Men's Hockey Sweeps Union and RPI

This is the type of sibling rivalry the Harvard men's hockey team needs more of.

On Friday, captain Steve Moore led the way for the Crimson with four points, a goal and three assists. Not to let his older brother steal the show, on Saturday sophomore center Dominic Moore netted Harvard's first hat trick in over two years and tacked on an assist for good measure to match Steve's point total as the Crimson swept the Union-RPI weekend, with a pair of 5-2 victories at Bright Hockey Center

The wins snapped a four-game losing streak for the first place Crimson (8-7-1, 7-3-1 ECAC) and also marked its first win in six tries against a ranked opponent as Harvard breezed past No. 12 Rensselaer (10-5-1, 4-3-1) on Saturday.

"It is a good weekend anytime you can come up with four points, especially after a bit of difficult times," Harvard Coach Mark Mazzoleni said. "We finished very well [Saturday night]. Steve Moore and Dom generated a lot of offense and we were good again on special teams."

Harvard has one of the nation's elite special teams units. Its penalty kill is ranked fifth in the nation at 90 percent and its power play is tied for eighth, clicking at 22.9 percent. They were the difference in both games.

Union (6-5-1, 3-3-1) had both a five-on-three man advantage and a five minute major power play during the third period, while it only trailed 3-2, and came up empty. Harvard also killed off six RPI power plays, which entered the weekend in the nation's top-10 with a 22.9 percent conversion rate.

Meanwhile, the Crimson went 5-for-12 with the man advantage, a total that included two of Dom Moore's trio on Saturday. It added a shorthanded goal for good measure. Harvard now has more shorthanded goals in ECAC play than its opponents have power play goals.

"Anytime you can win the specialty team battle in a game, the percentages are on your side," Mazzoleni said. "We've added more speed up front on the penalty kill. We have guys who can kill and also generate some offense on it."

Harvard put a little distance between itself and the rest of the ECAC with the sweep. Ivy League rules forbid a team from playing during exam period so it has played more games than the rest of the conference. The Engineers have three games in hand over Harvard, but the Crimson now has a six-point lead. It now is ahead of second-place Vermont by four points in the ECAC, but the Catamounts do have four games in hand.

The Crimson will try to add to its winning streak next weekend with games at Princeton and Yale. Harvard swept this road weekend last year.

Harvard 5, No. 12 RPI 2

As Dominic Moore was warming up before the game, he felt that he had a little something special in the tank.

"I felt especially accurate in warm-ups today," Moore said. "I was not only seeing the target well, but also where I wanted to hit it."

Moore scored three straight goals for the natural hat trick to erase a 1-0 deficit and to make it a relatively easy night for the Crimson over one of the nation's best teams in front of a sellout crowd at Bright. All of them came on extremely precise shots.

He opened the onslaught at 14:51 of the first period, collecting a rebound from freshman winger Tim Petit just above the crease. Moore backhanded the shot midway-high, just inside the far post past Engineer goal Nathan Marsters.

He finished turning the trick with a pair of goals, less than two minutes apart, early in the second period--both on the power play.

From behind the net, assistant captain Chris Bala hit Moore at the right faceoff circle and Moore rung a shot that beat Marsters short side, ringing the shot around the back goalpipe and out the other end.

His older brother Steve gave him the feed that sealed the deal. Controlling the puck around the left faceoff circle, Steve Moore found Dom creeping into the low slot and Dom roofed it over Marsters' glove.

"It is a lot easier to score three goals when you get three great set-ups by your linemates," Dominc Moore said. "It was my first college hat trick so it was definitely a special moment."

Moore was sure to collect the third puck that eluded Marsters to remember the moment. It was Harvard's first hat trick since Jan. 3, 1999 when defenseman Matt Scorsune '00 notched three in a wild 7-6 win at UVM. And it was the Crimson's first triple against RPI since Jan. 9, 1998, a 6-4 loss at Houston Field House. The captain that year, Jeremiah McCarthy '98, had an extremely rare offensive outburst in a losing effort.

Engineer Coach Dan Fridgen was decidedly less than gracious in defeat:

"Harvard did a good job finding him when he was open," Fridgen said. "It doesn't take Mario Lemieux to score the goals he did. You could've put them in with one arm on the stick."

RPI did begin to pour on the offense in the second half of the second period, forcing senior goalie Oli Jonas to once again make his share of spectacular saves.

Jonas stopped 41shots on the tilt, including a lightning-quick glove save on center Nolan Graham with about 6:30 left in the middle frame. Graham was patiently trying to pick his spot just above the crease at the tail end of a two-on-one, but Jonas beat him there.

The Engineers were a little shorthanded offensively, missing two of its top-four goal scorers. Marc Cavosie was over in Russia playing for Team USA at the World Junior Championships and sophomore winger Carson Butterwick suffered a back injury Friday night at Brown.

Still, RPI played with little passion as the bigger and faster Crimson was able to dictate the play physically with surly freshman defenseman Dave McCulloch leading the charge.

Harvard, too, was missing one of its best forwards with sophomore Brett Nowak also donning the Red, White and Blue in Russia. And the Crimson only played five defensemen with sophomore Aaron Kim getting suspended for a game disqualification penalty against Union. Three of those five were freshmen.

