Overtime Goal Propels Men's Hockey

PROVIDENCE, R.I.—It took an extra few minutes, but the Crimson got it done.

After taking a 1-0 lead in the first period, the Harvard men’s hockey team allowed a late goal to the Bears before putting them away in overtime for a 2-1 victory Friday night in Meehan Auditorium.

Instead of looking lackluster after Brown’s Cory Caouette notched the equalizer with just under six minutes remaining in regulation, the Crimson (12-8-2, 9-7-1 ECAC) came out and played solidly in the extra frame.

Taking advantage of an odd-man rush in the third minute, senior forward Dan Murphy skated into the Brown zone and launched a shot from the right circle.

Bears goaltender Adam D’Alba, who had an outstanding game with 45 saves, made the initial stop at the edge of the crease but couldn’t stop the puck from trickling past him and into the paint.

Murphy seized on the opportunity. At 2:55, he reached around D’Alba and poked the puck into the net at 2:55 as he fell and slid into the boards. The goal, and the win, gave Harvard a much-needed two points in the ECAC standings.

“To leave with a victory tonight, those points are huge for us,” Crimson coach Ted Donato ’91 said.

Harvard drew first blood late in the opening frame when junior winger Ryan Maki tallied a strike at 16:32—the first time the Crimson had scored in the initial period since Dec. 8th in a 1-0 victory at New Hampshire.

Skating in along the right boards, Maki wound up and fired an unexpected slapshot from the blue line that left D’Alba stunned as the puck sailed past his stick and off the left post into the Bears’ net.

“I think I caught myself by surprise, too,” Maki said, adding, “I certainly didn’t pick a corner or anything.”

But almost immediately after Maki put Harvard ahead, captain Peter Hafner took a trip to the sin bin for interference, giving Brown (3-14-5, 2-10-3) a chance to tie.

Though the Bears were not able to convert on the ensuing power play opportunity, Hafner’s infraction was the precursor of several untimely penalties that would hinder the Crimson attack—especially the already ineffective man-advantage unit—and prevent Harvard from finding the back of the net for the remainder of regulation.

“That was the frustrating part,” Donato said. “The optimist in me thinks that we can do so much better if we put those chances away.”

The Crimson received perhaps its best opportunity to extend its lead at the midway point of the second period, when Brown junior center Antonin Roux was ejected from the game for hitting Jon Pelle from behind against the left boards in the Bears’ zone.

But with Brown serving the resulting five-minute major, Harvard shot itself in the foot when sophomore forward Paul Dufault took a hooking penalty less than two minutes later.

The Crimson power play would also fail to score during 1:16 of 5-on-3 time early in the third period, reflecting the struggles of a man-advantage squad that came into the game with a meager .172 conversion percentage and that went 0-for-7 on the night.

Fortunately for Harvard, its strategy of launching volley after volley at the resilient D’Alba eventually paid off when Murphy put away his own rebound to secure the season sweep for the Crimson.

“After the first [period], we threw a lot of pucks on net,” Murphy said. “Sooner or later, one of them was going to get through him.”

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