Young Skaters Propel Crimson Offense

BOSTON—In big games, it’s often veterans who guide the team to victory. But last night at TD Banknorth Garden, it was Harvard’s younger players who led the scoring charge for the men’s hockey team.

Sophomore Jon Pelle notched two goals and the all-freshman fourth line of Nick Coskren, Jimmy Fraser, and Steve Rolecek accounted for two more in the Crimson’s 5-0 rout of Northeastern (2-20-6, 2-13-6, Hockey East).

“It’s nice to see the freshmen have such a big game for us,” said Harvard coach Ted Donato ’91. “And Jon Pelle [went] through a stretch where he was a little snakebitten, but now he seems to be finding the right areas and getting some bounces.”

Pelle scored the Crimson’s fourth and fifth goals, enlarging a lead that already seemed quite secure.

His first score came just 41 seconds after Coskren put Harvard (14-9-2, 10-7-1 ECAC) ahead 3-0. Sophomore center Paul Dufault won a faceoff in the left circle of the Huskies’ zone, passing the puck forward to linemate Dave Watters. Watters fed the puck to the streaking Pelle at the right post for an easy put-away that gave the Crimson a 4-0 lead at the second intermission.

Pelle accounted for the final 5-0 tally by stuffing the rebound from a Ryan Maki shot midway through the third period.

But by that point, the game was long over.

“We were outplayed, we lost puck battles, we were outshot—end of story,” Northeastern coach Greg Cronin said.

Rolecek registered his first collegiate goal in a bizarre fashion.

With the fourth line on the ice, Coskren carried the puck into the zone, wound up, and fired from the right circle towards the left side of the net. The puck ricocheted off Rolecek’s leg, bouncing through the crease and past Huskies netminder Adam Geragosian to increase Harvard’s cushion to 2-0 at 8:36 of the second frame.

Coskren added a tally 10 minutes later, picking up a rebound in the slot and sending it into the top right corner.

TO-BE PERFECT

With regular starter John Daigneau resting for the night, Crimson goaltender Justin Tobe made 24 saves in the winning effort, earning his first career shutout.

Tobe’s night almost ended early when a Northeastern player stumbled into the net in the 14th minute of the first period, knocking the netminder over. But Tobe stood up and shook it off.

He would go on to make some acrobatic saves, including a flashy point-blank stop of Huskies blueliner Brian Deeth’s shot with Northeastern on the power play in the third period.

But all in all, it was a relatively straightforward night for the Harvard goaltender.

“The team scored early goals, which takes a lot of pressure off,” Tobe said, adding, “It was a real easy night.”

POWERFUL PERFORMANCE

The Crimson man advantage units followed up a solid game against Princeton on Friday with another effective night against the Huskies, launching 18 shots in eight opportunities and earning two goals for the effort.

Though Harvard failed to score during 44 seconds of 5-on-3 time early in the first period, the power-play units moved the puck well and created scoring chances throughout the night.

The Crimson’s two man advantage tallies bookended its three even-strength goals, with Maki kicking off the scoring at 3:35 of the first period and Pelle capping it at 11:33 of the third period.

NOTES

Four out of Harvard’s five freshmen in the lineup earned two points on the scoresheet. Rolecek and Coskren assisted each other’s goals, Fraser contributed to both of his linemates’ goals, and rookie defenseman Brian McCafferty was credited with secondary assists on the Crimson’s two power play goals…Senior blueliner Tom Walsh was nominated yesterday for the Walter Brown award, awarded annually to the best collegiate hockey player in New England…The Crimson held the Northeastern power play scoreless in six chances, including three opportunities in the third period…Last night’s contest was Harvard’s final non-conference matchup of the season.

—Staff writer Karan Lodha can be reached at klodha@fas.harvard.edu.