Long Trip Yields Split for No. 14 Harvard

For the second year in a row, the No. 14 Harvard men’s hockey team split its Thanksgiving weekend in North Country, losing to Clarkson and then beating No. 12 St. Lawrence.

Two points in two days, plus 15 hours of driving.

“This is just a tough road trip in general,” Crimson captain Peter Hafner said, “and they’re really good teams this year.”

The weekend put Harvard (7-3-1, 6-3-0 ECAC) and the Saints (10-4-0, 6-2-0) in a tie for first in the league standings, with 12 points apiece, while the Golden Knights (9-4-1, 5-2-1) are now one point back, alone in third place.

HARVARD 4, ST. LAWRENCE 3

CANTON, N.Y.—Crimson netminder Justin Tobe collected 43 saves Saturday in Appleton Arena for his first win of the year, but it was St. Lawrence that took a first-period lead when Brock McBride launched a shot to the goalie’s right. Tobe shifted to block the puck, but Mark Wallmann was perfectly planted to the netminder’s left and stuffed home the rebound before Tobe could slide across the crease at 12:01.

Harvard winger Steve Mandes knotted the score 1:44 into the second period with a back-handed effort from just outside the crease, and senior Dan Murphy put the Crimson up 2-1 exactly six minutes later when he stuffed home a pretty feed from Kevin Du along the boards behind the goal.

But halfway through the second period, the whistles began to echo within the wooden confines of Appleton Arena.

During one stretch in the middle of the frame, Harvard skated off 2:24 of 5-on-3 play and 5:36 of the total St. Lawrence power play with just one second of even strength in the middle. The Saints failed to score, thanks in large part to Tobe in net and a handful of well timed blocks by Harvard’s penalty kill.

“We were shorthanded for what seemed like most of the game,” Hafner said, “but still, I felt like we were always in control.”

And just as time expired on the final penalty—against freshman Jimmy Fraser for slashing—the puck slid into the neutral zone and Harvard broke towards Saints goaltender Kevin Ackley. Crimson junior Ryan Maki skated the puck up the right and shipped it across the slot to Du, who passed it back over to Fraser. The rookie, just 10 seconds out of the sin bin, went top shelf over Ackley for the 3-1 lead.

Sophomore Jon Pelle upped Harvard’s lead to 4-1 in the third with a bouncing tip-in, though St. Lawrence made it interesting with two goals in the last two minutes, the second with the goalie pulled. The Crimson trapped the puck as the final seconds ticked off to preserve the win.

CLARKSON 4, HARVARD 3

POTSDAM, N.Y.—Crimson coach Ted Donato ’91 was understandably displeased after Friday’s 4-3 loss to the Golden Knights, saying, “In the first 40 minutes, we played four minutes of the type of hockey that we’re capable of.”

Clarkson jumped ahead early on its Cheel Arena ice, taking a shorthanded, 1-0 lead just 26 seconds into Harvard’s first power play at 3:15. The Golden Knights’ Brodie Rutherglen skated the puck up the right side and connected with Grant Clitsome, who hoisted it over Crimson goaltender John Daigneau from the high slot.

Rookie Shea Guthrie upped the lead to 2-0 when he beat Diagneau glove-side at 13:58, and an interference whistle on Hafner at 16:25 only seemed to augment the Crimson’s worries.

But less than a minute later, Golden Knights sophomore David Cayer was called for cross-checking, and Harvard needed just 18 seconds to capitalize.

Junior blueliner Dylan Reese put the Crimson on the board with a screened slapshot from the blue line at 17:33, and just 40 seconds later, Brian McCafferty and Ryan Maki knotted the score at two with another 4-on-4 tally, this the result of a odd-man rush by which Maki roofed the puck over Clarkson netminder Kyle McNulty.

But that would be it for Harvard. With Dylan Reese tucked safely into the penalty box for high sticking just nine seconds into the second period, Golden Knight Jeff Genovy pushed the puck past Daigneau from between the circles for the 3-2 lead.

The Crimson killed off Paul Dufault’s tripping penalty at 9:23, but just two seconds after Dufault was sprung from the box, Reese was whistled for roughing, and Harvard couldn’t manage the kill for another two minutes. Daigneau never even reacted to Michael Genzy shot from the blue line that put Clarkson up 4-2.

“That was the difference in the game,” Golden Knights coach George Roll said. “We were 2-for-[6], they were 0-for-[6], so that was the key to the game, obviously.”

The Crimson failed to score in six man-advantage opportunities with a power play Donato deemed “inept,” and the coach’s pulled Daigneau in favor of backup Justin Tobe for the third period.

Tobe stopped all nine shots he faced in the final frame, and precisely five minutes in, Mike Taylor found Steve Mandes in front of the left circle. Mandes beat McNulty low to bring Harvard to 4-3, but it was as close as the Crimson got.

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