Madsen, Men's Hockey Rebound With 3-0 Win Over Brown

UPDATED: January 21, 2017, at 12:02 p.m.

Only once did the ECAC’s top offense get the better of the league’s worst defense at even strength Friday night. But once was enough.

Normally that kind of offensive production from the Harvard men’s hockey team doesn’t get the job done. In fact, prior to Friday's tilt with Brown, the Crimson had been 0-4-1 this season when scoring less than four goals. But thanks to a perfect 26-for-26 performance from junior goaltender Merrick Madsen, Harvard came up with a new way to earn two points.

The No. 6 Crimson (12-5-1, 8-4-1 ECAC) scored its one even-strength tally midway through the first period before providing Madsen with a bit of breathing room via a power-play goal in the second. An empty-netter with 1:33 remaining in the contest eventually closed the book on a 3-0 victory for the hosts, who now hold a 7-0-1 record this season at the Bright-Landry Hockey Center.

More importantly, however, the win over the Bears snaps Harvard’s three-game losing skid—a stretch that saw the Crimson falter twice against teams in the bottom half of the conference standings and drop from 2nd to 12th in the PairWise rankings as a result.

Twice during that slide, Harvard coach Ted Donato ’91 had to give the hook to Madsen, who surrendered 12 goals on 60 shots over the three games. As a result, the junior decided after Tuesday’s 8-4 loss to Dartmouth that he could use “a mental reset.”

“Obviously last weekend wasn’t exactly the weekend I wanted to have,” Madsen said. “I just wanted to be able to come back and find my game again, just like the rest of the team.”

Merrick Madsen leaves his crease after the final buzzer sounds on Harvard's 3-0 win over Brown. By Jake Meagher

As part of the reset, Madsen said he made an effort to work harder in practice over the past few days—a claim Harvard assistant coach Rob Rassey substantiated after the game.

“Obviously he knew he wasn’t as sharp as he’d like to be last week…[but] he accepted responsibility for it,” Rassey said. “He kind of took the onus on his shoulders and was excellent yesterday in practice. It might have been the best practice I’ve seen him have since he’s been here in terms of just ‘compete’ and overall focus. And I think that showed tonight.”

Madsen was named the First Star of the game, and he entered the postgame press conference sporting the team’s Player of the Game hat. He now has two shutouts this season—tied for second in the ECAC—and six in his career.

Meanwhile, in front of its goaltender, Harvard launched 42 shots on goal—tied for its second highest output of the season. Storming out of the gate energized, the Crimson opened the game on an 8-0 shots on goal run lasting four and a half minutes. Then at 7:56, the hosts broke through.

Playing in just the second game of his Crimson career, Frederic Gregoire drew first blood without even firing a real shot. After bouncing off a hip check along the left wing, the freshman threw a centering pass off of Brown’s Zack Pryzbek from the end boards into the back of the net, putting Harvard in front.

Although his first collegiate goal was the product of puck luck, Rassey said the coaching staff felt Gregoire did well with his opportunity on the third line.

“If we gave Freddy a chance, we knew what to expect,” Rassey said. “He’s a player with great speed. He’s always somebody who’s going to bring energy and pace to the game when he’s out there, and that’s kind of what we were looking for tonight.”

Gregoire did find himself in the penalty box twice after giving the Crimson the lead, but on both occasions, Harvard’s kill bailed him out. The Bears (3-14-1, 2-9-0) finished 0-for-4 on the power play, much to the dismay of their head coach, Brendan Whittet.

“I thought we did enough things to have success in that game; the problem is we need to be able to execute on our power play,” Whittet said. “I thought our power play really struggled…. The guys are trying to be perfect on it instead of just triggering pucks.”

Adding to its 4-for-4 night on the kill, Harvard connected on its own power play for the third consecutive game. Midway through the second period, freshman point-man Adam Fox set up a one-timer just inside the left faceoff circle for senior defenseman Clay Anderson, whose shot was tipped in by rookie Nathan Krusko atop the crease at 10:45.

Krusko’s tip-in and the unexpected bounce in the first period were the only blemishes on the record of freshman goaltender Gavin Nieto, who made a career-high 39 saves in net for Brown. Once Nieto went to the bench in exchange for an extra skater, however, senior Tyler Moy scored his 10th goal of the season to solidify the result.

Members of the Crimson mob Merrick Madsen after the game. By Jake Meagher

GAME NOTES

—Harvard dominated the faceoff circle against Brown, winning 71 percent of draws (39 of 55) on the night. The Crimson also won the shots on goal battle pretty decisively, 42-26.

—Considering Harvard boasts the best power-play unit in the country (29.6 percent), and Brown sports the nation's worst penalty-killing unit (71 percent), the Crimson connecting on the man advantage was hardly a surprise.

—Gregoire and sophomore Michael Floodstrand made appearances on the third line, while junior Seb Lloyd and freshman Ty Pelton-Byce did not play. Both lineup insertions logged points and finished +1 on the night as a result of Gregoire's first collegiate goal in the opening period.

—After sophomore Adam Baughman earned a spot on the third defensive pairing in each of the last two games, classmate Viktor Dombrovskiy received the nod instead on Friday.

—Harvard has jumped one spot to 11th in the PairWise rankings.