M. Hockey Opens Playoffs

Do you remember the last month of Harvard men’s hockey?

After going 2-8-1 since the beginning of February, the Crimson (11-14-4, 10-9-3 ECAC) certainly doesn’t want to. But thankfully for Harvard, success in the ECAC tournament could make those struggles a distant memory.

The Crimson’s quest for the title begins this weekend as it hosts Ivy League rival Brown (14-13-2, 10-10-2) in a best-of-three series. The puck is set to drop at the Bright Hockey Center at 7 p.m. both tonight and tomorrow, with an “if-necessary” game scheduled for the same time Sunday.

The winner of this series will clinch one of five berths in the ECAC Hockey Championships at Lake Placid, N.Y. on March 14-16. The eventual tournament champion will receive the league’s only automatic bid to the NCAA championships later this month.

Harvard, though, is most concerned about this weekend and what it can do to escape the demons of its post-exam funk. Despite its poor finish, the Crimson finished third in the ECAC, earning Harvard home ice in the first round. It will also be playing without sophomore forward Dennis Packard, who’s been sidelined with a bout of pneumonia.

“The playoffs are a clean slate for us,” said junior forward Dominic Moore. “They’re a brand new season and a fresh start. Hopefully we’ve gotten all the losing out of our system. It’s win or die now.”

Harvard Coach Mark Mazzoleni said that the core of Harvard’s recent trouble has been the Crimson’s inability to take early leads.

“We’re getting shots and scoring chances, but we’re just not finishing real well,” said Mazzoleni, whose team has scored first in only eight of its 29 games this season.

“Then we’re getting behind, and it’s difficult to play from behind. We just have to really bear down and finish so we can get a quick start and get a lead. And with a lead comes confidence,” Mazzoleni said.

In the same vein, taking the early lead in the series seems just as critical for the Crimson, which has never come back from a 1-0 deficit to win a playoff series.

“It’s very, very key to come out and get a victory in the first game,” Mazzoleni said. Harvard is 3-3-0 in Mazzoleni’s two previous trips to the ECAC postseason.

Moore pointed to the series’ short duration as added incentive to come out firing offensively.

“In a short, best-of-three series, momentum is crucial,” said Moore, tied for second on the team in scoring with nine goals and 16 assists. “We need to get a quick start and set the tone for the weekend.”

Equally important for Harvard will be its play in the defensive zone, especially in goal. Breaking from his goaltending rotation of sophomore Will Crothers and freshman Dov Grumet-Morris, Mazzoleni has decided to go with Grumet-Morris for at least the first two games this weekend.

“Dov’s going to go,” Mazzoleni said. “He has played very well for us the past three games. You can’t keep flip-flopping around trying to find someone.”

Crothers and Grumet-Morris each appeared in 16 games during the regular season. Grumet-Morris was at his best in league play, posting a 2.68 goals per game average through the conference schedule and going 6-5-0 against ECAC competition.

While the Crimson’s goaltending has been in a state of flux through much of the year, stability between the pipes has become the hallmark of its opponent.

After backing up senior Brian Eklund for the early stages of this season, Brown sophomore goaltender Yann Danis seized the starting spot immediately after the Bears’ 5-2 loss to Harvard on Dec. 8, and he has not relinquished it.

Danis has taken both the ECAC and college hockey by storm. He backstopped huge non-conference wins over No. 4 St. Cloud State and No. 13 UMass-Lowell and racked up a six-game ECAC win streak during which he allowed just over one goal per game. In short, he has been the main reason that Brown has gone 10-5-0 since Jan. 12 and could finish with its first winning season since 1994-95.

The good news for the Crimson faithful, though, is that Danis slipped a bit last weekend, allowing three goals against Princeton and four the next night against Yale, as the Bears—like Harvard—were swept by their Ivy League rivals to end the regular season.

“Prior to last weekend, Brown had been the best team in the ECAC since Christmas,” Mazzoleni said. “They’ve been very, very good, and I can attribute that to one thing—Yann Danis.”

Moore knows that his team will have to work hard for each goal.

“We haven’t played against [Danis], but we’ve watched some tape, so we know what his tendencies are,” Moore said. “We’ll try to watch him early in the first game to see if we can exploit some weaknesses, but we have to get to the net and create some chances.”

Getting quality shots off will be tough, as the Bears defense demonstrated in their 4-2 win over Harvard to begin the season.

The Bears are less effective in the offensive zone, as they are ranked tenth in the ECAC in scoring offense (2.36 goals per game).

The last time Harvard and Brown met in the ECAC playoffs was the semifinal round of the 1994 tournament. The Crimson won that game, 5-1, and went on to defeat RPI in the championship game. The team would advance to the Frozen Four that year, losing in overtime to eventual champion Lake Superior State.

Harvard has not won an ECAC title since.