867-5309: Lynah Rink Playoff Curse Continues

ITHACA, N.Y.--Despite holding a two-game winning streak over Cornell on the road during the regular season, the Harvard men's hockey team once again fell prey to the Big Red in the ECAC quarterfinals, a scene reminiscent of four years ago.

Harvard's eight seniors are no strangers to the nagging curse of Lynah Rink in the playoffs. Their freshman year, the Crimson bowed out to the Big Red on its home ice in the first round of the playoffs. Harvard lost the race to three points, tying Cornell 2-2 in the first game, and falling 4-1 to the Big Red in the second.

Coming into Lynah Rink, undoubtedly the most hostile hockey environment in the conference, the Crimson was at a distinct disadvantage to the No. 3 seeded home team. And despite the best efforts of the Harvard parents, who engaged in a little pre-game taunting of their own, sporting "Cornell Sucks" shirts and signs to that effect, the Crimson could only come away with a pair of 4-3 losses to end the season.

Prior to this weekend, Harvard boasted a 9-2-2 record when scoring first. Unfortunately, the Crimson could not hang onto its early lead either night, as the Big Red rallied from 1-0 deficits in each game en route to the sweep.

"We lost this series in two games, but we could've easily won it in two games, forget about three," senior goaltender J.R. Prestifilippo said. "A few bounces, a few plays made the difference. Unfortunately, we're the ones going home."

Junior center Steve Moore started off the scoring in Game One with a power play goal at 8:03 in to the first period. Senior winger Scott Turco dished to Moore who was waiting at the left crease. Moore couldn't handle the pass but managed to nudge the puck across the goal line to put the Crimson up 1-0.

Harvard possessed the lead three times over the Big Red throughout Game Two, but could not hang on to any of them.

Sophomore winger Jeff Stonehouse notched a shorthanded goal to put the Crimson ahead by one at 5:26 in the opening stanza. Junior winger Chris Bala picked up the puck in the neutral zone and rushed down the right wing, sending a pass to Stonehouse, who snuck it past Cornell goaltender Ian Burt.

After battling to a 3-2 lead early in the final period off a soft goal from Bala that trickled through Burt's pads, Cornell battled back and capitalized on a pair of defensive lapses to eliminate the Crimson's lead and notch the eventual game-winner to take the series.

Cornell equalized the score when Big Red winger Denis Ladouceur and Cornell captain Doug Stienstra split two defensemen and rushed in all alone on Prestifilippo. Ladouceur found the back of the net at 6:29 in to the third to knot the score 3-3. Cornell took and held a 4-3 lead with a one-timer from center Krzysztof Wieckowski only 25 seconds later.

"The third period was a summary of our season," said Harvard Coach Mark Mazzoleni after Saturday night's game. "We made two critical mistakes and we lost the hockey game."

Despite playing two solid games back-to-back against one of Harvard's biggest rivals, the third period was indicative of the flaws that has plagued the Crimson all season.

Harvard's power play unit, which was responsible for two of the Crimson's three goals in Game One, was ineffective the following night, as it was unable to capitalize on seven chances against both Burt and a solid Big Red defensive core.

And the defense, which has been lamented as the Achilles' heel of the team all season, was consistent only in its inconsistency throughout the weekend. At times, the defense played superbly in front of Prestifilippo, allowing only 24 shots to reach the net.

But the same defense allowed a handful of breakaways in the third period alone, two of which came back-to-back for Stienstra and winger Stephen Baby at 2:18 and 2:46 respectively. Fortunately, a stellar showing by Prestifilippo, in his last career game with the Crimson, prevented both Big Red skaters from lighting the lamp on their attempts.

"We missed at least three breakaways in the third," Cornell Coach Mike Shafer said. "J.R. Prestifilippo played a great game."

It's a bittersweet ending for Harvard's eight graduating seniors, having lost their second consecutive bid for Lake Placid. The first class to end their careers with the Crimson under Mazzoleni, they leave knowing the program is well on its way to success. It's just unfortunate that they have to leave at this stage in the rebuilding process.

"The coaching staff is fantastic," Harvard captain Trevor Allman said. "They really turned this program around. It was our pleasure to be the first class under them."

With the exit of Allman, Prestifilippo and the six others, Mazzoleni and the rest of the coaching staff will have big shoes to fill for next season.

"We know where the program is in this stage of rebuilding," Mazzoleni said. "But we're only going to get better. We'll be a different team next year. We had an excellent recruiting year, which gives us tremendous optimism."

With only one 9-10-2 conference record under his belt, Mazzoleni still has some work cut out for him. But for his returning veterans, including the duo of Steve Moore and Bala, and the highly-touted recruiting class, the road ahead looks bright for the Crimson.

Hats off to the seniors for all their hard work and effort these past four years, and best of luck in the future.

And to Mazzoleni and the rest of the team, we're already counting down to next season.