In Opener, Crimson Comes Out Flat

For the Harvard men’s hockey team, there had been rest for the weary before the ECAC quarterfinals. The Crimson had a two-week break to regain its health and strength before facing off against St. Lawrence on Friday night in the first contest of a best-of-three series.

But long before Harvard goalie John Daigneau was taken off the ice with the Crimson down 4-1 late in the third period and the game all but over, it was obvious that rest didn’t play a factor.

Harvard stepped out of the locker room and could not match the energy and focus of the Saints, who won by a 5-1 final.

“You can call it rust, but I think we didn’t come out and have the work ethic we needed,” Crimson captain Peter Hafner said. “For one reason or another, they seemed to want it more in the first period. I was pretty much shocked with the way we came out at the start of that game. Frankly, it was embarrassing the way we came out and started that game.”

After struggling through a tough, three-game series victory over Brown last weekend, St. Lawrence came out fast and furious on the ice at Bright Hockey Center.

The Saints outshot Harvard 13-4 in the first period and built a two-goal lead that the Crimson never challenged.

“Arguably, the rest should have made us a little stronger and a little bit quicker tonight, but there was no doubt that they were on their routine.” Harvard coach Ted Donato ’91 said. “In my estimation, it wasn’t the Xs and Os scenario after the first period, it was more of a willingness to compete—we lost battles on the puck, we lost races to the puck, and we didn’t look like we were ready to play nor ready to compete.”

“After one, there was a lot of yelling in the locker room,” Hafner said. “We were lucky to be down 2-0. We were losing every single battle.”

St. Lawrence star T. J. Tevelyan never quite got going, but his teammates—especially freshman Kevin DeVergilio—picked up the slack.

DeVergilio created a chance almost single-handedly just four-and-a-half minutes into the contest. While on the power play, he received the puck from Zach Miskovic on the right just past the blue line and then deked past a Harvard defender.

Once in the center, he had an open lane, and his quick wrist-shot deflected off a post and into the net behind Daigneau.

DeVergilio also added another goal to put the Saints up 3-0 at the start of the third period.

“We knew coming in that he was a shifty forward and that he could score,” Hafner said.

Despite a slow start and an early deficit, the Crimson did not give up on early. Harvard began the second period with a barrage on St. Lawrence goaltender Justin Pesony.

The Crimson put five chances on net before the Saints even managed to get their first shot almost eight minutes into the frame.

“In the second period, I thought we came out—and in my mind—carried the play,” Donato said.

“[The Saints] were able to hang in there and come back....When you play good teams, it’s tough to play from behind and you can’t expect to be on the wining side when there are 20 minutes where you are not prepared to play,” he added.

The momentum carried on into the final frame of play, when 19 shots and the lone Crimson goal gave the Harvard faithful at Bright a little bit of hope.

At 10:37 of the period, junior winger Ryan Maki capitalized on a chaotic scramble in front of the St. Lawrence net—one of many that the Crimson generated in the final two-thirds of the contest—to knock a bouncing puck into the upper part of the net for the goal.

Less than three minutes later, the Saints iced the game and sent many of the 1,933 people in attendance home with a goal from Kyle Rank. Rank finished the contest with the one goal and three assists, one of his best lines this season.

The victory for St. Lawrence marks just the second time it has beaten the Crimson in five years—with Harvard now 11-2-2 against the Saints since 2001—and it snapped a five-game losing streak to the Crimson.

—Staff writer Gabriel M. Velez can be reached at gmvelez@fas.harvard.edu.