Final Minutes Prove Downfall

The bad bounces continued for the Harvard men’s hockey team (4-9-2, 4-4-2 ECAC) as it dropped a 5-2 decision to Quinnipiac at the TD Banknorth Garden on Friday night.

“We came back in the third, but I think it’s just an ongoing story,” junior Alex Biega said. “We’re in a little bit of a slump right now. The puck didn’t bounce our way sometimes, but at the end of the game, I think Quinnipiac just capitalized on their opportunities.”

With the score tied at two apiece, a simple swing in momentum turned the tide in the Bobcats’ favor.

“The way they played, we really had to be aware defensively throughout the game,” Biega said. “They were fortunate enough to get some lucky bounces and get some odd man rushes at the end of the game. We really have to limit our mistakes throughout the game—they’re costing us.”

Quinnipiac scored three goals in the last five minutes of the final period to capture and maintain the lead. Jean-Marc Beaudoin scored the game-winner when he snuck around the left post to slip the puck behind freshman goaltender Matt Hoyle with 3:26 remaining.

Just 38 seconds later, David Marshall scored the insurance goal from the right-hand side, and Bryan Leitch made the final score 5-2 when he tallied an empty-net goal. The Crimson faced a formidable opponent in Leitch, who scored twice on the night and currently leads all Division I in scoring with six goals and 23 assists.

“We had a couple [of] defensive breakdowns and unlucky bounces,” Hoyle said. “I personally made a mistake I shouldn’t have made by allowing them to score two goals so close to each other.”

Prior to the Bobcats’ offensive onslaught late in the third period, Harvard kept toe-to-toe with Quinnipiac by responding with a goal of its own whenever falling behind. Back-and-forth play characterized much of the first period, and it wasn’t until Beaudoin scored at 8:55 to give the Bobcats the lead that the real action of the match began.

The Crimson responded with a tally of its own a mere three minutes later when senior defenseman Nick Coskren tipped the puck into the net to tie the game up at 1-1 after a shot on goal from junior defenseman Alex Biega was deflected by Quinnipiac netminder Bud Fisher.

“[This game] was a step forward for the team collectively,” Biega said. “When things got tough, we stayed with them. We tried to score goals that way.”

The Bobcat offensive unit took over in the second period, out-shooting Harvard, 15-8. The effort paid off about halfway into the second period. Quinnipiac capitalized on a 5-on-3 man advantage when Leitch fired a wrist shot from the right circle to beat Hoyle and take a 2-1 lead.

Biega tied the game up again about five minutes into the last period when he deflected a shot on goal by freshman forward Colin Moore into the net. Biega now leads Harvard scoring with five goals on the season.

“Some of the forwards had a break in the zone, and we were talking all week about just putting the puck on net and making things happen,” Biega said. “I just stuck my stick in there. That was a prime example of what happens when you put the puck on net. I would give all the credit to [Moore].”

Despite the third period tally, Harvard could not match the Bobcats’ late offensive explosion, as Quinnipiac fired 14 shots and scored three goals in the final period. The loss to the Bobcats marked the ninth game in a row without a victory for the Crimson.

“We started off really slow last year with almost the same record, but we came together as a team,” Biega said. “We’re taking the appropriate steps forward to make us a winning team again.”

—Staff writer Lucy D. Chen can be reached at lucychen@fas.harvard.edu.