Men's Hockey Learning Lessons Early

PRINCETON, N.J.--What is life but many learning experiences all piled on top of each other?

The Harvard men's hockey team is beginning to learn that talent and skill don't necessarily yield winning results on the ice.

After dropping its second in as many games Friday night against Yale, the Crimson fought back to gain its first victory of the year over Princeton.

Against the Elis, the Crimson built a 1-0 lead after the first period and a 2-1 lead after the second, looking especially impressive in the process.

In those first two periods, Harvard not only dominated the game on the ice but also effectively took the record-setting crown of 3,486 at Ingalls Rink out of the game.

But, as last weekend's match against Brown proved, taking stupid penalties against substandard teams ultimately comes back to haunt teams, even the Crimson.

Harvard gave Yale seven different power play situations. Although the Elis could not cash in on any of them, the physical strain of killing those penalties showed on the ice in the later stages.

Harvard physically dominated Yale in the first period, putting 14 shots on Yale goalie Todd Sullivan. Yale, however, could only muster eight shots on Tripp Tracy.

As the game wore on, several players whom Coach Ronn Tomassoni had relied on to kill off Yale's oneman advantages become more and more tired.

Yale was able to pepper Tracy with 13 shots in the third period, while the weakened Crimson fired a mere eight on Sullivan.

The standing-room-only crowd became more and more involved in the game, constantly getting on Tracy's case and spurring on their home players with memories of last year's 12-1 embarrassment.

The game was eventually decided on a weak wrist shot from the blue line past a reened Tripp Tracy, but the Harvard players know that this loss was no fluke.

"Our effort was good, but...you can't play a game shorthanded and expect to win." captain Hen Coughlin said "If we can use these early games to learn about what we need to do better later on, we'll take these as a positive. I think they will be important down the stretch."

Both Yale and Princeton focused on Steve Martins as the center of Harvard's attack.

"It's no secret we went into the Harvard game with the number one priority of shutting down Steve Martins," Yale Coach Tim Taylor '63 said.

Yale certainly did just that, as Martins was held pointless and was assaulted on several occasions.

By shutting down Martins, players such as Kirk Nielsen and Coughlin were forced to step up their game to another level.

"There are a lot of kids who have not moved up into primary roles, prime-time players, and they've got to accept that responsibility," Tomassoni said. "I was trying to keep everyone active because of the penalties. [Tom] Holmes and Martins were outstanding killing penalties, but then going five-on-five they aren't as fresh out there."

The learning experience that these first two losses represent came into play Saturday night, when Harvard battled Princeton.

Again, the Crimson showed its apparent superiority in the first two periods, as it jumped ahead to a dominating 5-1 lead. The capacity crowd at Hobey Baker Rink (yes, THAT Hobey Baker) even began to file out as the game easily appeared to be in the hands of the Crimson players.

In fact, the Crimson took noticeably less of what Tomassoni would call "stupid penalties." Harvard still had more than its share, however, as the Tigers had six power-play opportunities.

Again, the time spent killing off these penalties might have hurt the Crimson. In the third period, Princeton scored three unanswered goals in a six-minute span to rouse the comatose crowd.

"We made two bad passes to allow them to make the game close," Tomassoni said. "Those are the things you can correct. As long as it doesn't happen again, they are very correctable."

"If we learn from these mistakes we will be a pretty good hockey team down the line," he said.

This weekend was also the first full-time playing experience for Tracy. The junior goalie was accustomed to splitting the weekend series the past two years with Aaron Israel.

"I enjoyed the chance, because after Friday's disappointing loss, I was able to get back in there and come out strong [Saturday]," Tracy said. "There really is nothing to panic about. We've played in three pretty tough rinks."

"Yale is an improved hockey team, but they got a very, very lucky goal," he said.

The Crimson returns home after this tough road trip with a seven game homestand awaiting it, one of which against third-ranked BU next Tuesday.

"The more we stay out of the box, the better we are," Coughlin said, with perhaps the most succinct evaluation of the team's success.

"This win is a big boost for the team's confidence," Tomassoni said. "We're definitely going in the right direction."

Tomassoni might want to move his team rather quickly, though, as his team faces tough ECAC foes Cornell and Colgate at home this weekend.