NOTEBOOK: Harvard Cannot Capitalize on Chances

Judging by the box score alone, it looks like the Harvard men’s hockey team had a fighting chance against the Fighting Sioux.

The Crimson out-shot North Dakota 40-37 overall and maintained a 21-12 shot advantage in the second period, giving every indication that Harvard held the edge in Friday night’s game.

But appearances can be deceiving, as those numbers came on the losing end of a 10-1 blowout and the Crimson’s fifth winless game, highlighting Harvard’s ongoing problem of converting its scoring opportunities into goals.

“They beat us in every aspect of the game—5-on-5, goaltending, coaching,” said Crimson coach Ted Donato ’91. “They outplayed us.”

The Crimson had a number of solid chances, particularly in the middle frame, but was unable to turn those into points.

Harvard’s best opportunity came when two UND skaters were sent to the box 5:35 into the second period, giving the Crimson two full minutes with a 5-on-3 advantage. But Fighting Sioux netminder Brad Eidsness stopped all eight Harvard shots during the power play, limiting the Crimson to its lone goal for the night.

When Harvard’s offensive failures were coupled with a defensive breakdown at the net, it created a recipe for disaster for the Crimson. Freshman goaltender Matt Hoyle has been a stronghold in the crease despite his rookie status, ranking No. 16 in the country with a .929 save percentage.

But it just wasn’t his night against the Fighting Sioux, as North Dakota pummeled the net with shots from start to finish.

“[North Dakota] is a very talented team that has got off to a bit of a rough start and hasn’t had a great deal of luck scoring goals,” Donato said. “They were hungry tonight, and I think they executed.”

“In fairness to Matt [Hoyle], we were giving up all sorts of chances,” Donato added. “[Goaltending] is way down the list of issues that we had with the game.”

LET MY PEOPLE GO

For the first two periods, the Crimson overcame another recent problem—racking up too many unnecessary penalties—by staying out of the penalty box, except for three two-minute infractions.

But after the Fighting Sioux scored its seventh goal midway through the final frame, Harvard’s discipline disintegrated. Harvard recorded 11 penalties in the third period, including three 10-minute misconduct offenses, for 46 minutes in the box.

“I think they were frustrated,” Donato said. “When [North Dakota] got the first goal in the third, the game was by then more than out of reach.”

As a result of the Crimson infractions, Harvard’s special teams was faced with three back-to-back 5-on-3 power plays, spanning a four-minute interval at the end of the game.

“I think that at that point the game was 8-1, at that point we were just trying to get momentum for the next night,” co-captain Jimmy Fraser said. “The game went too far…at that point in the game the guys were trying to just let North Dakota know that we were going to be coming tomorrow.”

Although the Crimson held a .875 penalty kill percentage upon entering the game, the Fighting Sioux overwhelmed Harvard’s special forces, scoring on each one of the 5-on-3 chances to finish out the game.

After the final goal was tallied, both sides fell to fighting by the net at 16:31, marking the disciplinary low of the night.

“I don’t think we executed really anything that we wanted to do, and we compounded that a little in the second half of the game by taking a lot of penalties,” Donato said. “Obviously they deserve a lot of credit for what happened, but I think that we realized that that wasn’t a really good effort by any means.”

SHOTS ON GOAL

Harvard had not allowed 10 or more goals in a game since a loss against Boston College in 1983...the Crimson has not been shut out in its last 45 games, tying for the nation’s sixth-longest active streak with North Dakota and Bentley...Friday’s game was the first time Harvard has skated against the Fighting Sioux at the Bright Hockey Center...the Crimson currently holds a .500 win percentage in the Ivy League.

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