Coaches Feel M. Hockey Has Chance At Upset

Harvard hockey fans, meet the Maine Black Bears.

An introduction is certainly in order here, as the last time Harvard and Maine met in this fair Commonwealth—as they will on Saturday at the Worcester Centrum—Scott Fusco ’86 scored the game-winning goal.

As rich as the college hockey traditions are at the two schools, it’s truly amazing that their last matchup was in 1994. And that was just the sixth overall.

So number seven is on Saturday. It’ll be lucky for someone.

What are the chances that it will be Harvard? Well, better than some may think. I had the chance to speak with three coaches during the week—Dartmouth’s Bob Gaudet, Northeastern’s Bruce Crowder, and UMass-Lowell’s Blaise MacDonald—who have gone up against both the Crimson and Black Bears this season.

They seemed to think that the teams match up well with one another. Let’s break things down to find out why.

Forwards

MacDonald, whose team lost in each of its three tries against the Black Bears this season, said that Maine had four main strengths. He mentioned “offensive threats” as one of them.

No surprise there.

The Black Bears boasted three of Hockey East’s top six scorers this season, each collecting 30 points in league play: Senior forward Niko Dimitrakos, senior defenseman and captain Peter Metcalf, and junior forward Martin Kariya.

But Maine’s most dangerous player might be sophomore Colin Shields, who leads the team with 28 goals overall.

In short, the Harvard defense is going to have to be every bit as sharp as it was against Cornell in the ECAC championship game if it hopes to keep this group in check.

Dimitrakos, a second-team All-Hockey East selection, is a dynamic player who leads Maine in scoring with 19 goals and 28 assists for 47 points overall.

The Somerville native has a tendency to play well in big games. He demonstrated that by scoring four goals and assisting on three others in a two-game series with No. 5 Boston University, who awaits the winner of Saturday’s game.

For Kariya, playing hockey for the Black Bears has become somewhat of a filial obligation. His brothers Paul and Steve each won national championships at Maine, in 1993 and 1999, respectively.

Paul scored an amazing 100 points and won the Hobey Baker Award during the ’92-’93 season—his first at Maine—and is now an NHL star with the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim.

But that’s not to say that Martin is without his own merits. He potted an amazing four goals—and assisted on another—against Providence on Jan. 4.

Shields was named to the Hockey East All-Rookie team after notching 25 points in league play and 45 in all.

Depth is also a strength of the Black Bears, as 10 players have collected 20 or more points this season.

MacDonald—whose River Hawks defeated Harvard, 2-0, in the Denver Cup semifinals—indicated that Maine’s offense is catalyzed by aggressive defensive play by its forwards, something the Crimson has employed at different times this season.

“They generate most of their offense off of turnovers—through counterattacks and initial rush opportunities,” he said. “They have a very strong forecheck. They’re very aggressive in neutral zone. It’s more of a ‘1-4’ where they try to trap you, make you turn the puck over, and then really counterattack.”

In the Big Green’s 4-1 loss to the Black Bears on Jan. 6, Gaudet saw much of the same thing.

“Maine is very quick and they work hard,” Gaudet said. “They have forwards that can forecheck aggressively, but they have a lot of team speed in transition, too. They’re a well-disciplined and hard working team, in addition to that speed. They come at you. I’m not sure if they have any glaring weaknesses.”

For the moral of the story, I turn to Coach MacDonald.

“Harvard should be concerned with taking care of puck, having good numbers back, generating their offense off their defense, and creating turnovers,” he said. “Harvard’s defensemen need to really take care of puck.”

It’s pretty simple, really. Don’t feed the Bears.

That’s nothing new for the Crimson, though, as it used those strategies to beat Cornell last weekend. If it’s able to do the same on Saturday, Harvard has a good chance to win.

Defense

With both teams strong on the offensive end, this is where Saturday’s game will be won or lost. Whichever team plays better defensively, wins.

Harvard certainly has to feel good about its chances in that regard, as its defensive corps grew leaps and bounds at Lake Placid, having one of its best outings of the year against Cornell.

And if the Black Bears have had a sore spot this season, this could be it. In spite of Metcalf’s outstanding offensive contributions, it seems that Maine might be vulnerable in its own end to some extent.

“Their defense can be exploited,” MacDonald said. “It’s solid, but we had success down low against them using quick cutbacks, picks, and creating a lot of traffic. Forwards like Dominic Moore [can hurt them] with a lot of quick cutbacks. By moving their feet [Harvard forwards] can create chances.”

Crowder, who went 1-1-1 against Maine this year, agreed.

“Their defensive corps is one of the areas that might not be as strong as the other parts, and Harvard might have to exploit that,” he said. “One thing that scared me about Harvard [in the Beanpot] was their forwards. I really think that Harvard has good forwards and that they’re really quick. The onus of the game is going to rest on Harvard’s forwards to create chances.”

Some argue that the Crimson’s strong offensive performance last weekend was aided by the big Olympic sheet at Lake Placid.

