Thrilling Third Leads to Road Draw

Freshman Michael Biega seized the spotlight with hat-trick heroics against Yale in New Haven last night. Putting up his first three career goals, the forward took care of the Harvard men’s hockey team’s half of a balanced final score at 3-3.

With less than two minutes remaining in the 3rd period and the score leaning in favor of the Crimson 3-2, The Bulldogs (3-3-3, 2-2-3 ECAC), desperate to score, chanced an empty net by subbing in an extra attacker. Their guile was rewarded when Yale forward Denny Kearney forced overtime with his 6-on-5 goal.

A scoreless overtime, in which Harvard (5-2-1, 4-2-1) was shotless, stood in stark contrast to the eventful third period. The Bulldogs posted all three of their goals in the final frame, a painful period for the Crimson’s nation-best scoring defense that headed into the game having surrendered seven goals in seven games, only three at even-strength.

Sophomore goaltender Kyle Richter entered the third period with a lights-out, nation-best save percentage of .968 and goals against average of 0.99, but saw his statistics take a hit as Yale lit the lamp three times. In the tying effort, he was forced to work overtime, as Yale outshot Harvard 36-26.

“He played a great game he kept us in it the whole time, and he’s been amazing the whole season.” Biega said, “He didn’t make any mistakes tonight. We’re always definitely counting on him.”

Both teams skated through a scoreless first period, with the Bulldogs failing to capitalize on two power plays; not surprising, as the Crimson is ranked 13th in the nation in penalty killing. Partly owing to the man-advantage opportunities, Yale outshot Harvard 14-7 in the first frame.

“We saw our power plays coming together.” Biega said, “We’ve been working on it to a lot. We played our power plays well.”

With eight of the season’s 18 goals scored by blueliners, the Crimson had been waiting for a forward who could produce. 4:47 into the second period, Biega introduced himself with a backhanded shot into the net as he skated across the goal. The assist came from junior Nick Coskren.

“Catczak passed the puck over on a pretty much breakaway and I just backhanded it in.” Biega said.

Though the Bulldogs maintained steady possession and enjoyed a power play in the last 10 minutes of the 2nd half, the Crimson held the lead, thanks to outstanding saves by Richter, including one glove-grab after leading Yale scorer Mark Arcobello took a shot after Richter had dived out of the net to make another save.

80 seconds in, the Bulldogs set the tone for the goal-heavy third period when Will Engasser knocked in Mike Catczak’s shot on the rebound.

Harvard nailed the nation’s best penalty kill—Yale had killed 33 of 34 power plays—to take the lead again at 9:20 as the Biega brothers put together the Crimson’s second goal on the night. Michael connected with sophomore defenseman Alex Biega’s deflected shot for his second career goal.

“I played with my brother my whole life. It’s pretty awesome.” Biega said, “We know where we like the puck and where to pass it to each other. We basically know where each other are. It helps playing with each other.”

Less than a minute later, Arcobello erased the advantage with a goal shot from the left circle. At 15:05, Michael Biega put the finishing touches on his hat trick when he scooped up a loose puck and found the net.

This weekend, the Crimson will face another Ivy rival, hosting Dartmouth on Saturday.