Crimson Caps Weekend Sweep By Shutting Out Brown

Defense wins championships.

If this popular sports mantra is true, then the Crimson, for the first time all season on Sunday, looked to have its eyes on the prize.

Senior goaltender John Daigneau posted the first shutout of his career to spur Harvard’s gritty and defense-dominated 2-0 win yesterday over Brown (2-4-0, 2-4-0 ECAC).

The defense, led by Daigneau, powered the Crimson’s victory—a strange turn of events for a team usually so dependent on its offensive firepower.

It is a positive sign for a squad that has surrendered late leads and given up many costly goals in the recent weeks.

Harvard’s defensive effort was highlighted during a 5-on-3 penalty kill in the middle of the first period. Daigneau’s numerous saves on slapshots and one-timers from point-blank range combined with the solid play of the defense spelled failure for the Bears’ chances to capitalize on their huge advantage.

The Crimson (6-2-0, 5-2-0) followed this stop by suffocating Brown’s ensuing 5-on-4 power play.

“It was definitely a big momentum boost to kill both those penalties,” Daigneau said, “We’ve been getting better [on defense] slowly, so it was a great job to hold them to 0-for-6 on penalties today.”

The team’s penalty-killing success continued throughout the game, as Harvard killed all six of the Bears’ power-play opportunities.

But the Crimson’s success was mainly a result of Daigneau’s key saves. With Brown mounting a last-ditch attack in the third period, his play kept the Bears at bay.

In the middle of the period, a sprawling save was quickly followed by a big stop on a Brown 2-on-1.

“[Daigneau] is getting more confident each time he goes out,” said Harvard coach Ted Donato ’91. “I think he’s got great amounts of talent, and it’s nice to see him be rewarded for all his hard work.”

On the offensive end, Harvard also put the pressure on from the start.

Despite failing to score on its first power play, the Crimson didn’t miss a beat and netted its first goal just six seconds later. As the fifth Brown skater took the ice, sophomore forward Paul Dufault passed from the right circle behind the net to junior forward Ryan Maki. After corralling the puck, Maki sent a pass to the tape of sophomore forward Dave Watters for a one-timer under the glove of Brown netminder Adam D’Alba.

The Crimson dominated on the defensive and offensive end, but seemed to struggle at the beginning of the game with one of its strengths, failing to score on its first three power-play attempts.

But with 3:43 to play in the first period, and with the Bears’ fourth penalty waning, the Crimson finally got its top-ranked man-advantage unit going. Sophomore winger Jon Pelle’s pass from the left circle set up senior center Charlie Johnson’s blast from the point, which senior forward Dan Murphy deflected through D’Alba’s five-hole to give Harvard a 2-0 lead. It was Murphy’s team-leading sixth goal of the season.

For the first time in almost a month, the Crimson maintained its level of play for 60 full minutes, closing out an important victory.

“I thought we played a smart, solid game today,” Donato said. “We’re starting to understand what it takes to play hard at the end.”