NOTEBOOK: Richter Stymies Cornell Attackers

After last season’s inconsistency in the crease, questions abounded about sophomore goaltender Kyle Richter entering this season. But Richter continued to dispel any lingering doubts with his stellar performance in Friday night’s 2-1 victory against longtime rival Cornell.

“Kyle made some highlight-reel saves again, and I think they really added to our momentum,” co-captain Mike Taylor said.

When the Big Red came alive in the second period, peppering shot after shot on goal, Richter stepped up to the challenge. Although Cornell never relented in its offensive attack, Richter kept the Big Red at bay. From snatching the puck mid-air to diving on it after a skirmish by the net, Richter made some crucial saves in the crease.

Fending off heavy pressure from Cornell and keeping the Crimson in the game, Richter made 12 saves that period and 22 overall.

“He’s come in and really thrown the team on his back,” junior defenseman Brian McCafferty said. “Every time that we go out there this year, we feel like we can beat anybody.”

As an added bonus, Richter notched a victory against his former rival and Cornell sophomore goaltender Ben Scrivens.

“[He’s] another Alberta kid that I played against back in juniors, so it was nice to get a win against him tonight,” Richter said.

CROWDED OUT

As many Crimson fans had already left for New Haven to watch The Game, the Harvard crowd paled in comparison to Cornell’s turnout. With the stands dominated by the Big Red, Cornell’s vocal student section drowned out cheers for the Crimson. Even Harvard’s band was absent, and the Big Red’s band played at full force to make up for the void.

With such a hostile crowd, the Crimson’s home-ice advantage didn’t seem like much. But Harvard had anticipated the lack of support for the Crimson and didn’t lose momentum despite its depleted student section.

“We want to focus on what we’re going to do be successful, not what the outside is going to be like,” said assistant coach Sean McCann ’94. “We just said, ‘Listen. This is our building, we gotta play hard, we gotta go after them, we gotta play our type of game. Let’s not worry about who’s going to be there, what type of noise it is—anything like that. Let’s just go out and play our game.’”

Cornell’s jeers didn’t seem to faze the Crimson, as Harvard dominated most of the game and walked away with the win.

TWO-MINUTE MINORS

Senior defenseman Chris Kelley, who hasn’t played since his rookie year, is out for the season due to a back injury…After the Crimson’s Friday night victory, Harvard coach Ted Donato ’91 was inducted into the Massachusetts Italian American Hall of Fame. He coached part of the game in a tuxedo…One of the linesmen for the Harvard-Cornell game was named Mark Messier. Although the official wasn’t the Hockey Hall of Famer who won six Stanley Cups in a 25-year NHL career, he kept the game running smoothly on the ice...Harvard outshot the Big Red, 35-23.

—Staff writer Courtney D. Skinner can be reached at cskinner@fas.harvard.edu.