Crimson Tops BU in Overtime

BOSTON, Mass.—Sometimes it takes a team effort, but last night, the No. 18 Harvard men’s hockey team (5-2-0, 4-2-0 ECAC) relied on stellar individual achievements for its 2-1 overtime win against the cross-town rival Boston University Terriers (3-7-2, 3-3-1 Hockey East) at the Agganis Arena.

With only 1:08 left to play in the five-minute sudden-death overtime period, sophomore forward Doug Rogers played the hero on offense.

After sophomore defenseman Alex Biega’s slapshot rebounded behind the net and bounced off the boards, it deflected back onto Rogers’ stick. His one-timer from the left post beat BU goalie Karson Gillespie to give the Crimson a victory in its first non-conference contest of the season.  

“Alex Biega took a good shot on net and it happened to bounce out to behind the net,” Rogers said. “We were talking about simplifying the game and throwing pucks at the net. I just tried to do that.”

In overtime, BU missed an excellent chance to send Harvard home to Cambridge with a loss with 3:51 remaining.

As sophomore goalie Kyle Richter stopped a puck and fell to the ice, a scuffle ensured in front of Crimson net. Before the Terriers could capitalize, they were whistled for a a high-sticking penalty that ended the play and brought the puck out of Harvard’s zone.

Despite the thrill of this overtime victory, the Crimson knows that its team play and power-play unit must perform better in the future, especially given the team’s slow start in the first period.

“In the first period, I thought we sat back,” said head coach Ted Donato ’91.

The Terriers began the game by challenging Harvard to skate to their fast style of play, and while the Crimson’s players did manage a few open shots in the beginning, they frequently struggled to maintain possession of the puck.

BU took the lead on Harvard’s only penalty of the period after co-captain David MacDonald went to the box for boarding at 7:40. Fifty-four seconds later, Pete MacArthur unleashed a slapshot that trickled over the goal line after striking Richter on his glove-side pads.

“I wasn’t totally expecting the one-timer there, but I saw it just at the last second as it snuck past the guy’s leg,” Richter said. “I would’ve liked that back, but you know, it just snuck in, so it’s a tough one.”

Despite this early snafu, Richter continued his phenomenal play between the pipes this season, as he turned away 39 shots in 63:34 minutes of play.

“Kyle’s effort all night was the only way we could stay in the game,” Donato said.

Though the Terriers only managed this lone power-play goal during the the Crimson’s only penalty of the period, Boston University’s 15-4 shot advantage in the first frame could easily have netted several more goals if not for Richter and the sturdy Harvard defense.

Such a wide shooting disparity served as a running feature throughout the night, as the game would end with the Terriers outshooting the Crimson 40-20.

When they did manage to mount an attack in the first, the Harvard players often encountered difficulty in keeping control of the puck, as BU’s defensive pressure forced hasty passes or uncontrolled stick-handling. The team’s best scoring chances came when the it managed a quick breakout from its own zone before all of the Terriers could back-check and set up in front of the Terrier net.

11:51 into the second period, senior forward Jon Pelle singlehandedly tied the score at 1-1 with some nifty stick-handling and speed skating. In one of the top goals of this season, Pelle cut up and under BU defender Kevin Shattenkirk, skated in front of the net, and fired a shot which squeezed between a sprawling Gillespie’s skate and the left post. On that play, junior defenseman Jack Christian also recorded his first assist of the season.  

After pulling even, the Crimson let six consecutive minutes of power-play hockey transpire without scoring, and only managed to fire six shots on net during its six power-play opportunities of the game.

By comparison, the Terriers unleashed nine of their 40 shots on the power-play, and Richter withstood seven shots during three Terrier power-plays in the third period.

“We didn’t look like a power play,” Donato said. “You’ve got to look like a power play before we can score, and that’s something we’ll go back to the drawing board and try to improve on.”

Despite the team’s frustration in using the power play to possess the puck and make the passes to set up a clear shot, Harvard can still count on defense to keep the team in the game, and an individual to step forward as everything hangs in the balance.  

“We had two or three great individual efforts that [allowed] us to stay in the game and win the game,” Donato said.

—Staff writer Robert T. Hamlin can be reached at rhamlin@fas.harvard.edu.