NOTEBOOK: Men's Hockey Falls to Yale in New York

The Harvard men’s hockey team has encountered success this season that the program has not seen for a long time, climbing the ranks to No. 3/3 in the country with marquee victories over UMass-Lowell and Boston University.

But under the bright lights of Madison Square Garden against its most bitter rival, the Crimson found few positives, as its red-hot seven-game winning streak came to a screeching halt.

Two first period goals by No. 19/- Yale set the tone for the remainder of the night. Harvard was unable to register any form of consistent offense, as Yale stifled the Crimson attack in front of the predominantly pro-Bulldog crowd, defeating its archrival handily, 4-1.

“Obviously, we’re frustrated with the game,” Harvard coach Ted Donato ’91 said. “[I] thought we got outplayed pretty much in every aspect."

BULLDOGS CONTINUE DOMINANCE

Harvard’s dry spell against the Bulldogs continued on Saturday night. The Crimson (10-2-2, 6-1-2 ECAC) has not emerged victorious in a tilt with Yale (9-4-2, 4-3-1) since March 2012 and has been outscored, 33-9, over that time frame. A pair of those losses came in the first round of last year’s ECAC playoffs, where Yale bounced Harvard in two straight games.

“We try to bring the same game every time, whether [it is] a good match-up against them,” Yale junior Mitch Witek said.

The Crimson fared similarly in the inaugural Rivalry on Ice game last year at the intersection of 34th and 7^th in New York. After entering the second period tied, the Bulldogs tallied three straight goals, taking bragging rights home to New Haven.

Yale’s play was nothing short of dominant this time around. The Bulldogs registered 42 shots on the night, exactly double the total the Crimson managed to generate.

“I think that we played great defense to recover the puck,” Yale coach Keith Allain said. “I thought we did a good job in transition, and we had a fair amount of offensive possession time.”

INJURIES CATCH UP WITH CRIMSON

Junior defenseman Patrick McNally left the contest in the middle of the second period with an injury and did not return. The third-year veteran is the third-leading point scorer for Harvard, averaging just over a point per game.

"Guys get dinged up during the game, [but] obviously Pat's a big part of our team," Donato said. "He's key to the power play and five-on-five, he sees a lot of minutes, [and] he's one of the leading points per game guys in the country. That stuff happens, but obviously we could have done a better job dealing with it."

The Crimson offense was noticeably out of sync throughout the night, matching its lowest goal total of the year, which came in November’s earlier showdown with the Bulldogs. Harvard is still without its usual first line sophomore Alexander Kerfoot, who has been out of commission with an upper body injury. The second-year star leads the team in points per game, averaging 1.5 per contest.

Harvard has also lacked the services of Kerfoot’s classmate Sean Malone. The Buffalo Sabre draftee has contributed five points in the three games he has skated in.

CONTINUING THE RIVALRY ON ICE?

During its inception, the Rivalry on Ice was only granted a two-year trial. Now that those two years have passed, the future of the game hangs in limbo. But the sentiment from both teams is clear—Harvard and Yale want to suit up in Madison Square Garden for the foreseeable future.

“We’re very grateful of [the organizers],” Donato said. “I think there’d be a lot of reasons why this would be something great to carry on.”

Mark Messier and Billie Jean King were among the 12,774 people that saw Yale take home the Rivalry on Ice trophy for the second straight year.

“I certainly would like better results,” Donato said. “But I think the event itself is great. To play in Madison Square Garden in front of great crowds…. In a lot of ways, we couldn’t be happier with the game.”

—Staff writer Kurt T. Bullard can be reached at kurtbullard@college.harvard.edu.