Long Winter’s Rest Ends with ECAC Win

Rust? What rust?

Coming off a 17-day hiatus, the Harvard men’s hockey team netted three consecutive goals and held off a Dartmouth charge to upend the No. 19 Big Green, 3-2, Saturday night at the Bright Hockey Center.

Long touted as a goalscorer, junior winger Mike Taylor had a career night, skating with the top power-play unit and registering his first multi-goal game for the Crimson (4-9-0, 3-7-0 ECAC) with man-advantage scores in the first and second periods.

“I’ve always been taught, ‘As long you’re getting chances, that’s good,’” Taylor said. “But it’s been frustrating that the goals haven’t been coming…So the last couple of games have been pretty gratifying in that respect.”

Both Harvard goaltenders saw time in net against Dartmouth (5-4-2, 4-4-2). Senior Justin Tobe started the game but was forced to leave the ice 13:16 into the middle frame due to the lingering effects of an injury suffered in a collision with a Big Green skater at the end of the first period.

Despite having little time to warm up, rookie Kyle Richter played almost 27 minutes and allowed no goals, making several flashy saves in the final minutes of the game to preserve the 3-2 victory for Tobe.

“Justin’s played very well of late and definitely deserved to start,” said Crimson coach Ted Donato ’91, “but we have a lot of confidence in Kyle, too.”

In the second period, Harvard led by as much as three before Dartmouth closed the gap to 3-2.

Though no penalty was called immediately after Tobe was knocked down at the end of the opening frame, the Crimson came back to the ice after the intermission to discover a penalty had been given to the Big Green’s Nick Johnson for hitting after the whistle.

Harvard scored just 44 seconds into the ensuing power play opportunity, when Taylor notched his second man-advantage tally of the game, knocking home a cross-ice feed from senior center Kevin Du.

Just two minutes later, the Crimson earned another power play chance when Dartmouth defenseman Grant Lewis was whistled for a penalty right in front of the Harvard bench. Du earned his second assist in four minutes when he set up freshman pivot Doug Rogers for a score at 4:32, giving the Crimson a 3-0 lead.

“We capitalized on their mistakes,” Taylor said, adding, “We worked hard on the power play and just executed well tonight.”

But Harvard’s three-goal cushion lasted just 20 seconds. The Big Green’s leading scorer, winger David Jones, maneuvered his way down the ice and fired a wrister past Tobe’s glove and off the right post into the net.

The Crimson had a chance to widen the lead with another power play opportunity midway through the frame, but it was Dartmouth that profited instead.

After a pass bounced over the stick of rookie defenseman Alex Biega at the Big Green blue line, Dartmouth forwards Connor Shields and Kevin Swallow raced down the ice on a 2-on-1. When Rogers, the lone man back, pinched on the puck instead of staying with the skater, Shields passed to Swallow for a one-timer that beat Tobe for a shorthanded goal at 11:10.

“[Rogers is] a forward, and it’s a tough read for him,” Donato said, adding, “Hindsight being 20-20, we’d have liked to play it a little differently.”

Dartmouth was disadvantaged just a minute and a half into the game, when blueliner Mike Hartwick earned a major penalty and a game misconduct for knocking over an unsuspecting Ryan Maki in the left corner of Dartmouth’s zone.

The Crimson got on the board at 2:48, when junior winger Jon Pelle fed Taylor at the edge of the crease for a point-blank blast into the left-side netting.

Though Harvard did not score again during the major penalty—thanks to several acrobatic saves by Big Green netminder Mike Devine—the Crimson defense limited Dartmouth’s goal-scoring opportunities and prevented the Big Green from equalizing in the opening frame.

“We came out with good intensity—we were physical. We were able to get off to a good start and play with the lead,” Donato said. “Our guys did a lot of the little things that ensure success, and I’m very happy with our overall effort.”

NOTES

Harvard has not scored an even-strength goal since Nov. 24, when the Crimson netted three 5-on-5 goals to capture a 4-2 victory over then-first-place Quinnipiac….Playing in only his second game of the season, rookie forward Sam Bozoian started on the top line with Du and sophomore Jimmy Fraser. Towards the end of the game, however, Maki often took the ice with the first unit….Sophomore defenseman Brian McCafferty was out with a day-to-day injury. Junior forward Alex Meintel was also left out of the lineup….Midway through the third period, sophomore Nick Coskren was whistled for kneeing, a penalty rarely called by hockey officials….The Crimson doesn’t play another league game until Jan. 5, when Harvard travels to the Capital District to take on Rensselaer.

—Staff writer Karan Lodha can be reached at klodha@fas.harvard.edu.