Special Teams Key to Recent Stretch for M. Hockey

Two weekends ago, Harvard fans roared with delight when Vermont took a two-man advantage courtesy of a pair of Crimson infractions, chanting, “Now it’s fair.” While Brown earned 11 power plays—including a pair of 5-on-3s—in this weekend’s two-game set, Harvard’s impressive special teams performance ensured that the situation was anything but fair.

During those man-down situations, the Crimson surrendered just a single tally and that came with just 10 seconds remaining in Game 1, when the final result was already well in hand. “That,” said assistant captain Tyler Kolarik, “didn’t mean anything.”

Allowing just three shots on seven power plays in Game 1 and dictating the pace of play despite its disadvantage? Now that meant something.

As did riding out 5:23 of play late in the first period of Game 2 in which Brown had at least one additional skater and two more for 37 seconds. With the Bears already in the driver’s seat, courtesy of Shane Mudryk’s tally at 12:05 in the first, sophomore Charlie Johnson was whistled for hooking exactly one minute later. Junior Ryan Lannon received a delay of game penalty for knocking the net off its moorings sliding through the crease to cover an exposed far post with just six seconds left on Johnson’s sentence.

A bench minor for too many men on the ice three-quarters of the way through an otherwise flawless penalty kill set up a third power play. But despite the constant strain on its defenders at the back, the Crimson bent without breaking, surrendering mildly threatening chances, but no golden opportunities, keeping the net unviolated.

Harvard’s shorthanded units have elevated their game in recent weeks, raising the squad’s penalty kill success rate from 79.2 to 81.8 percent in just 14 games.

During that stretch, the Crimson has successfully fended off 85.1 percent of opponents’ power-play advances, including six perfect outings. But even those numbers don’t adequately capture Harvard’s growth, since just one woeful performance—against the Catamounts in the penultimate regular-season game, in which the Crimson surrendered three power-play goals during six power plays—obfuscates the team’s actual success. In just the last five games—the season finale against upcoming semifinal opponent Dartmouth and the pair of victories over UVM and the Bears—Harvard’s penalty kill has operated at over 90 percent. Much of that improvement is due not to change in attitude or dramatic improvement in skill level, but gradual acclimation to a completely new system on special teams.

“With [first-year Union head coach] Nate Leaman’s departure, Gene Reilly came in,” Harvard coach Mark Mazzoleni said. “We’re killing penalties different now than we did last year.”

And that new system has finally begun to take hold. With vigorous pressure on the puck handler and sharp positioning which has cut down on available passing lanes, the Crimson has choked off potential attacks at the perimeter, rather than waiting and allowing opponents to bring the situation to the defense, which is precisely what Harvard’s own power-play attack is doing.

Adjusting to a similar change in strategy spearheaded by assistant coach Sean McCann ’94, the Crimson’s power-play offense is finally firing on all cylinders as well, tallying at least one goal in 12 of its last 14 games.

“Last year, with Dom Moore ’03 and Brett Nowak ’03, we ran our p.p. dominant to one side of ice,” Mazzoleni said. “I give a lot of credit to Coach McCann that he’s found the alignment that works. The last two months, our special teams have been as good as anyone. When we got healthy and had our special teams emerge, that’s when we started to make the turn.”

Though the Bears limited the number of shots the Crimson managed to fire at netminder Yann Danis with an extra skater, Harvard’s crisp side-to-side puck movement—highlighted by tic-tac-toe inside out movement that netted a pair of extra-man tallies—ensured it made the most of the limited opportunities. On eight power-play shots, the Crimson scored three times, including a pair from Mr. March Kolarik.

After languishing at 13.5 percent just 14 games ago, Harvard has raised its team conversion rate to 17.4—and 25 percent in the last five games. “The special teams,” Kolarik said, “won the series this weekend...The power play is clicking.”

And as long as that’s true, it won’t ever be fair for the Crimson’s opponents.

—Staff writer Timothy J. McGinn can be reached at mcginn@fas.harvard.edu.