Heartbreak in Ithaca

ITHACA, N.Y.—After enduring jeers, taunts, and a barrage of dead fish and newspapers courtesy of the Lynah Rink faithful, the Harvard men’s hockey team suffered one final indignity, squandering a 2-1 third-period lead and losing 3-2 to Cornell in Ithaca.

“We’re disappointed, we’re frustrated—we thought we carried the play for a lot of the game,” Crimson coach Ted Donato ’91 said of the loss, adding, “I’m pretty ticked off that we weren’t able to come away with a victory here.”

Just a few minutes after the opening faceoff, a delayed penalty on Harvard allowed the Big Red (5-0, 2-0 ECAC) to jump out to an early lead. With goalie Troy Davenport pulled for an extra skater and the Crimson (1-4, 0-4 ECAC) unable to touch the puck and begin serving its sentence, Cornell’s Taylor Davenport was able to net a rebound after freshman Kyle Richter stopped a shot from the blue line, putting the Big Red up 1-0 at 2:09.

Two minutes later, Harvard capitalized on a man-advantage opportunity of its own after Cornell’s Tyler Mugford was whistled for hitting from behind. Junior forward Jon Pelle set up in the left corner and managed to deliver a cross to the right goalpost, where captain Dylan Reese one-timed it past the crease to knot the score at one.

“I thought we worked extremely hard and made a lot of good plays,” Donato said. “The difference in the game was what we gave up, not what we got, because we got a lot, we got enough to win a hockey game.”

Two Big Red penalties late in the period gave the Crimson an ideal opportunity to break the tie, but the Harvard was unable to take advantage. The Crimson enjoyed 1:23 of 5-on-3 play, but an effective Cornell penalty kill, combined with some errant Harvard passes, ensured that the period would end in a deadlock.

After the Big Red’s impressive defensive showing at the end of the first frame, Harvard responded by tightening its defense in the second. With the offense utilizing an aggressive forecheck and the defense putting itself in position to block many of Cornell’s shots, just two offerings made their way to Richter for the duration of the period.

“They played very well defensively,” said Big Red coach Mike Schafer. “We didn’t get that many chances.”

Despite the effective defense, the offense was unable to find a way past Troy Davenport, who came up with key saves on tough shots from freshman Jimmy Fraser, senior Ryan Maki, and sophomore Brian McCafferty, preventing Harvard from taking a lead.

“We had some quality chances...to get that second goal,” Donato said. “But we weren’t able to cash in.”

The Crimson finally went ahead at 11:28 in the third, when freshman Chad Morin sent a pass from the top of the right circle to senior Kevin Du, who was perched at the left post and one-timed it into the net.

“Chad Morin made a great, great play to me at the back door,” Du said. “It was a beautiful pass from him.”

With only a few minutes remaining, however, Harvard was unable to close out the Big Red. Cornell’s Doug Krantz got open near the blue line and elected to take a long-distance shot, which found its way past Richter and erased the Crimson’s lead at 15:51.

Although Harvard applied some pressure on a power play and appeared ready to reclaim the lead, the Big Red responded as soon as it returned to full strength. After Cornell successfully withstood the Crimson pressure during the man-advantage opportunity, center Michael Kennedy took the puck the other way for a breakaway, faking right before depositing the puck in the left side of the net for the game-winning score.

Donato pulled Richter with just under a minute left in a last-ditch effort to tie the score, but a tripping penalty on Fraser negated the advantage, allowing Cornell to skate off with the win.

“It’s extremely disappointing,” Donato said of the loss. “Games that we need to find a way how to win, we found a way to lose.”

Despite his disappointment, however, Donato expressed hope that his team would learn from the successes it had seen before allowing the lead to slip away.

“I thought our guys showed signs for about 55 minutes of being an extremely tough team to play against,” Donato said. “I have the utmost confidence that this group will be around when the dust settles towards the end of the season.

—Staff writer Daniel J. Rubin-Wills can be reached at drubin@fas.harvard.edu.