Men’s Hockey Downed in Second Edition of Rivalry On Ice

NEW YORK — The first time Ted Donato ’91 squared off against Yale away from the Bright-Landry Hockey Center as head coach of the Harvard men’s ice hockey team, he led the Crimson past its conference rival.

But nearly a decade removed from that 2005 result, Harvard (10-2-2, 6-1-2 ECAC) has yet to reproduce the same feat.

With a chance to end an 11-game winless streak away from home against the No. 19/- Bulldogs (9-4-2, 4-3-1) under the bright lights of Madison Square Garden Saturday, the No. 3/3 Crimson fell short, 4-1.

“We just looked like a team that wasn’t in sync, didn’t put [forth] a lot of energy, [and] didn’t execute very well,” Donato said. “I thought [Yale] outcompeted us, outskated us, outcoached us—you name it.”

The second edition of the Rivalry on Ice looked a lot like the inaugural game last January, when the Bulldogs emerged from the Big Apple with a 5-1 win. But unlike last season, instead of coming in with just five wins in 16 games, Harvard entered the game atop the Pairwise rankings having won its last seven contests.

But after surrendering multiple first-period goals for just the second time all season and then a third minutes into the second, the Crimson dug itself a hole it could not get out of.

“We got outplayed in the first period pretty badly, and that’s going to happen over time,” Donato said. “We were on the verge there [of coming back], but we never really got the game turned in our direction.”

Yale broke open the scoring 13:22 into the game. A foot from the boards, Bulldog defenseman Adam Larkin fired a shot at Harvard goaltender Steve Michalek, which ricocheted to sophomore forward Chris Izmirlian in the slot. From there, Izmirlian rocketed the puck on net, beating Michalek to put the Bulldogs on top.

Three minutes later, Yale struck again.

Streaking up the ice, junior center Carson Cooper launched a shot to Michalek’s left, pulling the netminder out of position. The puck sailed wide of the net, but one bounce later, it was on the stick of junior forward Cody Learned on the doorstep.

Nonetheless, Learned would be denied, as Michalek dove to his right, extending his left arm across the crease to stop the junior—one of his 38 saves on the night.

But with Michalek sprawled out on all fours, the puck squirted out to junior forward Charles Orzetti, who cleaned up the mess.

However, the goal would not come without controversy. After a brief conversation, the officials waved off the goal, determining that Cooper had beat the puck past the blue line when entering the zone. But after going to the replay booth, the officials overturned the offsides call, extending the Crimson deficit to two.

“Personally, I thought they got it wrong,” said Donato in reference to the call. “But for us, we have to be able to stop the bleeding and get back to doing the things we need to do to get the game turned around in our direction.”

Harvard had been in a similar hole before, having surrendered multiple goals in the first period and trailing at the break—both season firsts—in what proved to be a win over Rensselaer two weeks prior. But this time, the Crimson could not climb out.

Following a third goal for the Bulldogs courtesy of senior forward Matt Killian, Harvard got its only goal of the night 4:42 into the second period, after junior co-captain Kyle Criscuolo delivered a pass to junior forward Jimmy Vesey in stride.

Catching the puck just outside the crease, the junior deked his way past Yale goaltender Alex Lyon, moving his way from left to right to tap in his 11th goal of the season. Vesey has now recorded at least a point in all 14 of Harvard’s games.

“After the first period, I knew we had to have some sort of response,” Vesey said. “Unfortunately they scored at the start of the second to make it 3-0. But I thought that goal to put it back to a two-goal margin was big.”

Having cut its deficit to 3-1, the Crimson had a chance to gain some momentum minutes later after a hooking penalty left Yale shorthanded. But on a night when Harvard came up empty on three power play opportunities, the Crimson failed to register a shot.

The Bulldogs put a cap on the night three minutes into the final frame, as defenseman Mitch Witek took advantage of a screen in front of the net to score his first goal of the season from the point. Yale finished the game with 42 shots, doubling Harvard's total of 21.

Although the game does not count towards the conference standings, Yale improves to 8-0-1 in its last nine matchups against the Crimson with the win. The last victory for Harvard against its Ivy League rival came back in March of 2012.

“If we want to be successful come March [and] April in the tournament, we’re going to have to play on big stages,” Vesey said. “This was a good learning curve for us.”

—Staff writer Jake Meagher can be reached at jmeagher@college.harvard.edu.