After Heartbreaking Loss, Men's Ice Hockey Looks to Rebound Against Rival Yale

A few years from now, members of the Harvard men’s ice hockey team might remember Tuesday night’s clash with Boston University in the first round of the Beanpot with a certain sense of appreciation.

In what one can only describe as an instant classic, upwards of 100 shots on goal and nearly four hours passed between the No. 6/6 Crimson (12-6-2, 8-4-2 ECAC) and the No. 3/2 Terriers before BU junior Danny O’Regan lit the lamp at 2:18 in the second overtime period to send his team to the 63-year-old tournament’s final.

Harvard hockey fans will remember their team’s effort for a long time. Junior goaltender Steve Michalek’s 63 saves will go into the Crimson and Beanpot record books. The emphatic return of sophomores Alex Kerfoot and Sean Malone, the video review of the third period that deemed a go-ahead goal inconclusive, and the staunch defensive efforts of junior Brayden Jaw and freshman Eddie Ellis will also find their way into tournament lore.

But for now, freshman forward Seb Lloyd and his teammates harbor no sentimental feelings for Tuesday night. After all, they have more hockey to play—three daunting games away from Cambridge in four nights, starting Friday.

“The guys are pretty drained emotionally, physically,” Lloyd said on Wednesday. “I think everyone’s kind of refocusing, getting set for the weekend now [and] kind of putting [Tuesday night] behind us. But it was obviously a pretty demoralizing loss after we put so much into it.”

After what Lloyd described as the “most draining game [he’s] played in,” Harvard is preparing for what could be the most draining stretch of its season so far. The Crimson will visit No. 15/15 Yale tonight before busing over to Brown on Saturday and capping the weekend at TD Garden against No. 11/12 Boston College in the Beanpot consolation game.

In Yale (12-6-3, 7-5-2), Harvard will face one of the best defenses in the country—a unit that has given the Crimson fits. Backstopped by sophomore goaltender Alex Lyon, coach Keith Allain’s squad has held Harvard to only one goal in each of the teams’ two meetings this season, including a dominant 4-1 Bulldog effort at Madison Square Garden in January.

The Crimson will bring two new weapons to The Whale, however, in Kerfoot and Malone. After 19 games in which one, the other, or both were on injured reserve, the stars aligned on Tuesday to allow the sophomore centers to return to the lineup together.

They did not disappoint in their return, with each registering a goal. Malone, who was forced to the bench during overtime by leg cramps, will be healthy enough to travel with the team this weekend.

That’s good news for Lloyd, who has winged Malone in the four games that the Buffalo Sabres draft pick has played this season.

“Every time he’s on the ice there’s an opportunity for something to happen,” Lloyd said. “And he’s so fast up the middle of the ice. As a winger, you just try to fire the puck to the middle and let him get his legs going.”

While Friday will likely be a defensive game, Saturday has the potential to be a shootout. Despite lofty preseason expectations and veteran scoring threats like senior Matt Lorito and junior Mark Naclerio, Brown (4-16-1, 1-12-1) and its young defensive corps have the worst goal-differential in the conference.

But coach Jerry York’s BC team is always dangerous. Despite a slow start, top prospects such as freshman defenseman and Norwood, Mass. native Noah Hanifin have boosted the Eagles (16-9-2, 8-5-0 Hockey East) back into the tournament hunt. As of Wednesday, the group sat just behind the Crimson in the PairWise Rankings.

If you count the extra time on Tuesday, Harvard will clock almost four-and-a-half games this week—a more taxing rate than most pros face on any given week of the NHL regular season. Coach Ted Donato ’91 observed after the BU loss that his team may have “[run] out of gas a bit” in the later stages.

Nevertheless, Lloyd is confident in his team’s conditioning and ability to reset.

“I think we’re going to approach the games on the weekend and the Beanpot on Monday the same way that we approach any other game,” Lloyd said. “I think physically we’ll be ready.”

—Staff writer Michael Ledecky can be reached at michael.ledecky@thecrimson.com.