Harvard Falters, Finishes Last in Beanpot

BOSTON – Yielding to the Huskies, 3-1, in the consolation round, the Harvard men’s hockey team took last place in the Beanpot tournament at the TD Banknorth Garden last night.

“For too much of the game, we didn’t do a lot of the little things that add up to success,” said Crimson coach Ted Donato ’91.

Although Northeastern (11-14-4, 7-11-4 Hockey East) outshot Harvard (10-14-1, 7-8-1 ECAC) 12-5 in the first period, neither team managed to find the back of the net, leaving both sides scoreless at the start of the game.

“I just thought it was a bad effort,” captain Dylan Reese said. “Our first period was one of the worst periods of the year. We played better in the second and third, but not a whole lot of good efforts. We looked more like the team at the beginning of the year than the team at the end of the year the last 10 games.”

An interference penalty landed Northeastern’s Aaron Moore in the box 12:16 into the first period, marking the Huskies’ second penalty of the night, but the Crimson failed to capitalize on the opportunity.

“We weren’t able to execute on special teams,” Donato said. “We’d like to have played better, but I do think Northeastern deserves a lot of credit.”

When the Huskies cleared the puck with one minute left of the power play, freshman Ian Tallett brought it up and took a shot from the left side, but Northeastern goalie Brad Thiessen knocked it away.

“We had a lot of opportunities, but the power play was terrible at the Beanpot as a whole,” Reese said. “They kept giving us power plays and power play chances to stay in the game, but we just struggled up ice to put the pressure on them. We knew what they were going to do—it wasn’t any different than anything we’d seen all year. We just struggled to get the puck in the zone and to get possession. Once we had possession, we had some opportunities, but there was just not enough possession.”

In the second period, after sophomore Nick Coskren hammered a shot at the Huskies’ goal, Thiessen deflected the puck and Northeastern’s Ray Ortiz took it down the left side. Slipping it behind Tobe’s back, Ortiz nailed the right corner of the net to break the scoring drought 3:46 into the frame.

Freshman Alex Meintel tied it up for the Crimson five minutes later, sliding by a Husky defender and letting a slapshot fly past Thiessen to score, 1-1.

But during another power play, Northeastern’s Steve Birnstill skated up to the inside of the crease and hammered a shot against the boards, which bounced back off of Tobe and landed in the net. The score gave the Huskies a 2-1 lead with just over four minutes left in the second period.

“Tonight it was just a lack of execution,” Reese said. “The plays were there, no doubt, but we looked slow getting to the puck. We just weren’t able to get the plays together out of the zone. If you can string two basic passes together in hockey, you can get the puck in the zone and get possession.”

Ten minutes into the third period, Northeastern’s Joe Santilli charged down the left side and passed the puck across the net to teammate Rob Rassey, who tapped it in from the slot to notch another goal for the Huskies. The score with 10:03 into the third period clinched Northeastern’s victory over the Crimson, 3-1.

The Huskies attempted to find the net again, as Santilli weaved his way down the center, but Reese stepped up to the challenge and regained possession of the puck for Harvard.

But it was too little, too late, as Northeastern’s defense shut out the Crimson’s attacks until the end of the game, leaving Harvard with another Beanpot loss, 3-1.

Looking to turn it around, the Crimson will take on the Bulldogs at Yale on Friday.

—Staff writer Courtney D. Skinner can be reached at cskinner@fas.harvard.edu.