Shots on Goal Key to Eagles' Victory

BOSTON—This time, the shot charts told the whole story.

One game removed from a 3-0 win over Rensselaer in which it was outshot 32-16, the No. 9 Harvard men’s hockey team tested No. 1 Boston College’s goaltenders Corey Schneider and Matti Kaltiainen with just 24 shots—18 fewer than the Eagles sent at the Crimson net en route to their 4-1 victory.

Not surprisingly, the disparity was most pronounced in the fateful second period, in which BC notched each of its first three goals. Harvard failed to muster a single shot for the frame’s first 11 minutes, while the Eagles lobbed volley after volley at Dov Grumet-Morris’ cage.

“I don’t always agree with looking at a shot total to describe who is winning or losing the game,” Crimson coach Ted Donato ’91 said. “But certainly when it’s that wide a margin there’s got to be some reason for it. I thought they outplayed us for the majority of the game.”

In all, BC—aided by four Harvard penalties—managed 18 shots on goal in the frame, dwarfing the Crimson’s three, none of which came from inside the faceoff circles.

LOOKING AHEAD

Losing to BC places Harvard in a particularly delicate position entering its final regular season stretch.

Once a shoo-in for the NCAA tournament with an outside chance at a top seed, the Crimson must now close out the remainder of its slate nearly error-free in order to solidify its positioning for an at-large bid in the event that it falls short in the ECAC tournament and fails to capture the league’s autobid.

After its loss and prior to the Beanpot final yesterday evening, Harvard was locked in a four-way tie with Boston University, New Hampshire and North Dakota for ninth place in the pairwise rankings, which attempt to duplicate the selection process employed by the NCAA selection committee.

Quality wins earlier this season will likely improve the Crimson’s standing—bonus points are awarded at the discretion of the committe—but losses to any of the five ECAC opponents remaining on the team’s docket will push Harvard closer to the lower bound for at-large bids.

Working under the assumption that the conference champions from the ECAC, WCHA, CCHA and Hockey East would also qualify for at-large bids, the Crimson can likely fall no lower than No. 14 to be guaranteed a trip to the tournament, and major upsets in any of those four leagues’ tournaments would raise that bar even higher.

Until then, though, Harvard’s stated primary focus will remain the conference tournament and the only path to an NCAA berth over which it has complete control.

“I think it’s just important for us to win for the sake of momentum and for the sake of confidence, because [now] is when you want to play your best,” Grumet-Morris said. “In terms of the pairwise, this team knows more than any other that that stuff literally does not get decided until the last game before the NCAAs, in the last game of your tournament…You don’t really worry about that until you get to it.”

SAY WHAT?

Those arriving at the “KurtCenter” yesterday evening weren’t mishearing the Beanpot public address announcer. For one day, the FleetCenter was renamed as part of a Massachusetts teenager’s Make-A-Wish Foundation gift.

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