Men's Hockey Looks to Rebound in Playoffs

When the No. 19/- Harvard men’s ice hockey team played Brown on Feb. 7, Brown had not won a conference game since Dec. 6 and sat in a tie for dead last in the ECAC standings. On the other hand, the Crimson was poised to nab a first-round bye in the ECAC playoffs, sitting comfortably in the top four of the conference standings even after having dropped its last two conference games.

The story is different this time around. And now, the stakes are higher.

Harvard (15-11-3, 11-8-3 ECAC) hosts the Bears (8-18-3, 5-14-3) this weekend at the Bright-Landry Hockey Center in a best-of-three series in the opening round of the ECAC playoffs.

Brown would go on to beat the depleted Crimson—who was playing its third game over a five-day stretch at the time—in what would turn out to be a season-changing win. After defeating Harvard, the Bears lost once in the final six remaining games of the season,and also tied the conference leader, No. 11/10 Quinnipiac.

The Bears sudden success comes in large part to the strong play of its first line. Co-captains Mark Naciero and Matt Lorito as well as junior Nick Lappin have found twine nine times in the team’s last six games. Brown has outscored its opponents by an average of one-and-a-half goals over the same stretch.

“All three of those guys on the top line are extremely talented,” junior co-captain Kyle Criscuolo said. “I played against two of them before coming to Harvard and they were some of the best guys in the league. You just want to make sure you know when they’re on the ice at all times.”

The Crimson’s end-of-season narrative went differently. Harvard sputtered to the finish line, winning less than half of its games while simultaneously falling out of the national spotlight and sliding out of position for a first-round bye. The Crimson controlled its destiny headed into its final weekend, but saw Dartmouth and Colgate jump them in the standings after an emphatic 5-2 loss to Quinnipiac. Even with a 5-0 win against Princeton on Saturday, the team could not regain the fourth seed. Now, Harvard will have to play two series—not just one—in order to reach the ECAC semifinals in Lake Placid, N.Y.

“I don’t think we’re necessarily upset that we have to play this weekend,” Criscuolo said. “I think it’s a good thing. We need to get back on a roll.”

The late season struggles also severely hurt the team’s chance to earn an at-large bid in the NCAA tournament. The Crimson now sit at 22nd in the PairWise Rankings, usually a good estimator for the 16 teams that will be chosen to skate for a national title.

“Ultimately we are going to have to win our way to Lake Placid,” said Harvard coach Ted Donato ’91. “We know that. We need to come out with a good effort…so that we head into the playoffs feeling good about our game.”

In key games against quality opponents down the stretch, the Crimson failed to register a defining win to keep from falling down in the rankings. Harvard took both No. 3/3 Boston University and No. 9/9 Boston College to overtime in the Beanpot, but saw junior Danny O’Regan and sophomore Ryan Fitzgerald notch the game winning goals to hand Harvard the tough losses.

The Crimson still boasts one of the best first lines in the conference. Junior Jimmy Vesey, recently named Ivy League Player of the Year, ranks second in the ECAC in both goals and points with 22 and 44, respectively. Criscuolo ranks fifth in those same categories, with 15 goals and 37 points. Sophomore forward Alex Kerfoot, despite having missed nine conference games this season, has been able to contribute 10 points and eight assists in ECAC play.

“Our goals don’t change,” co-captain Max Everson said. “It’s a couple extra home games. At this point I’d say it is what it is…. There [are] no excuses. We can’t be looking outside the room. We did this to ourselves.”

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