Did it help? Absolutely. But at the same time, Harvard put 68 shots on goal against Brown in Game 2. That’s impressive, and it shows that the Crimson forwards are really learning to pick their spots and are getting used to playing with one another.

The bet here is that Harvard will be able to get “Grade A” chances against Maine. It just has to make sure that it does something with them.

Goaltending

Tell me if this sounds familiar.

The coach rotates two goalies for much of the season, then decides to go with one for the playoffs.

The playoff goaltender responds, starts playing well, and the team makes the NCAA tournament.

You might recognize this as the story of Harvard’s goaltending this season.

But would you believe that the same thing happened to the Black Bears?

Maine interim head coach Tim Whitehead platooned seniors Mike Morrison and Matt Yeats throughout the year, though Morrison saw the bulk of the action.

In fact, Morrison was named first team All-Hockey East at the end of the season. He was second in the league in wins (18), goals against average (2.17), and save percentage (.922).

Whitehead started Morrison in Game 1 of the Black Bears’ Hockey East quarterfinal series against Boston College, which Maine won, 7-3.

However, Whitehead felt the need for a change the next night and gave Yeats the call. He responded by leading the Black Bears to a 4-2 win and a spot in the Hockey East championships at the FleetCenter.

Whitehead stuck with Yeats for both games last weekend, a 4-3 win over BU and 3-1 loss to New Hampshire. Yeats earned Hockey East Defensive Player of the Week honors for his efforts, in addition to a spot on the All-Tournament team.

“I’m kind of surprised that Morrison didn’t play, but at same time if that’s what [Whitehead] thinks is in best interests of his team, he’s going to do that,” Crowder said. “But no matter who they put in there, they’re both good.”

The Bangor Daily News reported on Tuesday that Yeats would be the likely starter tomorrow, but that Whitehead wasn’t ruling Morrison out.

“We’re going to handle the goaltending situation the way we have all season,” Whitehead told Larry Mahoney of the Daily News. “We will finalize our lineup at all positions on the day before the game. It’s important to make sure, especially the more important the games are, that you play the goalie who is playing the best. But I wouldn’t rule out playing [Morrison] this weekend.”

Both Harvard and Maine are feeling good about their goaltending situations. In this type of situation, it’s going to come down to which goalie makes the fewest mistakes.

Special Teams

Harvard’s task in this area is a pretty simple one: Don’t make special teams an issue.

“Harvard’s going to have to stay out of penalty box because Maine’s power play has been excellent,” Crowder said.

The Black Bears have 12 power play goals in their last seven games—converting on a deadly 33 percent of their man advantage chances over that span. And Maine’s 25.1 percent efficiency throughout the year is the sixth best nationally.

Shields (seven power play goals this season) and Dimitrakos (five) are the players to watch for in these situations.

But the Crimson’s penalty kill has been superb as of late, allowing only three power play goals in the opposition’s 26 tries over the past seven games, an efficiency of just 11.5 percent.

And last weekend, each good penalty kill by Harvard seemed to spark its offense, and the Crimson was often able to sustain offensive pressure in the minutes following.

But given how hot the Black Bear power play is right now, Harvard should be sure to avoid giving Maine man-up chances at all costs.

Intangibles

Maine certainly has more NCAA experience than Harvard, and is making its fourth straight trip to the Big Dance and sixth overall to the Centrum for an NCAA East Regional.

However, none of those berths came with Whitehead at the helm. He took over this fall following the death of Former Coach Shawn Walsh on Sept. 24 due to complications from renal cell carcinoma.

Whitehead will be making his first appearance in the NCAAs as a head coach, but has assisted behind the bench during tournament games at both Maine and UMass-Lowell.

Mazzoleni is making his second trip to the NCAAs and first in the East Regionals.

Mazzoleni took Miami (Ohio) to the NCAA West Regional in Grand Rapids, Mich. in 1997 before losing to Cornell, 4-2.

Prior to that, Mazzoleni led Division-III Wisconsin-Stevens Point to three consecutive titles in 1989, ’90, and ’91.

So it seems that Maine has the more experienced team, but Harvard may have the more experienced coach.

And maybe that’s best for the Crimson. Mazzoleni has been here before and has what it takes to guide them.

Mazzoleni’s team, though, is young enough not to worry too much about what he—or anyone else, for that matter—has to say right now. Harvard is playing with a hot goaltender and nothing to lose, and that’s the best place for a hockey team to be.

“Harvard has to play their game,” Gaudet said. “They skate well. They have excellent forwards and a pretty solid defense and goaltending. At a NCAA level, they just have to go into the game and get after it. They have to play an aggressive game and take it to Maine. [Mazzoleni] will probably have them playing a good skating game.

“I think they match up well with Maine,” Gaudet continued. “I hope that they do well. I’d like to see them advance. They’ve got a nice team. They deserved to win the [league] championship and be in the national tournament.”

The Crimson is confident that it can beat anyone in the nation right now. I’ve learned not to doubt it.