M. Hockey Falls to Clarkson, 5-4, Rebounds against No. 15 St. Lawrence

Last weekend, the Harvard men's hockey team finally hit bottom after giving away a two-goal lead in a 5-4 loss to Clarkson on Friday. But in a dramatic turn of events, the Crimson turned in one of its gutsiest effort of the season against No. 15 St. Lawrence the next day.

Harvard snapped a five-game losing streak by handing the current league leader a 4-1 loss, its first victory over the Saints since the 1997-98 season.

The win marks a turning point in the Crimson's season and puts struggling squad back in the hunt for home ice and the hunt for top honors in the ECAC. Harvard (11-13-1, 10-7-1 ECAC) is only four points out of the top slot, behind St. Lawrence (14-10-4, 11-4-3 ECAC), Clarkson, and Cornell, and only 10 points separates the first and tenth teams, making it one of the tightest playoff races in recent conference history.

"We needed this win very badly," freshman winger Tim Pettit said. "We were at the top of the league just a couple of weeks ago, and now we're fighting just for home ice. It's a battle--there's 10 teams and they're all within seven points. Anything can happen so we needed to start winning again."

Harvard 4, St. Lawrence 1

If nothing else, the tough loss to Clarkson on Friday was a wake-up call that the Crimson heard loud and clear. Realizing that the fate of its season hung precariously in the balance, Harvard reversed its downward spiral and propelled itself past ECAC favorite St. Lawrence.

"You don't call many games over the course of the year a "must" game, but you can go to the well once too often on that," Harvard coach Mark Mazzoleni said. "They were challenged today and they knew we had to win tonight. If we wanted to get home ice, we had to win."

Not only did the Crimson end its five-game drought, it snapped the Saints' stranglehold on victories at Bright Hockey Center. In front of a sellout crowd, Harvard picked up its first win over St. Lawrence at home since its 8-3 triumph during the 1994-95 season.

"We'll definitely take that one," Pettit said. "I think the best way to turn your season around is to take out the top team."

To add insult to injury, the Crimson forced Saints' coach Joe Marsh to wait until next weekend to pick up his 300th career win.

Clearly the Saints missed the offensive production of Erik Anderson, the league's leading scorer, who suffered a sprained ankle against Brown the previous night. Anderson and linemates Mike Gellard and Alan Fyfe have developed into a potent force, combining for 39 of the team's goals this season. Removing Anderson from the equation, however, kept both wingers pointless on the night.

"Not having Anderson certainly factored into the game," Marsh said. "I think he's the best player in the conference and you could see the chemistry just wasn't there, especially on the power play."

While Anderson's absence didn't help the Saints' power play unit, which is at the top of the ECAC at 29 percent, it was the flawless execution of the Crimson's penalty kill that held St. Lawrence scoreless on eight chances, including a 46 second five-on-three to start the third period.

"Coach Rolston and Coach Leaman had them very well scouted," Mazzoleni said. "Both teams like to move the puck and take one-timers, but we were able to stay in their shot lanes and do a good job of it."

After a scoreless first period, the Crimson's penalty kill unit was the unexpected source of the game-winning goal. Junior assistant captain Pete Capouch rocketed a shot from the left point that junior center Jeff Stonehouse tipped in at the crease at 10:56 in the second stanza.

Stonehouse's goal was the second tally of the period, giving the Crimson a comfortable two-goal lead, the same advantage the Crimson eventually lost to Clarkson the previous night.

The evening's first strike came a few minutes earlier when sophomore center Dom Moore slid a pass to assistant captain Chris Bala on the doorstep. Bala one-timed the puck past St. Lawrence netminder Jeremy Symington at 7:01 to light the lamp and make it 1-0.

Although the power-play goal was the official game-winner, it was freshman winger Tim Pettit's empty net tally with 50 seconds to play in the game that sealed the deal. Pettit snagged a turnover in the offensive zone, and managed to net a backhand shot to go up 3-1 despite being flanked by two Saints' defenders.

St. Lawrence's powerful offensive attack pounded senior goaltender Oliver Jonas with shots in the final minutes of play after pulling Symington for the extra man. But Jonas remained confident and turned in a stunning performance typical of his play earlier this season.

Having Jonas back at the top of his game is a huge plus for the squad, considering that his presence between the pipes has kept the Crimson in many close games this season. Jonas turned in 35 saves on the night, and held the Saints to a single goal, a huge confidence builder after having given up 21 goals in his last four appearances.

