Upset Eludes Yale Yet Again

NEW HAVEN, Conn.—After years of practice, the No. 11 Harvard men’s hockey team has certainly perfected the art of breaking Yale’s collective heart.

No, the Crimson’s 5-3 win on Saturday at Ingalls Rink didn’t rise to the level of last season’s four-goal come-from-behind victory, but that won’t ease the sufferings of the again-thwarted Bulldogs (3-17-1, 2-12-0 ECAC), who twice held the lead in the irst period against heavily favored Harvard (12-5-2, 9-4-1) only to cough it up within 43 seconds on both occasions.

“That was huge, especially on the road,” assistant captain Tom Cavanagh said. “Momentum is a big thing for the home team. After a goal, you want to come back and have a good shift, and if you can score a goal that’s even better.”

Of course, early on at least, it seemed unlikely that the Crimson would fall behind at all.

A pair of Yale penalties in the first 5:32 yielded several quality scoring opportunities for Harvard and forced the Bulldogs into a decidedly defensive posture. But anchored by netminder Matt Modelski, who logged 29 saves on the evening, Yale successfully killed both early minors, then took to the attack.

With junior defenseman Peter Hafner in the penalty box for hooking, the Bulldogs pounced almost immediately. Blueliner Rob Page’s effort forced a brilliant diving save from Dov Grumet-Morris, but while the Crimson netminder was sprawled on the ice, center Jeff Hristovski scooped up the rebound and knocked it home, earning Yale a 1-0 lead at 10:33 in the opening frame.

On the ensuing faceoff, freshman Dave Watters cut across center ice to steal possession of the puck, then skated in alone on Modelski.

From just inside the faceoff circle, Watters whipped a shot over the goaltender’s shoulder and under the crossbar to tie the score at 10:39, just six seconds after the Bulldogs had first claimed the lead.

“We gave up one 5-on-5 goal, and that was off a center-ice faceoff,” Yale coach Tim Taylor ’63 said. “You work so hard to get a lead, and then, the next shift, they drop the puck and six seconds later the game is tied.”

Despite the setback, the Bulldogs, and not the Crimson, appeared to retain the momentum in the tally’s immediate aftermath.

When Harvard assistant captain Ryan Lannon was sent off for interference at 13:25, Yale was back in business and, not long after, back on top following Joe Zappala’s goal from just outside the left post at 13:58.

But an interference call just 12 seconds later undercut any advantage the Bulldogs hoped to gain from the strike. Senior Andrew Lederman, positioned at the left point, deftly weaved his way past one defender and into the faceoff circle, where he skirted a pass through a collapsing lane to freshman Jon Pelle, who found the open net to tie the score once more at 14:41.

“Those answer-back goals are killers,” Taylor said. “We preach a lot as a coaching staff—and the players talk to each other about—the importance of having really good, tough, disciplined, hard-nosed shifts after we score a goal. It’s disheartening to see those.”

Though Yale held even throughout the second period, answering Harvard captain Noah Welch’s power-play strike with one of its own, the increasingly bedraggled Bulldogs scarcely challenged the Crimson for control in the third period, surrendering 12 shots while managing just two as a result of the five penalties they were assessed.

Harvard made good on its second man advantage of the period at 7:25, when Cavanagh tucked Pelle’s feed inside the left post, with a second assist credited to Lederman, who had three in total on the evening.

“That felt good,” said Cavanagh, who leads the Crimson in goals with seven but had been held without a tally since Dec. 3. “This was a big game, and it had been a while since I scored, so it was a nice one to get.”

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