Sophomore Surprise Steps Into Spotlight

Sophomore forward Paul Dufault finds himself in an unusual position these days. With three goals and two assists to his name, the pivot ranks third on the team’s points list with an even average of one per game.

He skated in just five contests last season, but in the same number of games this time around, he’s quintupled his offensive output from the 2004-2005 campaign.

“Last year was definitely a learning experience,” Dufault said Saturday in the Bright Hockey Center interview room, after his three power-play points helped down No. 17 Colgate, 6-4.

Harvard’s senior-laden offense left little room for rookies last year, and Dufault watched most of the games from the press box. But this season looks to promise him significant ice time.

In Friday’s 4-3 loss to No. 3 Cornell, Dufault opened up the scoring with a tally just 2:12 into the game. Saturday, when the Crimson (3-2-0, 3-2-0 ECAC) trailed the Raiders 1-0 in the first period, Dufault crashed the net and knocked home the power-play equalizer. He later put Harvard up 4-1 at 14:22 in the second after a man-advantage, 3-on-2 rush.

“Coach [Ted] Donato [’91] was telling us to use our speed—we could beat the [defensemen]—so I tried to drive it wide,” Dufault explained.

He dropped the puck to forward Dave Watters, who launched it at Colgate goaltender Mark Dekanich.

“It trickled through,” Dufault smiled. “I had to make sure it went in.”

An assist on Brian McCafferty’s third-period goal pushed Dufault’s points total to three on the night.

POWER SURGE

After a 1-for-12 mark during last weekend’s road trip to Quinnipiac and Princeton, Harvard’s power-play units put together a 6-for-12 homestand, notching two strikes against the Big Red (4-2-0, 3-1-0) and four against Colgate (6-2-1, 3-1-0).

Dufault’s game-tying goal in Saturday’s first period came with the man advantage, as did the tallies that put the Crimson up 3-1, 4-1, and 6-1.

Harvard was “pretty good” against Colgate, Donato said. And against Cornell, “we moved the puck around, used the options, and I thought it was a huge difference in the game. Our power play was able to score when the game was up for grabs.”

JUST SHOOT ME

Cornell ended Friday night with a 31-22 shots-on-goal advantage, holding Harvard to just six in the second period and five in the third.

Saturday against the Raiders, however, the Crimson ended the night with a 37-25 edge, never taking less than 10 in a single period.

So far this season, Harvard is averaging 30.2 shots on goal per game, while opponents are launching just 24.8 of their own.

ALONG THE BOARDS

Harvard’s penalty kill went 5-for-8 against Colgate and 2-for-4 against the Big Red, which means its average has now dropped to 75.8 percent, the No. 49 kill rate in the nation…Just five games into the season, every Crimson player to skate more than one game has notched a point. Junior Kevin Du leads the team with two goals and six assists…Freshman Nick Coskren, who has managed three points thus far, left the ice during the third period on Saturday night in obvious pain after sliding into the boards.

—Staff writer Rebecca A. Seesel can be reached at seesel@fas.harvard.edu.