NOTEBOOK: Men's Hockey Eliminated from NCAA Tournament by Slim Margin

­SOUTH BEND, Ind.—Saturday night’s Midwest regional semifinal matchup between the Harvard and Nebraska-Omaha men’s ice hockey teams proved to be a game of inches, a game of seconds—one that brought the Crimson’s season to a close by the slimmest of margins.

Harvard (21-13-3, 11-8-3 ECAC) dug itself a hole early, falling a goal behind less than two minutes in. Unsure about the whereabouts of the puck after making an initial stop on rookie forward Avery Peterson, fourth-year goaltender Steve Michalek decided to hold his ground and take a faceoff.

But the puck was inches away.

Seeing the puck lying against Michalek’s right blocker, rookie forward Grant Gallo crashed the crease. The freshman wrestled the puck away from Michalek and a sprawled out Desmond Bergin and forced it home in the midst of a scrum to give his side an early edge.

At the end of the period, the Crimson fell into trouble yet again, as junior defenseman Brayden Jaw and fourth-year forward Colin Blackwell were sent to the box 25 seconds apart for tripping and boarding, respectively. Down two men, however, Harvard stepped up to the task, creating a shot of its own—a Max Everson attempt from the slot—before the Mavericks (19-12-6, 12-8-4-3 NCHC) did, holding its own for nearly the entirety of the period’s final 90 seconds.

But the buzzer was seconds away.

Omaha’s first shot on the 5-on-3 would be the only one that mattered, as Peterson took a pass from rookie forward Jake Randolph near the left faceoff circle and elevated one top shelf past the glove of Michalek with 1.4 ticks remaining. The goal put the Crimson down two goals at an intermission for the first time all postseason.

“It was pretty frustrating heading into the locker room, obviously,” co-captain Everson said. “It’s not ever the ending of a period you want. You want those shifts to be strong, but I thought [Peterson] made a nice play.”

OFF THE IRON

After coming out of the gate a bit sluggish and surrendering the first goal, Harvard upped the tempo in the latter half of the frame. But with senior goaltender Ryan Massa, who ranks third in the nation in save percentage (.936), in net for the Mavericks, the Crimson could not connect for an equalizer.

Nonetheless, Harvard came close. In accordance with the theme of the period, the Crimson came inches from leveling the score on its first power play of the night midway through the first when fourth-year defenseman Patrick McNally’s blast from the point rang left iron. On the same man advantage, McNally nearly earned a helper after spotting junior forward Jimmy Vesey darting towards the right post. But Vesey’s shot sailed high, as Omaha finished the kill unscathed.

NUMBER 19

After Peterson doubled the Mavericks’ lead, the Crimson responded with just six shots in the second period. Harvard’s best opportunity, however, was one that did not produce a shot. But once again, inches separated the Crimson from getting the result it desired.

Finding a seam through the center of the ice, Vesey received a saucer pass out of the Harvard zone and launched his attack towards the net as he has done time and time again. But Vesey’s skate just beat the puck over the blue line, negating the junior’s breakaway opportunity.

Vesey would get another chance 3:09 into the third. After corralling a rebound off an Alex Kerfoot shot, Bergin moved from the goal line to the outside of the right faceoff circle, where he threw a difficult-angle shot on target. Massa made the stop, but the puck kicked out to Vesey on the opposite side of the crease, and the junior got the netminder to bite. As Massa began his dive, Vesey lifted a shot through the senior’s arms to give the Crimson life.

“If there is one guy that I don’t want that puck to land on his stick, it’s [Vesey],” Massa said. “That kid is quite a player. I don’t think we’ve played a guy yet this year that can control the game like he did.”

ZOMBO RETURNS

The goal was the 32nd of the season for the Nashville Predators prospect, who nearly produced an equalizer from Massa’s left post in the final stages of the contest. Enabling Vesey to get the opportunity was Harvard coach Ted Donato ’91, who elected to give his top line extra shifts on the ice throughout the third as the Crimson pressed for a second goal.

While both fourth lines saw their minutes decrease as a result, Omaha’s fourth trio of forwards, led by co-captain Dominic Zombo, continued to provide a boost for the Mavericks’ squad.

After battling through an injury for much of the season, Zombo decided he had had enough back in January, leaving the ice during a battle with then-No. 1/1 North Dakota. The senior missed the next 10 games, a stretch in which Omaha won just two games in regulation. But Zombo made his return on Saturday, igniting the Mavericks’ squad alongside alternate captain James Polk on the fourth line.

“It really killed [Zombo] having to sit and watch practice and those games and that stretch where we kind of struggled on the tail end of the regular season,” Massa said. “He may not have been on our starting line, but he did his job, and led the team, and kept the youth focused and dialed in for the full game.”

While the senior provided the spark for Omaha, the youth earned the results. Eight different players recorded points for the Mavericks, all of which were either freshmen or sophomores. Rookie top-liner Jake Randolph picked up two assists, one on Peterson’s game-winner and another on freshman Tyler Vesel’s empty-netter at 19:24 in the third. The Mavericks’ top point-getter, sophomore Jake Guentzel, got in on the action as well, capping the scoring on his team's 4-1 win with a second empty-netter at 19:56.

—Staff writer Jake Meagher can be reached at jake.meagher@thecrimson.com.