflected a shot from defenseman Dylan Reese towards the front of the net. The puck hit Mandes and bounced passed Lange to tie the game at 1-1. The Crimson would add two more goals and finally beat the Engineers, 3-1.

“In the third period, we were at a point where we either had to really up the tempo, or we were in danger of not getting the result we wanted,” Donato said. “I thought the guys really responded, came out and had a great third.”

Mandes’ goal was his fourth of the year and came at 2:28 in the final period.

“It was a set play,” Mandes said. “We just wanted to go to the net. Tyler Magura won it back to Reese. He walked the blue line, put one [on] net, got it through. It tipped off of Watters and then hit me in the arm or the butt or something. Then it went in.”

Dan Murphy scored his team-leading tenth goal of the season at 7:25 in the third when he skated into the RPI zone and fired a shot past Lange as he was being dragged down.

Charlie Johnson finished the scoring for the Crimson when he took a pass from Kevin Du through the crease and poked it in.

Johnson’s fourth goal of the season came at 9:36 of the final period, with Harvard on a two-man advantage.

John Daigneau stopped 19 of 20 shots for the Crimson.

The first period had Harvard on the offensive for most of the time, but the Engineers matched the Crimson shot-for-shot and took the lead on a power play goal at 18:07.

Defenseman Jake Luthi shot from just inside the blue line and beat Daigneau for his first goal of the season.

The second period featured only nine shots combined, with RPI outshooting Harvard 5-4.

The game was the Crimson’s first since a 3-2 loss to the same Engineers team on January 7.

“I was happy with the way we responded,” Donato said. “Coming off the break, with two and a half practices with a full team, we were happy that we were able to get better as the game went on.”

—Staff writer Ted Kirby can be reached at tjkirby@fas.harvard.edu.