"It showed a lot from [Jonas] to step it up and rebound the way he did tonight in a very big way," Mazzoleni said. "If we get in a top-three finish, I don't think there's any question who's the MVP of the league."

St. Lawrence cut the Crimson's lead in half at 4:14 in the final frame. A turnover deep in the Harvard zone allowed Saints' defender Josh LeRoy to recover the puck and send it up to winger Russ Bartlett at the left point. Bartlett rifled a slapshot past Jonas that tucked under the crossbar.

Both teams battled back and forth for the remaining minutes of the game, with Harvard desperately clinging to its one-goal lead. Pettit's empty-net added some much-needed insurance, and he struck again 11 seconds later with a shot in the slot to finalize the score 4-1.

Clarkson 5, Harvard 4

The 5-4 loss to Clarkson on Friday night confirmed an unsettling trend for the fledgling Harvard squad--an inability to play confidently with the lead. The glaring weakness was all too clear against the Golden Knights, as the Crimson blew the lead three times over the course of the game.

The loss--resulting from a lethal combination of breakdowns and shaky goaltending--sent Harvard deeper into its funk and extended its losing streak to five games, it's longest drought of the season.

"I thought tonight overall we played well defensively," Mazzoleni said. "I thought we had individual breakdowns. It's almost getting to be a broken record on execution on basic fundamental plays."

For most of the season, one of the Crimson's main hurdles has been finishing strongly in the third period. By far its weakest frame, Harvard has given up 34 goals in the third, almost as many as it has allowed in the first two periods combined.

Clarkson scored two unanswered goals within four minutes of each other in the third period to steal the lead.

At 8:25 Jonas mishandled a routine wrist shot from Golden Knights' defenseman Kerry Ellis-Toddington at the top of the right circle, allowing the puck to dribble across the goal line. The tally knotted the game at four apiece.

Center David Evans netted the game-winner for Clarkson at 12:33 after winding around a Crimson defender and beating Jonas on the backhand.

"I'll take the win any way I can get it," Clarkson coach Mark Morris said. "After a suspect start, we played with some emotion. It was a hotly contested hockey game."

Setting aside its collapses in the third period, Harvard clearly held the upper hand in the first two periods.

Pettit put the Crimson on the board only 1:37 into the first frame. Sophomore defender Aaron Kim worked the puck behind the Clarkson net, and sent a pass up to Dom Moore in tight around the goal. Moore's shot squirted loose in the crease, allowing Pettit to knock home the rebound with an empty net.

Just over four minutes later, Harvard padded its lead with a goal from the elder Moore, to make it 2-0 at 5:46. Moore drove to the net and held off the Golden Knights' defender with his backhand. Switching to his forehand, he netted a controversial shot that questionably crossed the goal line before Clarkson goaltender Mike Walsh could fish it out.

With rookie winger Dennis Packard in the sin bin for hooking, the Golden Knights capitalized on a late power play in the first period. Although the Crimson generated some quality offense with a man down, Harvard couldn't stave off its opponent's potent power play, currently at about 20 percent.

Clarkson's first tally--a soft wrist shot by co-captain Kent Huskins through Jonas' five-hole at 19:16--illustrated a disturbing defensive trend. After dazzling spectators with his Dominik Hasek-like antics between the pipes most of this season, Jonas has had a string of sub-par performances.

"I don't think our goaltending was real sharp tonight either," Mazzoleni said. "You can't blame him, he's bailed us out an awful lot this year."

The Golden Knights evened the score at two at 5:19 with its second tally on the man advantage, a wrist shot past Jonas deep in the slot from winger Jean Desrochers.

The pair of power play goals exacerbated another problem: Harvard's struggling specialty teams. Clarkson converted half of its chances, while the Crimson went scoreless on three power play attempts.

"I thought our power play was very ineffective tonight," Mazzoleni said. "Special teams is not clicking right now, which is why we've switched things up. Their two power play goals were off rushes, which shouldn't happen."

Kolarik temporarily regained the lead for the Crimson five minutes later, netting a backhand shot through Walsh's five hole at 10:11 to make it 3-2. Rookie winger Rob McFeeters equalized the game for the second time with another late-period goal, a slapshot from the left point that took a strange bounce off of Jonas' blocker and hit the top right corner of the net.

Dom Moore's tally at 1:02 in the final frame once again gave Harvard the advantage 4-3, as Moore tucked a backhand shot behind Walsh off a rebound from Pettit. But the Crimson just couldn't hang on to the lead, as Clarkson posted two unanswered goals to decide the game.