Athlete of the Week: Tyler Kolarik `04

Coming off back-to-back losses at the hands of Boston University and Boston College, the Harvard men’s hockey team was in need of a hero this weekend.

It found one in sophomore winger Tyler Kolarik, this week’s Athlete of the Week.

The Abington, Pa. native racked up two goals and an assist in Harvard’s 2-1 win over St. Lawrence on Friday and Saturday’s 2-2 tie with Clarkson.

After his strong performance this weekend, Kolarik now leads Harvard in scoring with two goals and nine assists this season.

The forward line of Kolarik, junior center Dominic Moore, and sophomore winger Rob Fried —Kolarik’s former teammate at Deerfield Prep—came up big all weekend. The first line accounted for each of the Crimson’s four goals, including last-minute tallies in each game.

The chemistry on the line was unmistakable.

“I played with Robbie for three years at Deerfield, so it’s easy to know his game, and Dom’s just a great player,” Kolarik said on Friday night. “Those guys just make plays.”

As plays go, they made a pretty big one late in Friday’s game.

With the Crimson and St. Lawrence tied 1-1 and less than a minute to play in regulation, the “Dom and Deerfield Line” set to work. Fried worked the puck behind the SLU goal to Moore, who sent a pinpoint pass to Kolarik in the slot. Kolarik briefly set himself before blasting a shot past McKenna low to his glove side with just 21 seconds to play to snap Harvard’s two-game losing streak.

Improbably, Kolarik was even more brilliant the next night, making perhaps the most spectacular play of his already stellar Harvard career on Saturday night.

With the Crimson trailing 1-0 midway through the second period and in desperate need of a goal, Kolarik rose to the occasion.

Again it was the stick of Fried that set things into motion, chipping the puck to his longtime teammate and friend just outside the Clarkson blue line.

Kolarik then brought it into the zone all by himself, with two Knight defenders and all-ECAC goaltender Mike Walsh standing between him and his second tally in as many nights.

Kolarik, though, would not be denied. He literally skated a circle around one of the Clarkson players at the left faceoff dot before changing his direction quickly and slicing in front of Walsh.

Kolarik was patient and waited for Walsh to commit to his left post before switching over to the backhand and slipping it past him to tie the game at 8:16 of the period.

What’s more, Kolarik also assisted on Moore’s goal with three seconds to play, salvaging a tie for the Crimson.

In postgame interviews, both St. Lawrence’s Joe Marsh and Clarkson’s Mark Morris mentioned Kolarik with a smile, becoming hockey fans for a split-second and saying how much fun it is to watch Kolarik skate.

They’re certainly not alone in admitting that.