Men's Hockey Faces Yale In Crucial ECAC Quarterfinal

Over the past three years, the No. 18/- Harvard men’s ice hockey team has faced off against the No. 12/12 Yale squad 10 times. Home, away, or in New York City, the Crimson failed to notch a win in any of the matchups with its biggest rival.

Now, the Crimson will have to do so twice in the span of three games in order to extend its season and keep its hopes of an NCAA Tournament berth alive.

After sweeping Brown to advance past the first round of the ECAC Men’s Hockey Tournament, Harvard (17-11-3, 11-8-3 ECAC) will make its way down to New Haven on Friday for the start of a best-of-three series against the Bulldogs, who have not lost in over a month, in the quarterfinals of the ECAC Men’s Hockey Tournament.

The implications of this weekend are clear: a series loss not only ends the team’s chance of advancing further in the ECAC Tournament, but also all but guarantees that the Crimson will not earn a berth in the NCAA Tournament.

The Crimson currently stands in 17th place in the PairWise Rankings, needing to advance at least one spot further up in the rankings to increase its odds at making the tournament. A loss would leave the Crimson far below the threshold.

Yale (17-7-5, 12-6-4) is in the same boat as the Crimson—two home losses to Harvard could knock the Bulldogs, who rest at 14th in the PairWise rankings after a late-season surge that included a pair of victories over the Crimson, out of the national tournament conversation entirely just two years after the Bulldogs won the entire thing.

“It’s a huge rivalry game so it’s going to be a great series,” senior forward Colin Blackwell said. “We’re excited about it. We realize that we owe them a favor and we’re going to come out ready to go.”

Going to Ingalls for a playoff series is familiar territory for this Crimson squad. The team travelled to New Haven last year for a best-of-three series in the first round of the ECAC playoffs. But the Crimson failed to pull out a win, getting swept by the then-defending champion Bulldogs. Harvard held the lead halfway through the third period in the second game of that series, but two goals in 38 seconds ended the Crimson’s hopes.

In its three matchups against Yale this year, Harvard found itself struggling to find the back of the net. The team scored only twice—both times from the stick of Ivy League Player of the Year and junior forward Jimmy Vesey. The team will have to find other scoring options if it wants to advance to the semifinals.

“Jimmy is one of the smartest and talented players that I’ve ever had the opportunity to play with or against,” Blackwell said. “He’s one of those kids…who’s so competitive in practice and plays with a chip on his shoulder…He not only scores a lot of points but he’s an emotional player for us that gets all of the guys going.”

The Yale offense, on the other hand, has had no problems putting the puck past the Crimson defense and junior goaltender Steve Michalek. They’ve scored on Michalek eight times in the three matchups and added an empty netter in the late stages of Yale’s 3-0 shutout at Ingalls last month.

Yale’s shutout was the latest in a series of dominating defensive performances by the Elis. The Crimson has averaged less than one goal per game against Yale over the past three years as Yale has outscored its archrivals 36-9 since the Crimson last won three years ago.

“I think we need stick with our system ” Vesey said. “We have to stay with it and try to get a couple by [sophomore goaltender] Alex Lyon.”

Not helping the Crimson’s cause is the return of the injury bug. Sophomore Alexander Kerfoot—a crucial cog in the potent Harvard first line—did not play Saturday after leaving the ice Friday with an upper body injury.

But the Crimson will hope that Colin Blackwell can continue on the momentum of his resurgent return to the lineup.

The San Jose Sharks prospect returned to the ice after missing all but one game in the past two seasons. He returned to action against No. 11/10 Quinnipiac two weekends ago and made an immediate splash against Brown, collecting three goals and drawing penalties to give his team critical man-advantages over the course of the series.

“We didn’t really want [to play] anyone else,” Blackwell said. “We wanted Yale and we got them.”

—Staff writer Kurt T. Bullard can be reached at kurt.bullard@thecrimson.com.