This Just In: Harvard's Good

BOSTON--Good teams find ways to win games they shouldn't.

And, yes, the Harvard men's hockey team is finally that good.

Coming off its best weekend up North since the 1992-93 season--with a tie against Cornell and a 3-2 win over Colgate--the Crimson posted a gritty 4-3 win over a fledgling Boston University squad.

A reinvigorated power play unit was the key to Harvard's first non-conference victory of the season.

"Special teams decided the game for us," Harvard Coach Mark Mazzoleni said.

Neither team offered much in the manner of quality even strength play. In fact, all seven goals scored last night came on the man-advantage.

With barely a 6 percent success rate on the man-advantage, the Crimson went just 2-for-30 on the power play in its last five games. Harvard quadrupled its output last night, posting four power play goals in eight chances.

"We didn't kill the penalties really well tonight," B.U. Coach Jack Parker said. "We did a hell of a job on the power play but we took a couple of stupid penalties."

One of the few consistent bright spots on the unit, sophomore center Dominic Moore, had a hand in two of those goals. He posted one and added an assist on freshman winger Tim Pettit's tally. Moore has played a role in five of Harvard's nine special teams goals to date.

Unfortunately, B.U.'s stellar power play unit, which, at 25% puts the Terriers near the top of Hockey East in that category, capitalized on its ample opportunities to mar Harvard's perfect penalty kill record.

The Crimson played anything, but 60 minutes of dominant, flawless hockey.

"I don't think we played well five-on-five," Mazzoleni said. "But we were opportunistic and got some bounces."

To say that Harvard won the game with superb goaltending and a little bit of luck would be an understatement.

B.U. did just about everything in its power to keep itself in the game, outshooting the Crimson, 29-18. But it was crippled for three periods with a woeful inability to finish the job.

The Terriers dominated play throughout the entire second period and the last half of the third, forcing Harvard to spend a considerable amount of time in its own zone.

Senior goaltender Oli Jonas picked up much of the defensive slack, holding the Terriers' to only one goal during a two-man advantage at 8:47 in the second that lasted almost two full minutes.

"Our goaltender has done an excellent job overall," Mazzoleni said. "He's posting astronomical numbers for us, especially since we're a team that's still growing."

However, Jonas caught a few breaks in the third period.

"We should have had five goals in the last five minutes of the game," Parker said.

With just over seven minutes to play, B.U. forward Scott Perry tried to fake a forehand shot to bring the Terriers within one. With Jonas down and clearly beaten, Perry choked on the play, and watched the puck roll off his stick, just inches from the goalpost.

And with just under two minutes to play, B.U.'s Jay Pandolfo kicked away a pass from Terriers' captain Carl Corazzini after he had Jonas beaten.

"We're paying for it badly in our inability to finish off," Parker said. "Perry had an open net, pulled the goalie out and shot it wide, and Pandolfo had an open net and mishandled it."

All in all, Harvard was fortunate to pick up a victory over its struggling cross-town rival. Unseating B.U. at Walter Brown Arena is not something to take lightly, and should do wonders for the Crimson's burgeoning confidence.

"We're a much better team this year," Jonas said. "Our attitude is better and we're more confident."

But make no mistake--facing No. 4 Boston College this Saturday isn't going to be a cakewalk. Don't expect Eagles' captain Brian Gionta to choke on his breakaways, nor will netminder Tim Kelleher give up four power play goals.

The Crimson better start looking for a way to win this weekend, because it can't depend on its power play to do the job.

Harvard's good, but it's not that good.