All Smiles: Harvard 6, Cornell 2

ALBANY, N.Y.—After dozens of pictures had been taken of smiles so broad they might snap, and after the Whitelaw Trophy had been lifted, and after the brand-new ECAC tournament champion hats had been distributed, all that remained was a pile of Crimson gloves and helmets and sticks around the crease of Harvard’s goal.

That was where the Crimson congregated when the final seconds evaporated in Saturday’s 6-2 victory over Cornell in the ECAC Tournament final. The skaters congratulated senior netminder John Daigneau—who was named the Most Outstanding Player of the All-Tournament team with his 53 saves and three goals on the weekend—and then they milled about the Pepsi Arena ice, posing and grinning and milking the celebration.

It was Harvard’s third championship in five consecutive final appearances against the Big Red, which previously won in 2003 and 2005.

“I thought our guys played superbly,” was the simple opening remark of Harvard coach Ted Donato ’91. His team entered the final four weekend as the bottom seed, but after a 10-1 thrashing of top-seeded Dartmouth on Friday night, Harvard managed five power-play goals against a Cornell penalty kill that had had not yielded a goal in its last 26 opportunities.

“I’ve got to say, it was kind of a shock,” said senior winger Dan Murphy, who knocked home the third and fifth goals. But he echoed the mantra of every Crimson skater who met the media on Saturday: “throw pucks on net, and good things will happen.”

Just four and a half minutes into the first period, junior Dylan Reese launched a man-advantage slapshot from the middle of the blue line that sailed wide and bounced off the boards behind netminder David McKee. The carom angled perfectly toward Harvard winger Jimmy Fraser, who beat McKee glove-side for the 1-0 lead.

With just five seconds remaining on a later five-on-three power play, Reese doubled Harvard’s lead with a low shot from the right circle that sailed between McKee and the right post. And with another Cornell penalty in the final minute of the first frame, Murphy widened the gap to 3-2 with an easy right-post rebound. Already committed to the left post, McKee could only reach back with his glove, which Murphy avoided easily.

But while the Crimson went unpenalized during the Big Red’s five-penalty first frame, which ended with three Cornell shots on goal versus its opponent’s trio of goals, Harvard made six trips to the sin bin in the second period.

The Crimson killed every penalty, but the Big Red gathered momentum as the period waned. Finally, at 14:10, Michael Kennedy stripped the puck from defenseman Jack Christian, skated towards the goal with Christian and Peter Hafner tailing, and beat Daigneau from close range. And when Ryan O’Byrne’s screened slapshot off the draw made it a one-goal game with 1:24 remaining, the Cornell-heavy crowd came to life.

And then came the “turning point,” according to Donato.

Harvard’s struggles playing with the lead were well documented in the season’s early goings, when multi-goal leads were whittled down and the Crimson resorted to a cautious game. But Saturday night, with its lead down to one, the Crimson went for it.

Fraser was replaced by Murphy on a faceoff in the Cornell zone, and though the latter couldn’t get his stick to the ice, he kicked the puck forward to Fraser, who slipped it neatly past McKee for the 4-2 lead.

“Turned the momentum right around,” Donato said.

Murphy iced the game 5:46 into the third, when McKee left the net to play the boards but the puck squirted back into the slot, where the winger barreled forward. Murphy launched one shot that hit a scrambling McKee in the back, but the rebound dribbled straight back out and the forward made the second one count.

Murphy and Fraser both ended the night with four points—a solid night for the former, on whom the Crimson largely depends for offense, and a shocking night for the latter, who entered the contest with one goal in 33 games.

All of the rookie’s points came as a result of his substitution for Jon Pelle on the power play after the sophomore left the first shift of the game with a lower-leg injury.

Kevin Du added an even-strength goal near the 10-minute mark of the third period for good measure, and then all that was left to do was wait on the clock—wait, look at the stunned Cornell fans, and then storm the ice, toss the equipment and smile for the cameras.

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