Harvard Bows Out in Beanpot Opener

BOSTON—An early deficit was too much for the Harvard men’s hockey team to overcome last night at the TD Banknorth Garden, as the Crimson (12-9-2, 9-7-1 ECAC) fell to Boston University (16-8-2, 13-6-1 Hockey East) by a score of 5-3 in the first round of the 54th Beanpot tournament.

Boston University will now face Boston College next Monday evening in the final. The Eagles beat Northeastern 5-2 in last night’s first game, and the Huskies will play the Harvard in the early game next week.

In front of 17,565 fans in the arena that the Boston Bruins call home, Harvard could only manage three goals despite outshooting the Terriers 41-26 in the game and 25-6 in the third period.

“I thought we were prepared for this,” captain Peter Hafner said. “We came out strong in the third but it was a story that’s happened to us a lot this year. Just too little, too late.”

Down 4-1 early in the third period, Harvard received a glimmer of hope in the form of a two-man advantage, but a feisty Terrier defense emerged from the Crimson’s shorthanded opportunity unscathed. Just a few minutes later, though, Harvard made the score 4-2 on a goal from sophomore left wing Alex Meintel. The score was 4-3 after a goal from sophomore left wing Dave Watters with 2:21 left, but a Boston University empty netter sealed the deal with six seconds to play. Despite gaining a bit of ground in the final period, the Crimson still found itself playing from behind—something it had to do virtually the entire game.

“We dug ourselves a hole that, unfortunately, we couldn’t dig out of,” Harvard coach Ted Donato ‘91 said. “Catch-up hockey is losing hockey.”

Just 1:23 into the first period, as Harvard tried to clear the puck from its own zone, Boston University’s Kenny Roche stole the puck and hit Bryan Ewing in front of the net for the game’s first score, earning the Terriers a 1-0 lead they would never relinquish.

“I think in the first period you could tell that they were a little more confident of a team,” Hafner said. “But we were still in it.”

One of the highlights of the game came during the first period, when the Terriers’ Chris Higgins received the puck near mid-ice and displayed a few acrobatic moves before skating between two Harvard defenders and notching BU’s second score of the game, just before slamming into the wall behind the goal.

“Obviously, that was an amazing individual effort,” Donato said.

The Terriers had little time to celebrate, however, as the Crimson cut the deficit in half less than three minutes later on a goal from sophomore center Paul Dufault. After receiving a pass from sophomore right wing Jon Pelle in front of the blue line, Dufault found a tough angle awaiting him—but not too tough to give Harvard its first score of the game.

“Our guys were in the right frame of mind coming into this game,” Donato said. “All the teams in this tournament can win.”

The first 20 minutes saw the Crimson outshoot Boston University in a period where Harvard won the shot battle, 12-8. The puck spent a large portion of its time in both teams’ zones, as each struggled with clearing opportunities. A number of Crimson goalie John Daigneau’s six saves were made on shots right in front of the net, as the Terriers continually applied pressure on the senior goaltender.

“I thought our guys, right to the last second, were headstrong,” Donato said. “We just needed to stay on top of our gameplan.”

The second period began slowly in the way of big highlights, until sophomore David MacDonald took a huge check into the BU bench six minutes into the second frame. Although MacDonald appeared unfazed, the Terriers’ aggressive play throughout the period did seem to crack the Harvard psyche.

A potential scoring opportunity for the Crimson never materialized when junior defenseman Dylan Reese was unable to handle a set-up pass in the middle of the Boston University zone with just over eight minutes to go in the period. What did materialize, however, was a power-play goal from Terrier Brad Zancanaro after a Pelle penalty for hooking 52 seconds earlier. The goal made the score 3-1, and it was less than three minutes later when Boston University upped its advantage to 4-1 on a goal from Kevin Schaefer. The score was aided by a Terrier two-man advantage after penalties by junior winger Ryan Maki and freshman defenseman Jack Christian. The play was reviewed, but it was determined that a Boston University player’s skate in the crease did not affect the goal.

“It’s a quick judgment for the official,” Donato said. “I do think that it was goaltender interference. It’s something that should have been noticed.”

It was the Harvard penalties as well as fact that the Terriers continued to pressure Daigneau—Boston University outshot the Crimson 12-4 in the second period—that led to the cushion heading into the final frame.

The loss means that Harvard hasn’t won a game in the first round of the Beanpot since 1998—but Donato credits this year’s defeat to the opponent.

“From the net out, they played a very smart, very solid game,” Donato said. “They deserved to win.”

—Staff writer Malcom A. Glenn can be reached at mglenn@fas.harvard.edu.