Underdogged

NEW HAVEN, Conn.—They don’t call it a rivalry for nothing.

Just two weeks removed from a tough overtime loss at the Bright Hockey Center, Yale built up an early lead and held on late against the No. 14 Harvard men’s hockey team, downing the Crimson 4-3 yesterday afternoon at Ingalls Rink.

Harvard (7-4-1, 6-4-0 ECAC) has had its troubles playing complete games, but until yesterday, the problem had been finishing contests rather than having to come from behind.

“It’s been a problem for us, not deciding to play a full 60 minutes,” freshman winger Jon Pelle said. “[But] tonight, it was the first and second [periods] rather than the third.”

Despite being significant underdogs coming into the game, the Bulldogs (3-8-0, 2-6-0) started off strong, hitting hard and outskating the Crimson right from the opening faceoff.

Just 19 seconds in, Yale pivot Jean-Francois Boucher took a pass from linemate Nate Jackson and sent a shot high past Harvard netminder Justin Tobe’s blocker, giving the Bulldogs a 1-0 cushion.

Though the Crimson equalized on a power-play tally by Pelle within four minutes, three Yale goals in the second period—including two less than a minute apart—sent Harvard to the locker room down 4-1 with just 20 minutes remaining.

“I thought that 4-1 was a fair score after two periods,” Yale coach Tim Taylor said, “but I knew Harvard had more to show.”

The Crimson began to take control of the game in the third period, outshooting Yale 18-4 and responding to the Bulldogs’ physicality with some of its own.

Harvard finally broke out of its scoring difficulties at 11:49, when senior defenseman Tom Walsh one-timed a Pelle pass from the left circle high over the shoulder of Yale goaltender Alec Richards, pulling the Crimson to 4-2.

Johnson further narrowed the Bulldogs’ lead with only 76 seconds remaining. With Tobe on the bench in favor of the extra skater, the pivot took a bouncing puck in front of the Crimson net and stuffed it low past the right post.

Unfortunately for Harvard, Yale prevented the Crimson from netting the potential equalizer, repeatedly scrambling away the puck in the game’s final minute.

“I’m proud of the way we battled back, didn’t give up, and had chances to tie the game,” said Harvard coach Ted Donato ’91. “But the old adage is, ‘Catch-up hockey is losing hockey.’ We know that all too well.”

NOTES

Defenseman Jack Christian and center Paul Dufault did not play yesterday. Both sat out with nagging injuries...Coming into this weekend, Yale had zero league wins. But the Bulldogs defeated Brown 5-2 on Friday night and earned their second ECAC victory yesterday...Harvard featured an all-freshmen fourth line for the second straight game. With Dufault, a fourth-line regular, out of the lineup, first-year Steve Rolecek skated with classmates Nick Coskren and Jimmy Fraser...Tobe, the reigning ECAC Goaltender of the Week, started for the second straight game and made 20 saves in the losing effort.

—Staff writer Karan Lodha can be reached at klodha@fas.harvard.edu.