On Cleary Night, Harvard Secures Second Straight Victory in 3-1 Game vs. Yale

The Harvard men’s ice hockey team (5-7-2, 4-4-2 ECAC), beat the Yale Bulldogs (4-10-1, 3-6-1 ECAC) Saturday night to finish out a successful weekend of play, reversing the team’s fortune after a string of losses in the past month.

The victory also came on Cleary night, a night honoring former Harvard hockey player, head coach, and administrator William J. Cleary ‘56.

Harvard Hockey Head Coach Ted Donato ‘91 made note after the game of Cleary’s legacy at Harvard.

“He’s such a special person to Harvard, and such a special person to me,” Donato said. “I was fortunate enough to play for him, and his example is certainly one that I try to emulate.”

Donato also explained the stakes of the rivalry game for both Harvard and Yale players.

“I think they, regardless of the records coming into these games, get up for the games,” he said. “They’re usually very physical.”

“It’s such a special day, such a meaningful day,” he continued. “And I’m glad we were able to take care of our end of the bargain.”

The Crimson started the game on time as it powerfully entered the zone and secured multiple early opportunities on the odd-man rush from sophomore defenseman Matthew Morden, junior forward Casey Severo, and others.

Although there were some promising scoring attempts off a few opportune rebounds in front of the net, Harvard was unable to bury them.

Defensively, the Crimson allowed Yale to clear the zone too easily.

Donato said the Bulldogs had done a “good job of jamming us up” in the beginning of the game.

“I think we just need to do a little better job managing the puck,” he said.

On its back foot for much of the first period, Harvard finally had the chance to recoup in the defensive zone.

In an attempt to play the puck back to his defensemen, junior forward Marek Hejduk drew a penalty from Bulldogs freshman Zachary Wagnon for tripping.

The team kept up its offensive production on the powerplay but missed on crucial cross-ice passes that kept the puck in the zone.

Yale was ultimately successful on the kill and entered the locker room still battling in an even 0-0 game.

However, coming back on the ice, it was Harvard that continued pressing for the lead.

At 19:40, sophomore forward Michael Callow won the puck off a board scuffle and skated freely up the middle of the ice for the score.

Severo added to the score sheet less than five minutes later with a wrist shot high to the goalie’s blocker side.

Yale’s early second period collapse is partly attributable to stronger Crimson play along the boards and in open ice trying to gain possession of the puck.

Yale, though, was also crippled by the faults of its own players, who at several points lost a skate and took a tumble to the ice, freeing up a Harvard player for a breakaway or 2-on-1 chance.

Captain and senior defenseman Ian Moore gave insight into the team’s sudden success after a scoreless first period.

“​​We found our legs,” Moore said. “We were winning some races. Our forwards did a great job holding on to pucks in their zone, getting them stopped up, making them play defense.”

Trying to put a stop to the surge, Yale escalated what had been routine close-out hits on the boards and caused both its player and Harvard’s junior defenseman Mason Langenbrunner to take penalties for roughing at 14:39.

With two players taking penalties, the game entered 1:05 of 4-on-4 play.

Early in the penalty, Morden secured a 2-on-1 opportunity with sophomore forward Cameron Johnson leading him into the o-zone with the puck before making the cross-ice pass for a shot that pressed into the goaltender’s pads but did not budge.

Neither team would score for the rest of the period.

Nonetheless, Donato hoped for tighter play from Harvard.

“We can’t give up outnumbered rushes.,” Donato said. “We can’t take untimely penalties, things that have really hurt us at times during games.”

And despite Harvard’s lead entering the third, it was tested once again in closing out the game as the Bulldogs netted a goal in the final period’s halfway mark.

However, a welcome change for the Crimson compared to recent games was a quick response to keep the game at a two-goal difference.

Junior forward Philip Tresca would score his first goal of the season at 8:10.

For Moore, closing out the final minutes of play strongly was a key change the team wants to keep in the future.

“That’s kind of our identity going forward,” Moore said. “Something that we want to continue to build on and continue to do in games.”

A series of late-game penalties, mostly against Yale for direct contact to the head, roughing, and interference closed out an exciting Crimson win, its first pair of victories since Nov. 8 and 9 against Princeton and Quinnipiac.

Next, the Crimson will have to carry its newfound momentum to face arguably its most difficult matchup of the season in its game against No. 2 Boston College on Tuesday.

—Staff writer Nate M. Bolan can be reached at nathan.bolan@thecrimson.com.