Johnson’s Two Goals Fuel M. Hockey Win

TROY, N.Y.—Earning more penalties than shots on goal likely wasn’t what the No. 10 Harvard men’s hockey team had in mind entering play against Rensselaer Friday evening, looking to recover from its heartbreaking 2-1 double-overtime defeat at Northeastern’s hands four days earlier in the opening round of the Beanpot.

But, vindicated by two scores from junior Charlie Johnson and 32 saves from Dov Grumet-Morris, the Crimson’s unorthodox formula yielded a crucial 3-0 victory over the Engineers at Houston Fieldhouse, temporarily propelling Harvard (15-6-2, 12-4-1) ahead of Colgate and into second in the ECAC.

“This week for the most part we’ve tried to recover from what was physically and emotionally a great toll Monday night,” Crimson coach Ted Donato ’91. “We just had to refocus. It’s tough to complain when you win five out of six, but certainly that was one that we really wanted.”

And, at least initially, Harvard skated as though still dwelling on that loss, mustering just four shots in the first period, while surrendering 12 and taking three penalties. But the Engineers (12-17-2, 4-12-1) generated few quality chances, primarily testing Grumet-Morris from just inside the blue line as the Crimson’s defensive pairs clamped down around the crease.

Moments after their second man advantage expired, RPI was whistled for too many men on the ice, granting Harvard a temporary reprieve and its first power play of the evening. With just six seconds remaining on that 5-on-4, Dylan Reese circled back towards the blue line with the puck, opening a seam in the Engineers’ defense. Capitalizing before RPI could shuffle into position, the sophomore threaded a pass diagonally through to the right faceoff circle, where Johnson waited unmarked. His one-timer well inside the right post easily slipped past goaltender Andrew Martin, hung out to dry on the other side of his crease at 15:04.

“It was a beautiful pass,” Donato said, “and a great shot by Charlie.”

Though not statistically dominant the rest of the way, the Crimson claimed the lion’s share of the quality scoring opportunities from there on out. Freshman Dave Watters was rebuffed by Martin on a 2-on-1 rush with a minute to play in the first, and both sophomore Ryan Maki and senior Rob Flynn dinged efforts off the post less than four minutes into the second.

Eight minutes and two Harvard penalties later, freshman Jon Pelle intercepted an errant RPI clearing effort along the righthand boards, then—before the Engineers caught out of position in the transition could recover—fed Johnson, perched just beyond Martin’s crease. With a deft touch to his left, Johnson brought the puck onto his tape, then tapped home his second score of the evening and fifth of the season with 8:06 remaining in the frame.

“I’ve definitely been frustrated with the way things have been going lately,” said Johnson, who had been shifted to left wing from center as part of Donato’s lineup shakeup prior to the game. “I haven’t put up the numbers like I’ve been expecting, so I’m just trying to work hard, get to the net, try to shoot a bit more. And today things just worked out.”

More broadly, much of the Crimson’s offensive success was the result of a renewed emphasis on applying pressure around the crease and working for second-chance goals, a habit Harvard moved away from in part due to the ease with which it was able to score 20 times against Princeton, Yale and Union after returning from its exam break.

As the Crimson swarmed the goalmouth with 13:02 to play, assistant captain Tom Cavanagh—camped behind the end line to the right of the RPI net—flung the puck into the scrum, where Watters tipped home the clincher.

“We definitely need to do that a lot more,” Johnson said. “Earlier on in the year, we were getting a lot of rebound goals, just throwing to the net, crashing. We’ve kind of gotten away from that and we’ve been scoring less goals consequently.”

The Crimson returns to the FleetCenter this evening, facing off against No. 1 Boston College in the Beanpot’s consolation round.

—Staff writer Timothy J. McGinn can be reached at mcginn@fas.harvard.edu.