Harvard Falls to Ivy Foe Again

The Harvard men’s hockey team had a chance for retribution against Brown at the Bright Hockey Center last night.

In the first round of the ECAC playoffs last year, Brown (2-7-1, 1-4-1 ECAC) ended the season for Harvard (1-7-2, 1-5-2) with two shut-out wins, a brutal loss for the favored Crimson.

In what might be called the battle of the bottom dwellers—both came into the match with just one win in 12 games combined in-league—the Bears escaped once again last night, winning 4-1 after netting two empty net goals in the last 45 seconds of the game. Though Harvard outshot Brown 43-33, Bears goalie Michael Clemente kept the visitors in the game, denying the Crimson on several threatening shot attempts and extending the home team’s winless streak to nine games.

“We have to find more ways to get pucks through, more ways to create second and third chances for ourselves by hitting the net,” Harvard Coach Ted Donato ’91 said. “Overall I was happy with the way our team worked. We came to play and we battled, but we didn’t get rewarded.”

Ten minutes in, Harvard was on its first power play, but couldn’t convert on either of its two opportunities—one went just wide of the net, the other was stopped by the pad of the goaltender.

Sophomore Jarred Smith then gave Brown the edge, scoring with two minutes left in the first period, with an assist from senior Jordan Pietrus.

At 2:15 into the second period, Brown blueliner Jeff Buvinow scored a powerplay goal, trapping the puck with his skate and sending a wrist shot into the top right shelf past the glove of Crimson junior goaltender Kyle Richter.

On the other side, opportunity after opportunity passed Harvard by. Senior Doug Rogers, straight off the bench on a line change, found the puck on his stick, slotted it over to a teammate on the right side of the net, but Harvard couldn’t finish.

But, Harvard inched back with a goal by freshman Conor Morrison at 13:15. Scoring his sixth goal in the last week—this time with an assist from sophomore Daniel Moriarty and Rogers—the recently named ECAC Rookie of the Week is pacing the Crimson’s offense at this point in the season.

Just when Harvard looked to take momentum into the third period, though, a five minute major penalty was called on freshman Alex Fallstrom for hitting from the back.

“We shot ourselves in the foot with a couple penalties here and there,” Donato said. “Certainly the five minute one took our chance for momentum.”

Although Brown didn’t convert on the penalty, the Crimson was forced to play more defensively and could not score in that time. In the third period, Harvard kept the pressure on and had a chance to earn the game-tying goal with one minute left when Brown defender Sean McMonagle was called for interference.

But the powerplay never got set up like the Crimson had hoped, and Brown scored two empty net goals, taking a full-on lead and dashing any aspirations of a comeback.

“The attitude and confidence level is really down and it’s hard to get individuals to really play with the amount of confidence that they should have, and to do that collectively as a team,” senior Alex Biega said. “But we just have to keep working and dig a little deeper.”

Brown goaltender Clemente had another stand-out performance, recording 42 saves, Clemente is the major reason why Harvard has struggled against the Bears for the last two years. Harvard went 0-2-2 against Brown last year, and in two play-out games, the then-freshman posted shutouts at Bright.

“Their goalie has been sensational,” Donato said. “I think he made three saves in the first period that were almost sure goals. I thought we had a solid five or six grade A opportunities. I give him credit. It happens, but obviously for us right now its frustrating.”

“Its tough to believe in what you’re trying to do when you don’t taste success,” Denato continued. “We are certainly frustrated, but in no way defeated.”