‘Sense of Urgency’ Leads to Key Win

The Harvard men’s hockey team overcame a lackluster second period to earn a 3-2 comeback win over St. Lawrence on Saturday night at Bright Hockey Center. The victory saved the Crimson from elimination, tying the best-of-three ECAC quarterfinal playoff series at one and forcing a decisive third game yesterday.

After appearing flat against the Saints in the series opening loss on Friday night, Harvard came out Saturday with an air of determination, applying steady offensive pressure during the first period.

“That first period was key,” said defenseman and captain Peter Hafner. “The first 10 minutes we really were on them pretty hard and kind of sent a message for this game.”

The effort paid off when the St. Lawrence defense finally gave way with nine minutes remaining in the period. Senior defenseman Tom Walsh received the puck at the blue line and fired a seeing-eye shot that made it through traffic and past Saints goaltender Justin Pesony untouched, giving the Crimson a 1-0 lead.

Despite ending the period with a 17-5 advantage in shots, the tide seemed to change for Harvard when sophomore forward Jon Pelle was whistled for roughing as the period ended.

“I wasn’t particularly pleased with the penalty at the 20-minute mark,” said Crimson coach Ted Donato ’91. “[It] puts them on the power play with a fresh sheet of ice, and in big games like this...you can’t afford to give teams like that an easy opportunity.”

St. Lawrence took full advantage, breaking through 51 seconds into the second period when Saints defenseman Mike Madill found center Chase Trull by the left post. With Harvard goaltender John Daigneau still shifted to the left, Trull sent the puck into the right side of the net.

The early goal seemed to set the tone for the period. It was St. Lawrence’s turn to apply the pressure, finding the back of the net again at 13:06 when Madill, firing from the top of the right circle, banked a shot off of the left post and past Daigneau for the 2-1 lead.

The shot totals once again told the story, as the Saints ended the period with 14 to Harvard’s three.

“I think they just started winning all the races to pucks and won the one-on-one battles,” Donato said. “It hasn’t been a series to this point of great Xs and Os—it’s really been just one team for certain periods of time takes over and carries the playing.”

Just 20 minutes from elimination, Harvard once again stepped up the offense in the third period.

“We knew we had our backs to the wall, so there was a lot of desperation and definitely a sense of urgency in the locker room,” sophomore forward Dave Watters said. “We knew what we had to do in the third period.”

Fifty-nine seconds in, junior winger Ryan Maki attempted a shot from the bottom of the left circle after swinging around from the end boards. Despite being almost parallel to the goal-line, Maki somehow managed to find the right side of the net.

“That was just a great individual effort,” said Donato of the goal. “It was nice to see [Maki] get rewarded for all his hard work with a big goal like that.”

The Crimson finally took the lead at 17:34, thanks in part to a fortuitous bounce. Junior defenseman Dylan Reese’s shot caromed off of St. Lawrence forward Mike Zbriger and soared into the air, coming to rest in the slot, where Watters was waiting.

“I just happened to be standing there, so I just kind of turned around and fired it on the net,” Watters said.

Watters easily netted the loose puck, giving Harvard a 3-2 lead it would hold onto for the remainder of the game and ensuring that the Crimson would host game three yesterday.

­—Staff writer Daniel J. Rubin-Wills can be reached at drubin@fas.harvard.edu.