"We are still giving up too many shots per game, that is a component of our inexperience on defense," Mazzoleni said. "But our young guys are starting to get comfortable because they've been seeing a lot of ice time in different situations."

Harvard put the game away in the third period. Bala netted his ninth goal of the season on the power play at 2:22, converting a pass from Petit on a two-on-one that emerged during the man advantage. RPI freshman Ryan Shields narrowed the Crimson's lead to 4-2 at 8:17, but just over a minute later, freshman winger Tyler Kolarik scored his second goal of the weekend on a wild play.

The Crimson had a shorthanded two-on-two rush that was degenerating into a two-on-one. Kolarik passed the puck to a cutting Petit, but an RPI defender dove to break up the pass. However, he ended up sliding himself and the puck into the back of the net.

Marsters stopped 27 for Rensselaer. The Engineers had won nine of its last 10 against Harvard going into the contest.

Harvard 5, Union 2

The story for Friday night should have been the breakout of captain Steve Moore. Instead, some poor Harvard decisions in the third period turned the spotlight to its penalty killing unit, and it shined in a game that was a lot closer than it should have been.

Union could not match Harvard's speed and skill, but played an extremely passive game hoping to hang around and cash in the odd opportunity. It received a pair of golden ones in the third, while only trailing 3-2, but some excellent defense and a little more Jonas magic kept the Crimson ahead for an eventual 5-2 win at Bright.

"We knew Union would play a hard, non pressure game and try and be opportunisitc," Mazzoleni said. "I'm disappointed with the number of penalties we took. Union could've popped two while on the power play and it would've been a different game."

The Harvard penalty kill had already wiped out a five-on-three power play earlier in the period, when Kim inexplicably cross-checked Skating Dutchman winger Bryant Westerman above the left point--on a Crimson man advantage. Kim was whistled for a five minute major at 7:58 and a game disqualification, his second of the year which meant an automatic two-game suspension.

Union, however, could not sustain any pressure in the Crimson zone until there was one minute left in the man advantage. Dutchman leading point scorer Jeff Hutchins took a huge turnaround shot in the slot through a screen that Jonas kicked aside. Its top goal scorer, Jeff Wilson, was there on the doorstep for the rebound, but somehow Jonas had an answer for that as well.

Less than a minute after Kim's penalty expired, Union had too many men on the ice. Kolarik iced the game for the Crimson on the power play with a great individual effort. Gathering the puck in the neutral zone, he dusted past two Dutchmen defenders down the right wing, and pumped a shot short side past Union goalie Brandon Snee.

Jonas made 31 saves for Harvard, while Snee turned aside 32.

"We could not convert our opportunities tonight; they were there," Union Coach Kevin Sneddon '92 said. "Our guys takes one for the team and we couldn't score. Then, we take a too many men and they end up capitalizing and that was the game."

Up until that point, however, Steve Moore had really powered Harvard's offense. He put the Crimson on the board first, swatting down a Bala rebound at 7:50 of the opening period. It was just the third goal of the season for the Colorado Avalanche prospect, his first since Nov. 10.

"Everyone chipped in tonight, it was a total team effort," Moore said. "It was real nice to finally get one. Bala took a shot on net and I batted it down and I was lucky to have it go in."

The two teams traded goals at the end of the first period, with Hutchins knotting the game at 14:27 and Petit bagging a power play goal on a shot inside the near post with 1:47 left off assists by junior assistant captain Pete Capouch and Moore.

Union tied the game again at 9:26 of the second, but then it was Moore's turn to give a great individual effort of his own. Muscling the puck down alongside the right boards into the corner, he shielded off a Union defenseman and put the puck through his legs onto the tape of freshman Kenny Turano, who had cut to the net.

Turano lit the lamp for the eventual game winner.

Moore would collect his fourth point of the night for a questionable assist on Petit's empty net goal at 19:14.

"You win when your juniors and seniors are leading the charge," Mazzoleni said. "We don't have many upperclassmen, but if can get games like Steve had, it bodes well for us."

Overall, it was a brutal, penalty-laden contest with 30 infractions in all called on the day. A fight nearly broke out at the end of the first period as defenseman Tim Stay and Westerman nearly dropped the gloves. Stay was rushing to the defense of Dominic Moore, whom Union had selected for assault.

The Skating Dutchmen picked the wrong Moore.

Notes: Harvard's game next Saturday against Yale is technically in violation of Ivy League rules. Teams are not supposed to play during exam period, but the Athletic Department was not notified of the bumped up start of exams until after the schedule had been made, and Harvard could not convince anyone to switch games. If any Crimson player has an exam scheduled for Jan. 13, it will be administered to him on the road either by one of the coaches, media relations staff, or another university official brought to New Haven for explicitly that purpose....Sports Illustrated's recent issue on fans included a brief profile of 87-year old Cheesehead Paul Mazzoleni, the father of Harvard Coach Mark Mazzoleni. Mazzoleni admitted after the game that his family has Green Bay Packers season tickets and that he himself hadn't missed a game until he left for college, a streak that included a trip to the infamous Ice Bowl.