NOTEBOOK: Goalie Richter Earns Historic Score on Standout Weekend

How well are things going for sophomore goaltender Kyle Richter right now? Put it this way: technically, had Richter been the only Harvard player to suit up on Friday night against Yale, the Crimson still might have had a shot at a win.

In his most well-rounded performance of the season, Richter stopped 37 Bulldog shots and surrendered just one goal—a loss he was able to recoup all on his own in the second period. As the last Harvard player to touch the puck on a Yale own goal, Richter was credited with the score, the first netminder in Crimson history to receive such an honor.

“That was awesome—I’ve never seen that before,” co-captain Mike Taylor said, adding, “I guess that kind of shows the bounces were going our way tonight.”

“It’s obviously exciting for me,” said a laughing Richter. “Kind of a funny play, a blooper play, but hey, I’ll take it. It’s just one of those things, I guess, I didn’t really have to do any work for it.”

It wasn’t all offensive fireworks from Richter, however, as he also provided some pretty solid goaltending, especially as the Harvard penalties mounted in the second frame. As the Bulldogs enjoyed four power-play opportunities, they mounted 24 second-period shots on Richter, but were able to connect on only one.

“We got into a little bit of penalty trouble there in the second,” Richter said. “They’ve got some good players on that top line, and they were able to get some shots through.”

Richter’s wild second period was marked by two bizarre plays. The first came during a Yale 5-on-3, a nearly two-minute sequence during which the Bulldogs unleashed seven shots but never found the back of the net, thanks to an impressive series of saves from the sophomore.

After Richter stopped one Yale offering with his face, the buckles on his mask flew apart, forcing him to remove the helmet.

The officials, however, allowed play to continue for a few seconds as Yale regained the puck and prepared for another try at the now-significantly underprotected Harvard goaltender.

“They didn’t [notice],” Richter said. “I started yelling at them...because [the Bulldogs] were getting the puck there, it was like, ‘Oh my god, blow the whistle!’”

Just a couple of minutes later, Richter made what he thought was an impressive glove save, freezing his glove in midair in order to frame it.

The puck, however, had not in fact remained in his glove, and was instead perched precariously on the goal line for a few agonizing seconds until sophomore defenseman Alex Biega arrived to clear it.

“Our guys did a great job letting me see the pucks and clearing the rebounds when I needed the help,” Richter said.

With a little help from his blueliners, Richter survived the frenetic second frame largely unscathed, one of the highlights of his resurgent second half of the season. Richter has surrendered just six goals in the Crimson’s last four league games, powering his team to a perfect record in those crucial ECAC contests.

“I don’t know if anything’s really changed,” Richter said of his recent performance. “As a team, we’ve really come together...the guys are doing a great job battling, taking sticks away, and really pushing the guys out so I can see the puck, so that definitely helps.”

TWO-MINUTE MINORS

Harvard’s three power-play goals, a season high, came against a Yale penalty kill that entered the game ranked No. 1 in the nation...on the heels of sophomore Doug Rogers’ hat trick Feb. 15 against Princeton, another Crimson attacker had a standout night, as senior Jon Pelle’s two goals and an assist earned him a total of three points...Yale’s Jean-Francois Boucher and Ryan Donald were responsible for 29 penalty minutes between them...On a team-wide fight near the end of the third period, a total of 20 penalty minutes were assessed by the officials.

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