Harvard's Biega Scores Three But Not Enough Against Bears

Coming into Friday night’s contest with the Brown Bears, Harvard senior forward Michael Biega had only recorded two goals through his team’s first 12 games. Against the Ivy League foe, the senior had a career day, scoring three times to record his second career hat trick—the other coming in 2007, Biega’s freshman year.

But in a game in which goals tended to come in rapid bunches, Biega’s teammates were unable to muster any other offense against the Bears (5-6-4, 3-4-1 ECAC, 2-2-0 Ivy) and the Crimson (3-11-0, 2-9-0, 0-5-0) fell, 4-3.

Harvard lost despite controlling the game early, taking five shots before Brown was able to register one, which came 5:25 into the game.

“They’re a pretty physical team,” co-captain Chris Huxley said. “So we wanted to come out with the same mentality and initiate contact with them.”

But the Crimson was unable to convert those shots into scores, and it was the Bears who earned the game’s first goal 7:21 into the second period. After a slashing penalty on junior Alex Killorn gave the Bears a power play, Brown sophomore Chris Zaires gathered the rebound off a shot by Mark Hourihan and tucked it into the right post before Harvard senior goaltender Ryan Carroll could get over for the game’s first goal.

Just 35 seconds later, Bears junior Bobby Farnham picked up the puck in the slot and sent a one-timer past Carroll to put Brown up 2-0.

“[Carroll] hadn’t played in a little bit, [so] it was good to get him in there,” sophomore forward Marshall Everson said. “He made every save he should have, and he gave us a chance to win.”

Biega then tied the game with two quick scores of his own. The forward took a cross-ice pass from Killorn on the left side and fired a one-timer over Brown freshman goaltender Marco De Filippo’s shoulder to make the score 2-1.

Just over a minute later, on a four-on-four, Biega took a pass from Killorn in the right slot during a two-on-one rush and put the puck past De Filippo to tie up the game. Sophomore—and brother—Danny Biega also assisted Michael’s first two goals.

“[Michael] had a great game,” Huxley said. “He’s one of our most skilled forwards and I think that showed on Friday.”

With just over two minutes remaining in the second period, the Crimson took advantage of a Brown penalty to take the lead on a power play. After junior Eric Kroshus had a shot from the left side of the zone blocked, Biega picked up the puck from the right circle, and, after waiting for De Filippo to commit, fired it past the Bears goalie to give Harvard the 3-2 lead.

“Mike had a big night Friday,” Everson said. “He just found soft areas in the defense, [and] guys were able to get him the puck. When he gets decent chances there’s no doubt about it; he’ll finish every time.”

But it was Brown that would control the final period. The Bears took advantage of a delayed penalty called on Crimson sophomore Brendan Rempel, who hit Brown freshman Garnet Hathaway at center ice. Seven minutes into the frame, with the Bears on a six-on-five advantage after pulling De Filippo, Hathaway made Harvard pay by scoring the game-tying goal.

As occurred multiple times throughout the evening, another score came soon after. Just 19 seconds later, Bears senior Harry Zolnierczyk beat Carroll to net the eventual game-winner.

“That goes back to our mistakes; we can’t commit penalties,” sophomore forward David Valek said. “I think at the beginning of the year we were one of the least penalized teams. I don’t know what’s going on right now.”

Harvard had a man advantage for the final minute-plus, but was unable to tally the tying score and fell for the ninth time in 10 games.

The teams were even in shots on the evening, with both squads taking 35. Biega and senior forward Pier-Olivier Michaud led the Crimson with four attempts each, while Zolnierczyk had six to pace Brown.

“We’re getting off track,” Valek said. “We just need to stick to the game plan, not really shift one way or another, and just keep playing the way we did that got us the lead.”

“I thought we were the better team most of that game,” Everson added. “Just to lose it, to not be able to close it out, is a tough feeling.”

—Staff writer Scott A. Sherman can be reached at ssherman13@college.harvard.edu.