M. Hockey Battles for Home Ice

With only one homestand left to play in the regular season, the Harvard men's hockey team has one last chance to snag home-ice for the first round of the ECAC playoffs.

Sound familiar?

Last season, the Crimson (12-14-1, 11-8-1 ECAC) found itself in a similar position. Its final two games determined where Harvard would play the conference quarterfinals.

Unfortunately for Harvard, a 2-0 loss to Rennselaer on last year's Senior Night sent the Crimson on the road to Lynah Rink, where Harvard fell to Cornell in two games.

The situation is not as dire this year. In fact, the Crimson has earned itself a third place slot in the league, meaning that Harvard must win only one of its games this weekend to ensure home ice.

"Home ice is everything," said Harvard Coach Mark Mazzoleni. "Teams have a consistency at home that they don't have on the road. A team would have to come in and beat us two out of three games at home, which is tough."

But in order to avoid a dreaded post-season road trip, a feat Harvard has not accomplished since the 1997-98 season, the Crimson must topple either Yale or Princeton this weekend at Bright Hockey Center.

A sweep over the Elis (14-13-0, 10-10-0 ECAC) and the Tigers (9-14-4, 8-9-3 ECAC) at the end of last season allowed the Crimson to pull within striking distance of home ice, but Harvard cannot expect either squad to fall so easily this time around.

"The four hottest teams in the ECAC right now are St. Lawrence, Clarkson, Yale, and Princeton," Mazzoleni said. "If Yale sweeps and we lose, they get home ice. Princeton is looking to climb the ladder to get a better spot in the playoffs. At a minimum we need one point this weekend, but we have to win."

The Crimson was only able to earn a split on the road back in January. Harvard stole a 4-3 come-from-behind victory from Princeton at Hobey Baker Memorial Rink, but fell to Yale 3-1 at Ingalls rink the next night.

And to make matters worse, both the Elis and the Tigers are thick in the playoff hunt and are vying desperately for home ice. Both squads are surging after successful homestands, as Yale swept Vermont and Dartmouth, while Princeton picked up three points on the weekend.

Despite the pair's recent success, the Crimson still matches up well with its Ivy counterparts. Harvard boasts the offense of sophomore center Dominic Moore, the team's leading scorer and short-handed specialist. Moore is fourth in the conference with 28 points, and leads the league with three goals on the penalty kill.

Following Moore in the conference is rookie winger Tim Pettit, who is steadily making a case for himself in the hunt for ECAC Rookie of the Year honors. Pettit, who received Rookie of the Week accolades last week for notching three goals and six points against Clarkson and St. Lawrence, has 10 goals and 19 points under his belt in the league.

After a short string of shaky outings, senior goaltender Oliver Jonas has returned to top form. Despite tough losses to the Golden Knights and Union recently, Jonas was instrumental in key victories over the Saints and the Engineers.

Jonas certainly has earned his .920 save percentage. Currently boasting 836 saves on the season, he needs just seven more stops to shatter the single-season record set by former Crimson netminder J.R. Prestifilippo '00 during the 1996-97 season.

Of the pair, the Elis appear to be the more dangerous opponent. Yale currently boasts a three game win streak, including a 6-3 downing of R.P.I., and four wins in its last five appearances. The Eli's sudden turnaround countered a four-game losing streak and propelled Yale into sixth place in the ECAC.

The Elis recent success is owed in part to generous offensive production from its forwards. Hobey Baker candidate Jeff Hamilton leads the way for Yale, topping the league with 14 goals. Hamilton notched eight points in his past three games, including a pair of hatricks. Luke Earl posted nine points in the three-game stint, while Nick Deschenes notched seven.

"Yale plays an up-tempo offensive game," Mazzoleni said. "They pressure the puck with three men, and they get their defensemen involved in the rush. They scored on us in January in a four-on-two because of it."

Hanging on in eighth place, the Tigers have only a glimmer of a hope for home ice. Realistically, Princeton will have to settle for a post-season road trip, which it will clinch easily by taking at least one point against Harvard or Brown.

Helping out the Tigers up front is Chris Corrinet, who had a hand in all three of the Tigers' goals last weekend. Corrinet currently ranks third in the league in goals and tenth in point scoring. Kirk Lamb has also been an offensive threat for Princeton. He ranks second in the conference in assists and fifth in scoring.

Although Harvard's scoring offense--which notches an average of three goals per game--should have no trouble lighting the lamp against these two teams. Princeton netminder Dave Stathos is ninth with a .902 save percentage and touts a 3.02 GAA. Yale goalie Dan Lombard is shaky for the Elis, giving up 3.56 goals per game, and is second to last in the ECAC with a .866 save percentage.

The Crimson wins the battle on special teams as well. Although Harvard's 16.5 percent success rate on the penalty kill is dwarfed by Princeton's 19.8 percent and Yale's 20.5 percent, the Crimson should be able to stifle their offense on the man advantage with its 88.5 percent penalty kill, good for second in the league behind Cornell.

Harvard also has a chance to rejuvenate its beleaguered power play. The Tigers have only been able to muster 77.9 percent with a man down, while the Elis are suffering at 72.4 percent, putting them only ahead of bottom-feeding Brown in the ECAC.

"We're going to stay with the same scheme," Mazzoleni said. "We have rhythm on the power play, we just need to give it the opportunity to click."

If the Crimson can repeat last season's sweep over its Ivy foes, Harvard will wind up with a record of 14-14-2, its first .500 season in six years. The Crimson turned in an identical record back in the 1994-95 season.

"We are where we want to be right now," Mazzoleni said. "The question now is if we can close the door on this thing. We haven't been in this kind of position in six years."