Hats Off

After pushing its series to a decisive third game, the No. 12 Harvard men’s hockey team resoundingly defeated the St. Lawrence Saints, 8-4, at the Bright Hockey Center last night to advance to the ECAC semifinals.

Senior Dan Murphy led the Crimson’s attack with a hat trick, and sophomore Dave Watters added two goals. With the win, Harvard took the series from the Saints after dropping a game on Friday and overcoming a third-period deficit Saturday night to escape with a 3-2 victory.

In its highest-scoring game of the season, the Crimson (19-11-2) jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in the first period and never looked back.

Watters began the scoring bonanza with a goal only 25 seconds into the game, and Murphy followed with his first goal of the night only three minutes later.

Harvard continued to push the tempo and control the action for the majority of the first period, taking advantage of the fact that the Saints were playing their sixth game in 10 days.

“It was definitely real important to get that first goal and start well with that first period,” captain Peter Hafner said, adding, “I think the last two nights the first period has really dictated the game...We wanted to concentrate on coming out strong.”

The Crimson tallied a decisive goal at 11:10 of the first period.

After a hooking penalty on Watters at 10:50 left Harvard shorthanded, junior Steve Mandes created a breakaway and rifled a shot at Saints goalie Justin Pesony. Pesony managed to stop the initial shot but did not retain possession of the rebound, which slipped out of his grasp and onto the waiting stick of sophomore Tyler Magura, who slid the puck into the back of the net.

The goal was Harvard’s first shorthanded goal of the season and Magura’s first of his career. It could not have come at a better time—the Saints could do nothing but play a hopeless game of catch-up the rest of the way.

“Well, I think [the shorthanded goal] was huge” head coach Ted Donato said. “Tyler Magura last night had a 2-on-1 and just missed—the goalie made a great save...Defensively he’s huge for us, kills penalties, and it was nice to see him score a big goal and get rewarded for all his hard work. As far as its effect on the game, it gave us a huge boost to turn around a shorthanded situation...definitely a turning point.”

Although St. Lawrence would tally its first goal with less than two minutes left in the period, it was too little, too late for the Saints.

Pesony, who stopped 27 shots but let in eight goals, could not stop the bleeding in the second period. In that frame, he allowed three more goals as the Crimson turned the game into a rout.

The most eye-catching goal of the period came at 9:00, when sophomore Alex Meintel skated along the St. Lawrence goal line and snuck a shot between Pesony’s skate and the right post, catching the goaltender off guard.

Mandes and Murphy notched the other two goals of the period.

Murphy completed his hat trick only 46 seconds into the third period, and with it, appropriately capped an impressive career at Bright Hockey Center.

The senior has played in every game this season and has totaled 16 goals and six assists in the process—good for a total of 22 points, fourth best on the team.

“Dan Murphy had a great game,” Donato said. “He’s had a great year for us. He’s led us in goals. I think it was only fitting that he would have a big game and a hat trick in his final game as a senior here.”

After Watters netted the Crimson’s final goal at 3:24 of the third, the Saints did manage to slip two more goals past Daigneau. But they mattered very little, as Harvard already held a steady advantage.

The success of the Crimson’s balanced attack was evident in the box score. Five different players notched goals, and ten players recorded assists.

The Crimson now turns its focus to the ECAC final weekend, which will begin this Friday at Pepsi Arena in Albany, N.Y.

Harvard will take on Dartmouth, which disposed of Yale in two games this weekend. The Crimson splits its regular season series with the Big Green, 1-1.

Although a league championship would guarantee a bid to the NCAA tournament, the Crimson most likely solidified at least an at-large bid with this weekend’s performance.

—Staff writer Julie R. S. Fogarty can be reached at fogarty2@fas.harvard.edu.