Boston College Bullies, Blanks M. Hockey 3-0

CHESTNUT HILL--For the Harvard men's hockey team, it seems that whoever lights the lamp first goes home happy.

When scoring first, the Crimson (5-5-0, 5-3-0 ECAC) is undefeated in five games this season. But the four times that the opposition struck first this year have led to defeats.

And with a 3-0 loss to Boston College (8-5-0, 5-4-0 Hockey East) Friday at the Kelley Rink, the streak continued.

Though Eagles' center Ales Dolinar's shorthanded goal at 12:49 of the first was the eventual game-winner, it was his second goal that sealed the Crimson's fate.

Barely two minutes in to the second period, after Harvard's early offensive surge, Dolinar and winger Kevin Caulfield broke in on a two-on-two against Crimson defensemen Tim Stay and Liam McCarthy.

Caulfield dished to Dolinar, who had sidestepped McCarthy, leaving no one between him and senior goaltender J.R. Prestifilippo. Dolinar slid the puck five-hole between his pads, giving B.C. a 2-0 lead.

The 100th meeting of these two cross-town rivals handed Harvard its first shutout of the season, marking the first time B.C. blanked the Crimson since its 7-0 win on Dec. 12, 1977. It was the Eagles second straight shutout.

Harvard appeared to be pretty evenly matched with the Eagles during the first half of the first period. But unfortunately for the Crimson, it was unable to capitalize on any of the scoring opportunities it created.

"When we made mistakes, they jumped on them. When they made mistakes, we just couldn't finish," said Harvard Coach Mark Mazzoleni.

About eight minutes into the first period, Harvard just missed capitalizing on one of its best chances of the night.

Sophomore defenseman Peter Capouch took the puck in to the offensive zone, and dished right to junior winger Chris Bala. Bala kept the puck moving by passing to freshman center Dominic Moore, who undressed his defenseman, but was stoned by Eagles' netminder Scott Clemmensen.

And barely a minute later, B.C. took control of the puck and almost scored, foreshadowing what was to come later that night.

At 9:05, the Eagles swooped down on Harvard in a two-on-two. B.C. center Blake Bellefeuille batted the puck in to the net with his glove, fooling the lamp man. That goal was waved off, but the Crimson wouldn't be so lucky with the Eagles' next three.

Unfortunately, Harvard's power play has not lived up to the expectations it created for itself. The Crimson was unable to score on all six of its power plays, and allowed the Eagles to strike first with a shorthanded goal halfway through the first. The Crimson is now three for its last 33 on the power play.

B.C. took a shot from the point that rebounded out to Dolinar. With a great individual effort, Dolinar worked through three men in front of the net and poked the puck home between Prestifilippo's legs, giving B.C. a one-goal lead.

However, the story of the second period was the violence. With a total of 11 penalties dealt to both teams, the hockey game began to rival a boxing match.

"We played hard but there were a lot of penalties in the second period, and we lost the flow of the game," Mazzoleni said. "They're a better team than us on the four-on-four, and they're very explosive."

But before the game took on a physical bent, the Crimson created a number of beautiful opportunities that it couldn't quite put its stick on.

Bala took the puck off the face-off 55 seconds in to the second. Working the puck to Clemmensen's right, he took a wrist shot that glanced the crossbar, just barely missing the back of the net.

The Eagles refused to let the Crimson control the offensive flow of the game, and let Harvard know by scoring the second of their three points.

Dolinar's second goal provided some insurance for B.C.'s lead, creating a ditch that the Crimson just couldn't dig itself out of.

"The second goal didn't break our backs," Mazzoleni said. "But it made it harder to climb back from it. I don't think they had a decided advantage."

The final chapter of the game was similar to the second, but with a little less physical play, although the teams racked up another nine penalties in the third period alone.

Bellefeuille redeemed himself for his first scoring attempt by notching the third, and final, goal of the game at 11:25 in the last period. Off a pass from winger Brian Gionta in the right slot, Bellefeuille one-timed the puck past Prestifilippo, putting B.C. up 3-0.

Harvard will have one more shot at the Beanpot teams and establishing itself as a Boston area contender when it takes on Northeastern next Sunday, after hiking up to Dartmouth next Friday.