Harvard Puts Huskies on a Leash on Its Way to Beanpot Third Place Win

In its third place game at the 72nd annual Beanpot Tournament, the Harvard men’s ice hockey team (7-13-2, 6-8-2 ECAC) defeated the Northeastern Huskies (9-13-3, 4-9-3 HE) 4-3 in regulation, earning its 21st third place finish.

The Crimson’s offensive performance was fueled by power plays, with Harvard securing four power-play goals on six attempts.

Harvard freshman goaltender Ben Charette also shined Monday night in his second collegiate career appearance at the Beanpot, making 23 saves and locking down the win for his team.

The game got off to an uncharacteristically slow and sloppy start for Harvard, a team that played a superb first period and a half in its eventual 7-1 loss to Boston University last Monday.

On Northeastern’s share of opportunities in the offensive zone, the Crimson faced multiple unlucky deflections that prevented it from exiting the zone cleanly.

More often than not, Harvard made errant passes in its own zone, much as it had in the latter half of last week’s game, and for a moment a repeat of last week’s blowout seemed in the cards.

Junior defenseman Ryan Healey was the one who got caught, falling while handling the puck, and leaving it in perfect position for Husky junior center and captain Jack Williams to fire an uncontested shot on Harvard freshman goaltender Charette’s net.

Northeastern, looking to maintain its offensive pace, continued to play aggressively in front of the net, which led to matching penalties for both teams.

Harvard freshman defenseman Lucas St. Louis was called for roughing and Northeastern sophomore center Andy Moore for slashing during a scuffle after the whistle.

Another penalty came against Northeastern freshman defenseman Jack Henry when he held Harvard sophomore forward Salvatore Guzzo against the glass shortly after 4-on-4 play had concluded.

Now Harvard, which trailed significantly in shots on goal at this point, would get a solid chance at tying the game.

Crimson freshman Mick Thompson seized the opportunity by skating into and through the back of Northeastern’s zone, taking it all the way behind Husky sophomore netminder Cameron Whitehead.

Shooting just barely to the inside of Whitehead’s skate, the puck bounced off it and into the back of the net, where Whitehead was unable to see it to bring the game to even at 1-1.

“I guess after the beginning of the power play was quite possibly the worst power play in the history of hockey,” said head coach Ted Donato, when asked about the power play during tonight’s performance. “And we were able to then bang it off the back of the goalie.”

“After that, we were able to get three more and had some good chances,” he added.

The Huskies were again called for a penalty, this time a tripping minor against freshman forward Ben Poitras approaching the final minute in the period. And again, Harvard found a way to score on the power play.

A cross-crease pass to the slot by Harvard sophomore forward Ben MacDonald led to a wide-open shot from junior defenseman Mason Langenbrunner aiming top left for the score.

With the momentum swinging in the Crimson’s favor and the tremendously poor passing from the first period subsiding, Harvard players managed to get to the right spots on the ice on both ends to set itself up for good opportunities.

The intermission fixes began to overwhelm the Huskies, as they took a rare bench minor for too-many-men on the ice.

Seconds into the third power play, a faceoff win by the Crimson gave defenseman and captain Ian Moore the puck. Moore shot with space from the point, which was tipped by junior forward Casey Severo for another score. Leading 3-1, all of Harvard’s goals continued to come off the power play.

The team’s success coming out of the locker room refused to die down, despite allowing Northeastern to scrape back by earning its first goal of the period on a rebound attempt.

Notably, Northeastern played the game down a key player due to injury. Northeastern men’s ice hockey head coach Jerry Keefe said that he had hoped the absence of junior defenseman Vinny Borgesi would allow the rest of the team to “step up,” but they ultimately did not.

“Obviously not having Vinny in the lineup is a big deal, right?” Keefe said. “He plays 27 minutes, more than any guy in the country. So he’s a very good player.”

Another two penalties were called in quick succession, a goal from Langenbrunner coming on the first power play giving him his second of the contest and also bringing Harvard’s lead back to two goals.

“Obviously scoring two at the Garden is awesome,” said Langenbrunner, when asked what it meant to score two goals in TD Garden as a Bruins prospect. “I wish it would have been in the later game, but it’s always good to get a couple”

“It’s always nice to come by, and I don’t come by them often,” he added.

A scary moment ensued on the second when a Northeastern player attempted to clear the puck down ice but instead hit a referee up high to the head as the puck deflected off the glass.

After a few moments he was able to get back on his feet and continued to referee the rest of the game.

The penalty, ultimately unsuccessful for Harvard, was its first in five attempts to not go in the net.

Pushing on still, the Huskies created an odd-man rush in the final two minutes of the period, a 2-on-1 play down ice setting up Williams again for a one-timer goal from his knee over Charette’s right shoulder.

Harvard junior forward Philip Tresca would then trip a Northeastern player carelessly in the final period’s first few minutes to give the Huskies their first power play chance.

The Crimson made swift work of the power kill and a risky Northeastern play would put Harvard back on the offensive.

Junior Husky defenseman Joaquim Lemay made a purposeful crosscheck with his stick on Severo. After review, Lemay was assessed a five-minute major and a game misconduct penalty, ejecting him from the game.

A second unsuccessful power play chance for Harvard and two additional late-game penalties against the Crimson threatened to allow Northeastern to crawl back once more, but that luck was not on its side.

After a close loss to Dartmouth in Hanover, NH last Friday, this win marks the team’s first since Colgate on the road in late January. The Crimson is set to play up in New York in four days as it takes on the St. Lawrence Saints and Clarkson Golden Knights.

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

—Staff writer Owen Butler can be reached at owen.butler@thecrimson.com