Richter Pulled for Tobe As Crimson Falls

As the puck drifted through rookie netminder Kyle Richter’s legs and across the goal line, the Harvard men’s hockey team saw its opportunity to string together consecutive wins for the first time this season slip away.

The Crimson (3-8-0, 2-7-0 ECAC) submitted one of its worst performances of the year on Saturday night at Bright Hockey Center, relinquishing an early two-goal lead to lose, 4-2, to Princeton (2-6-2, 2-5-1).

“It was a bad effort all around the whole game,” captain Dylan Reese said. “I’m embarrassed. This is the first time that I’ve ever been embarrassed of my team in three years that I’ve been here. I can’t believe the effort we gave tonight.”

“I’m very upset at our [lack of] commitment to do the things that we know make us a successful hockey team,” added Harvard coach Ted Donato ’91. “Our inability to really commit ourselves. to outwork, out-hit, and outplay teams in our own building is alarming.”

The Crimson seized a two-goal lead within the game’s first five minutes on two power-play goals, scored by junior Jon Pelle within a minute of each other.

The Tigers, however, came back to tie it by the end of the period, scoring two man-advantage goals of their own in a whistle-filled opening frame.

Princeton’s game-winner came just 2:52 into the second. The Tigers’ Brett Westgarth fired on Richter, who managed to slow down the shot but seemed unable to find the puck as it passed through his legs and inched towards the goal line.

Darroll Powe eventually arrived to punch it home for the 3-2 lead.

The goal spelled the end of the night for Richter, who was promptly pulled in favor of senior Justin Tobe.

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

The third period afforded Harvard numerous opportunities to tie the score, including two power plays, but some poorly-advised shots and sloppy puckhandling negated any chances that developed.

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

“I’m a little sick and tired of the shots in the third period, and saying ‘Oh, jeez, that’s so close,” Donato added. “That’s a losing mentality. That’s catch-up hockey, losing hockey.”

Princeton would add an empty-netter in the game’s final minute to produce the final score.

“They deserved to win, in my mind. They made more plays than us,” Donato said. “After the two [Crimson] goals were scored, they carried the play for the majority of the night.”