M. Hockey Makes Home Advantage Count

Lynah it isn’t, but the Bright Hockey Center is scary nonetheless.

Even when there is an official sellout, and the attendance reads the rink’s legal capacity of 2,776, there are plenty of red seats that remain glaringly empty.

Yet the Crimson is now 11-1-0 at home this season, and the lone loss came at the hands of then-No. 13 Colgate after 15 days of Christmas break.

“We wanted to establish, as a team, this being a tough place to play,” said Harvard coach Ted Donato ’91.

A .917 win percentage in Bright will do just that, as will four victories over top-15 squads. As will the 41-18 margin by which the Crimson has outscored its visiting opponents.

Fans or no fans, Harvard has managed to turn its home ice into one of the more hostile environments for traveling teams.

“It can get away from you in here,” St. Lawrence coach Joe Marsh admitted after Harvard dropped his team 5-2. “I’ve been in here where it really can get away from you, and you just want to go out and wait in the parking lot.”

Of course, Marsh was referencing previous years—ones which didn’t always see such a barren Bright.

Marsh has coached the Saints since 1985, and Harvard won a national championship in 1989. The late 1990s, however, saw no such success.

“Some of [the emptiness] has to do with the way the program has struggled lately, in recent years,” assistant captain Tom Cavanagh said. “I’ve heard from other people that when [the Crimson] was really good, the Bright Center did sell out all the time.”

Well, now Harvard is 11-1 at the Bright, with one more regular season game and then a home playoff series on the horizon.

“Having a lot of people there gives everyone a little extra boost,” Cavanagh said. “If you’re a little tired and you have the crowd roaring, it gives you that little extra energy that you need.”

TAKING SHOTS

For the first time since an 8-1 blowout victory over Union on Feb. 1, Harvard managed both to outshoot its opponent and come away with the win.

The Crimson fired an impressive 42 shots on goal against St. Lawrence and 42 against Clarkson, the highest totals for Harvard since the Crimson’s 47-shot performance in a 3-1 November win over Yale.

Throughout the season, Harvard has relied more upon shooting efficiency than volume. In the 24 games leading up to this weekend’s competition, the Crimson has outshot opponents just nine times and generated over 40 shots on goal in only two games.

Friday and Saturday night, however, Harvard peppered the Golden Knights’ and the Saints’ goalkeepers for 84 shots and 10 goals.

“We were just dominant,” sophomore forward Ryan Maki said.

Harvard used the first period in both games to assert itself offensively, outshooting Clarkson 17-10 and St. Lawrence 15-10 in the opening frames. Saturday night, the Crimson generated much of its offense by rushing the net and getting three or four attempts at the goal on several possessions.

“You’re not going to score goals unless you crash the net,” Maki said. “Pretty much all of our goals were right on the net.”

A SHARE OF THE RECORD

Goaltender Dov Grumet-Morris has always downplayed the possibility that he might break the Crimson’s career shutout record of nine.

“I haven’t really given it much thought,” Grumet-Morris said after the Crimson’s 3-0 drubbing of Rensselaer gave him eight career whitewashes, one off the record held by Grant Blair ’86.

And Friday night, after a 5-0 victory over Clarkson gave Grumet-Morris a share of the mark, the senior swore that “it doesn’t really mean much, to be honest with you.”

His coach, on the other hand, deemed it “quite an honor.”

“It’s nice to be a part of it,” Donato said.

Saturday’s Senior Night offered the perfect chance for the soon-to-graduate goaltender to claim the record for himself, but Grumet-Morris’ bid was ruined 6:27 into the second frame, when St. Lawrence’s Mike Zbriger scored the first of his two goals on the night.

Tuesday night, Grumet-Morris will have his last chance to set the record before a regular-season home crowd, when Harvard takes on travel-partner Brown.

And while Grumet-Morris might not care, his teammates do.

“It’s awesome,” said classmate and captain Noah Welch. “I hope he gets it more than anything.”

ON THE RISE

After surrendering two power-play goals in its 4-1 Beanpot loss to Boston College, the Crimson penalty kill went a perfect 11-for-11 over the weekend, bringing the units’ success rate to nearly 83 percent, a vast improvement from earlier stretches.

The Crimson has allowed 23 power-play goals on the season, but neither the Saints nor the Golden Knights could crack Harvard’s stalwart defensive unit.

As the team has all season long, the Crimson relied upon Grumet-Morris’ stellar play in short-handed situations.

“Obviously Dov [is] our best penalty killer,” Donato said. “That certainly helps.”

Grumet-Morris, however, didn’t see much in the way of shots on goal during St. Lawrence’s power play. Against the Saints, Harvard served 14 penalty minutes—eight coming in the third period—but surrendered just two shots while shorthanded.

In the shutout victory over Clarkson, Harvard netted a shorthanded goal, and Grumet-Morris turned away all nine shots the Golden Knights managed down a man.

“I thought our penalty kill was really solid,” Donato said. “I thought we were in sync and did what we were trying to do to defend what is a very dangerous power play.”

ALONG THE BOARDS

With Saturday night’s victory, the Crimson clinched, at worst, a fourth place finish in the ECAC standings. The top four teams are guaranteed a first-round ECAC Tournament bye, but Harvard won’t know its quarterfinal opponent until the completion of the first round...For just the third time in his career, assistant captain Ryan Lannon enjoyed a multi-point weekend, earning one assist against the Golden Knights and two against the Saints. The blueliner led his team with a +5 weekend...Saturday’s Senior Night honored the seven soon-to-be-graduates, even though Tuesday’s tussle with Brown will end the regular season at home. The weekend game was chosen ensure easier travel for the players’ families and friends...Saturday’s win, Harvard’s 17th on the season, officially tied Donato with Bill Cleary ’56 as the winningest rookie skipper in Crimson history. Cleary, who would coach Donato when the latter was a student, went 17-8-1 during the 1971-1972 campaign, his first as Harvard coach.

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

—Staff writer Aidan E. Tait can be reached at atait@fas.harvard.edu.