M. Hockey Salvages Weekend Pair

The Harvard men's hockey team could have felt sorry for itself midway through its game against Dartmouth on Saturday night.

Hampered by injuries and reeling from Friday's disappointing 5-1 loss to Vermont, the Crimson was faced with a 2-0 deficit after Big Green forward Mike Maturo's goal at 11:18 of the second period. Harvard No. 14 in the U.S. College Hockey Online poll going into the weekend was suddenly in real danger of falling to 1-3 in the ECAC.

In a jam-packed Thompson Arena, the Crimson could have folded. Instead, Harvard battled back, managing to salvage a 3-3 tie with the Big Green (1-1-1, 1-1-1 ECAC), a team the Crimson defeated 5-2 at home on Nov. 4.

"I'm proud of the way we played against Dartmouth," said Harvard Coach Mark Mazzoleni. "It was very important that we came back the way we did."

Sophomore forward Tim Pettit agreed.

"Coming back [against Dartmouth] was crucial," he said. "We didn't want to get swept. [A win] would've been huge, but it was good to come out with a tie against a real veteran team. It's huge for our team confidence.

"With 18 freshmen and sophomores, our team is a 'work in progress,' as Coach Mazzoleni says," Pettit continued. "We have lots of bumps and bruises, but we're starting to get things going. After a couple more weekends we should have all of our systems working."

The tie on Saturday night gave the Crimson (1-2-1, 1-2-1 ECAC) its third point in the ECAC standings, putting them in a fourth-place tie with Dartmouth.

Vermont 5, Harvard 1

Against Dartmouth at the Bright Center last weekend, the Crimson lived by the power play.

Friday night at Vermont (1-4-0, 1-1-0 ECAC), they died by it.

The Catamounts were downright lethal on the man-advantage, capitalizing on four of their seven chances in the game.

Outside of special teams situations, however, Harvard seemed to have the upper hand. The Crimson outshot the Cats by a 45 to 22 count.

"We didn't play a bad game," Pettit said. "We were just very undisciplined. We took some penalties, and they capitalized on the power play."

UVM got on the board early, as junior forward John Longo scored on the power play 4:15 into the game. The Cats added another man-up tally later in the period, as Vermont's leading scorer, freshman standout Brady Leisenring, made it 2-0 at the 16:57 mark.

The Crimson was able to make it a one-goal game before the end of the first period on the third power play goal of the night, as Pettit beat UVM netminder Shawn Conschafter low to his stick side. Junior Brett Nowak and freshman Andrew Lederman picked up the assists.

Vermont restored their two-goal advantage on an even-strength tally by Bryson Busniuk 12:56 into the second period.

It remained a 3-1 Catamount lead until Vermont again went on the power play midway through the third. Oriel McHugh's blast from the point beat Harvard goaltender Will Crothers with 8:17 to play.

Jeff Miles added the exclamation point late for the final margin of victory.

Conschafter was brilliant in goal, stopping 44 Crimson shots. Crothers made 17 saves for Harvard.

"We didn't come out and play with the focus and discipline we needed on the road," Mazzoleni said. "We lacked a competitive instinct and took some unnecessary, undisciplined penalties."

The Crimson has not beaten Vermont since Nov. 6, 1999.

Harvard 3, Dartmouth 3

After Harvard's Kenny Smith gave his team its first lead of the game exactly one minute into the third period, it took some last-minute heroics by Dartmouth's Frank Nardella to salvage a point for the Big Green.

With Dartmouth skating on the man advantage because of a five-minute major penalty and disqualification to Harvard forward Dominic Moore for butt-ending, Nardella tied the game for good 14:53 into the third period.

"It was an emotional penalty by Dominic. A guy was holding his stick, and [Moore] took his stick and jammed it on the guy to get him off," Mazzoleni said, "We spoke to Dom regarding this. He knows the way people are going to play against him. They're going to clutch, grab, and slash."

The drama in the third period was a stark contrast to the first frame, in which neither team scored.

However, the Big Green took a 2-0 lead on the strength of two second-period goals. Dan Casella scored the game's first goal at the 3:35 mark, and Maturo's followed later in the period for the two-goal lead.

The Crimson was able to recover. Freshman defenseman Noah Welch notched his first collegiate goal at the 13:23 mark. Pettit then tied things up with a four-on-three power play goal with just 13 seconds to go in the period.

The first assist on Pettit's tally went to captain Peter Capouch, who had missed Harvard's first three games with an injury.

"We had a good power play going and it was great to have [Capouch] back out there," Pettit said. "He sent me a really nice pass."

Capouch's impact was hardly limited to his performance on the power play.

"He was a steady influence on the blue line," Mazzoleni said. "We need Peter in our practice sessions and in our lineup."

Capouch was the only senior on the ice for the Crimson on Saturday, a testament to the team's youth.

Crothers played an outstanding game in goal, stopping 44 Dartmouth shots. Nick Boucher made 19 saves for the Big Green.

"Will Crothers did not have one of his better games against Vermont, but he really bounced back and did an excellent job [on Saturday]," Mazzoleni said.

Because of the disqualification assessed to Moore, he will now be unable to play in this Friday night's game against Cornell.

Certainly the Crimson will miss the Hobey Baker Award candidate, but Mazzoleni is confident that his team is ready to step up to the challenge of playing without him.

"We'll be fine," he said. "Our kids will compensate."