Slumping M. Hockey Faces B.U. Tonight

The Harvard men's hockey team, now in the midst of its worst-ever regular season start, will be playing for pride in tonight's non-conference game against Boston University.

Like the Crimson (1-5-0, 0-5-0 ECAC), the Terriers (2-6-1, 1-4-1 Hockey East) are struggling. But unless Harvard can fix major problems--especially within the defensive lines--this Beantown battle could get ugly.

"It's more about just cutting down on mental mistakes," said junior forward Trevor Allman. Allman pointed to defensive zone breakdowns and a lack of communication on switches.

In last Friday's 3-2 loss to Princeton, the decisive goal came when the Crimson defense failed to pick up Tigers forward Jason Hegland cutting in from the point. An easy feed led to the game-winning goal.

On paper, these defensive lapses stand out. In the last five conference games, the Crimson has given up 27 total goals. It's penalty killing is 71.4 percent, the lowest in the league.

"Our biggest problem right now is our zone coverage," said sophomore defenseman Tim Stay after last Saturday's 7-1 drumming at Yale. "We are still trying to adapt to each other."

Compounding the Crimson's defensive woes, freshman defenseman Peter Capouch left last Friday's game against Yale with a shoulder bruise. Capouch, who is not expected to play tonight, joins senior Ben Story (mononucleosis) on the injured defenseman list.

On the other side of the coin, the Terriers have had defensive problems. B.U.'s defense--which lost some key players to graduation--trails the league, and its penalty kill is even worse than Harvard's at 69.6 percent.

Although the Terriers haven't been winning very many games, they have pulled off some impressive victories. Earlier in the season, they crushed Princeton, 9-1. And last Saturday, the Terriers upset No. 2 Boston College 4-2.

B.U. is also helped by the stellar goaltending of senior Michel Larocque, who is in his first year as starting goalie. He is probably the only reason why the Terriers aren't losing every game. In the victory over B.C., Larocque stopped 32 shots while his teammates were out-gunned 34-17.

This could be problematic for the young Harvard offense, which often comes out shooting strong early in the game but is easily frustrated when it isn't reflected on the scoreboard.

Although the Crimson's power play has improved immensely over the last few games, it still flounders without the man advantage.

"Our power play is doing fine, we need to start scoring at even strength," sophomore forward Steve Moore said.

To spark some life into the sluggish offense, Harvard Coach Ronn Tomassoni might make some interesting line changes. Last weekend, to make up for the injury to freshman forward Kyle Clark, Tomassoni moved junior defenseman Mark Moore to wing. He also experimented with moving freshman Jared Cantanucci to the top line.

B.U. has also had problems putting the puck in the back of the net. After losing two star forwards to graduation, the Terriers are playing with a relatively younger and less experienced offensive line.

When these two teams met in the Beanpot final last year, Harvard played a thrilling game, only to lose to B.U. in overtime.

Revenge would be sweet, but unless Harvard cleans up its act, it looks to be a distant possibility.