SEASON RECAP: Midseason Surge Falls Short Late

The Harvard men’s hockey team had trouble finding its rhythm during the 2009-10 season.

Despite encouraging efforts in January, the Crimson (9-21-3, 7-12-3 ECAC) finished the ECAC regular season in ninth place. In the ECAC playoffs, Harvard swept Princeton in the first round before falling to Cornell in the quarterfinals.

“It wasn’t the season that we hoped for,” captain Alex Biega said. “We definitely had a very skilled team and close team. However, it really didn’t translate on the ice for us.”

The Crimson began the year with a 5-3 win over Dartmouth, but Harvard could not build on the victory, and the squad endured an 0-8-2 skid over the next 10 games.

The disappointing stretch featured several third-period breakdowns.

Against Colgate on Nov. 6, Cornell on Nov. 7, and Clarkson on Nov. 21, the Crimson relinquished leads by giving up multiple goals in the final frame. Over the course of the season, Harvard was outscored, 51-32, in the third period and overtime.

“I think we had a bad start [to the season] and dug ourselves a hole,” Biega said. “What happened was it was very hard to get out of that hole. It was difficult to play with the confidence we needed to.”

After a 20-day break in December, Harvard returned to the ice reenergized. The Crimson reeled off four ECAC wins in a row over then-No. 8 Quinnipiac, then-No. 5 Yale, Dartmouth, and then-No. 13 Union.

During the four-game ECAC winning streak, Harvard allowed just five goals. Junior goaltender Kyle Richter had a 36-save performance in the 3-1 defeat of Quinnipiac, and classmate Ryan Carroll registered 47 saves in the 4-1 win over Union. Carroll and Richter finished the year with goals against averages of 2.87 and 3.30, respectively.

“I think a lot of times the camaraderie within the system was high,” Biega said. “[In January], I think we were really rolling on some confidence.”

The Crimson’s 3-2 victory over Yale on Jan. 12 was the team’s most impressive regular-season effort. The Bulldogs went on to win the ECAC regular-season title and earned a bid to the NCAA tournament, in which they lost to eventual national champion Boston College.

“[It was] probably one of our most complete games...our guys have battled and I think they got rewarded,” said Harvard coach Ted Donato ’91 on Jan. 12.

Against Yale, the Crimson benefited from a two-goal performance by freshman Louis Leblanc.

The first-year forward led Harvard with 11 goals and 23 points for the year. Junior Michael Biega paced the team with 15 assists.

Although the Crimson seemed to find its stride in the ECAC, Harvard took a step back in the 2010 Beanpot.

In the first round against Boston College, the Crimson committed 17 penalties and suffered a 6-0 defeat. In the consolation round, Northeastern bested Harvard, 4-1.

“It’s obviously very disappointing to our team, especially on such a great national stage,” Biega said of the loss to BC on Feb. 2. “I think, quite simply, we just got outplayed by the better team tonight.”

Harvard could not rebound from its Beanpot struggles and finished in ninth place in the ECAC after losing its final four league games.

In the ECAC playoffs, the Crimson traveled to Princeton and upset the Tigers in the first round. Harvard earned a series sweep with 4-2 and 3-0 victories.

In the ECAC quarterfinals, Cornell put an end to the Crimson’s season. The Big Red swept Harvard, winning, 5-1 and 3-0.

“We’re all pretty disappointed in the season we had,” senior forward Doug Rogers said after the Cornell series on Mar. 16. “We played well against Princeton and played hard against Cornell, and in the end that’s really all you can control.”

Sophomore Alex Killorn, who finished third on the team with 20 points, seconded Rogers’ comments.

“The season overall was a little bit of a disappointment at the end,” Killorn said. “Looking forward, I think we have a great core group of guys to do something special next year.”

Six Crimson seniors—captain Alex Biega, Jack Christian, Chad Morin, John Riley, Rogers, and Ian Tallett—finished their college careers in 2010.

“They’re just great leaders and great individuals,” Biega said of the senior class. “Even though it didn’t translate to trophies, just being in the setting of Harvard hockey is unbelievable, and I cherish it every day.”

—Staff writer Jake I. Fisher can be reached at jifisher@fas.harvard.edu.