‘Bad Effort’ Leads to Another ECAC Loss

The Harvard men’s hockey team’s jubilation after scoring two quick goals in the opening minutes of Saturday night’s game deteriorated into frustration when Princeton scored three unanswered power play goals and an empty-netter in the closing seconds for a 4-2 win at the Bright Hockey Center.

“I’m embarrassed,” captain Dylan Reese said. “This is the first time that I’ve ever been embarrassed of my team in the three years that I’ve been here, I can’t believe the effort we gave tonight. We got two gifts in the first period to go up 2-0, and then we played a horrible game after that.”

Those gifts came less than one minute apart during the third and fourth minutes of the opening period, when junior forward Jon Pelle capitalized on two Princeton (2-6-2, 2-5-1 ECAC) penalties to score his third and fourth goals of the season.

In a game marked by a total of 20 penalties, half of which went against the Crimson (3-8-0, 2-7-0), all goals except the last one came on a power play. Only the first two Tiger penalties proved costly, since both came during the second minute of play, leaving Princeton two men down. Harvard spread its players around the Tigers’ net and could afford to move the puck around the Princeton zone until a quality shot opportunity arose.

Within 39 seconds, junior forward Mike Taylor found enough space to cross the puck through the defense as Pelle swooped in on the left for a shot that beat Tiger goalie Zane Kalemba inside the left post.

With the Crimson now playing with a one-man advantage, Pelle turned on the red light again when he stuffed in the rebound from sophomore defenseman Brian McCafferty’s one-time slapshot from the point.

Harvard’s good fortune ended there, as the Crimson committed six penalties before the end of the period. Princeton capitalized on two of these to tie the score before the end of the first.

“We got two goals probably without the required work and dedication that it usually takes to score,” said Harvard coach Ted Donato ’91. “Then we made some silly mistakes, cheating on the offense, and Princeton came back. They deserved to win in my mind.”

In the beginning of the second period, the Tigers scored the go-ahead goal on the power play, as a shot from the top of the Crimson zone trickled through the pads of freshman goalie Kyle Richter and stopped in the crease inches from the goal line. Before Richter was able to react, Princeton’s Darroll Powe crashed the net for an easy goal.

After that, Donato had seen enough. For the first time all season, Harvard made a change in goal during a game, with senior Justin Tobe taking over. Tobe would go on to make 15 saves in 36 minutes of play.

“I thought the third goal was a very bad goal,” said Donato of the decision to pull Richter. “We’re a fragile team right now. We couldn’t afford another one.”

However, Reese offered a slightly different view of the situation.

“I don’t think Kyle played a bad game, it’s not his fault at all,” Reese said. “I just think they want to keep him confident for the future. No reason to ruin a guy’s confidence.”

Forced to play catch-up hockey, the Crimson squandered six additional man-advantage opportunities in the final two periods. In each case, Harvard managed few quality shots, launching just two in two third-period power plays, and could mount only sporadic pressure at the Tigers’ end of the ice.

“You can’t wait and use that as an excuse, that the power play couldn’t get it done in the third,” Reese said. “[The effort] should have been there all game, not just on the power play. That’s why we lost. We got outworked.”

“Our inability to really commit ourselves. to outwork, out-hit, and outplay teams in our own building is alarming,” Donato added.

In addition, Reese criticized what he saw as a breakdown in teamwork once the Crimson found itself needing a goal to tie the game.

“What’s different from the past two years, everyone wants to do it themselves, make moves on the blue line,” he said. “We lost the puck about five times on the blue line in the third period, because everyone wants to be Wayne Gretzky.”

This defeat brings near-perfect symmetry to Harvard’s play this weekend. On Friday night, it was the Crimson who defeated Quinnipiac 4-2 despite surrendering two goals to the Bobcats in the first 11 minutes.

The Crimson returns to the ice tomorrow night against Vermont at the Bright Hockey Center.