Harvard Holds Off Late Eagles Charge

CHESTNUT HILL, Mass.—Charlie Johnson caught the puck on his stick and paused a moment as skaters swarmed Harvard’s defensive zone. And then, with one mighty heave, the forward launched the puck the length of the Kelley Rink ice and watched it glide into Boston College’s empty net.

Eight seconds remained on the clock, and the No. 5 Eagles—who had whittled the Crimson’s 4-0 lead into a mere one-goal advantage—had yanked their goalie for an extra skater nearly two full minutes ago. They attacked, pressing a Harvard defense that stood nearly still, hitting the crossbar, and pushing another shot just wide.

But Johnson’s empty-netter sealed the 5-3 contest, and the Crimson bench finally exhaled.

“It’s a game we can learn a lot of lessons from,” said Harvard coach Ted Donato ’91, whose team has watched late leads evaporate in three consecutive contests. “I prefer to learn my lessons as [we] win, [rather than] lose.”

The No. 19 Crimson (4-2-0, 3-2-0 ECAC) went up 2-0 in the first period on power-play scores sparked by sophomore Paul Dufault.

Just past the 16-minute mark, the forward battled along the right boards, pressed past a defender, and shipped the puck to classmate Dave Watters, who netted it high past BC goalie Corey Schneider. And then at 19:37, Dufault earned his sixth point in three games when he wrapped around the net and fed Ryan Maki, who swatted his own rebound out of the air to beat Schneider.

Despite mustering just three shots in the second period, the Crimson took a 4-0 edge with a power-play tally by Jon Pelle and an even-strength strike by Dan Murphy. Nathan Gerbe finally chipped a man-advantage puck past Harvard netminder John Daigneau at 18:21, but the second-intermission buzzer sounded on a game the Crimson still owned, 4-1.

Harvard had converted three of its four power plays, and its penalty kill had held the Eagles (4-3-1, 3-1-1 Hockey East) scoreless on eight of its nine shots.

“We just didn’t play 60 full minutes,” BC coach Jerry York said, stressing his team’s early woes, “but that’s because Harvard didn’t let us.”

But then came the third period. A Peter Harrold shot high over Daigneau at 12:47. A Brock Bradford score less than three minutes later. A timeout followed by nearly two full minutes of goalie-less Eagles attack.

“They poured it on,” Daigneau said. “They were a different team.”

It was a risky strategy, pulling Schneider with so much time left to play. But “without a timeout,” York explained, “we might never have gotten our 6-on-5 team involved.”

And it very nearly worked. Sustained pressure around Daigneau’s crease brought the crowd of 5,421 to its feet, a crowd that seemed to know BC would score to tie the game.

And then Johnson found the puck and paused. And sent it the length of the ice. And the crowd went silent. And the Harvard bench exhaled.

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