Second Solid Win of Weekend in Nailbiter

Coming off a 5-1 victory against No. 16 Clarkson, the Harvard men’s hockey team (4-2-0, 4-2-0, ECAC) finished off its second ranked opponent of the weekend with a 1-0 win against No. 19 St. Lawrence. The Crimson’s sweep brings the squad to four straight conference victories at home.

“Our guys battled right to the end,” said Crimson coach Ted Donato ’91. “From the net on out, we did an excellent job. We really played as a committed hockey club all weekend.”

Freshman Matt Hoyle posted his first career shutout against the Saints, who average 3.14 goals a game. The rookie notched 29 saves overall and helped kill seven St. Lawrence power plays.

“Our defense was really huge for us all weekend, and obviously when you give up 4-on-3s, 5-on-3s, as many power plays as we did, the old adage that your goaltender is your best penalty killer was certainly the case,” Donato said. “[Hoyle] was very good in there, very calm, and we’re very happy about how well he’s played this weekend.”

Harvard’s defense proved to be the star on the night, killing power plays left and right, including a 5-on-3 through the second and third.

That would be a key 90 seconds for Harvard, as the St. Lawrence defense held the Crimson offense in check for most of the night.

“We really felt that four or five times we had our priority scoring chances to spread that lead out a little bit, but unfortunately he was there at every turn,” Donato said.

Both Hoyle and St. Lawrence netminder Alex Petizian held their opponents scoreless in the first frame, recording nine and 13 saves, respectively.

It wasn’t until the second period that the Crimson broke the scoring drought, when sophomore Matt McCollem slammed in the game-winning goal during a power play halfway through the frame.

After senior Steve Rolecek and sophomore Alex Killorn fired back-to-back shots, McCollem cleaned up the rebound from the post, notching his second goal in as many games to put the Crimson ahead, 1-0.

“Alex Killorn got a good shot, and the goalie was out of the net, so I had an easy tap in there,” McCollem said.

The Crimson outshot the Saints, 17-10, in the second frame, but four penalties limited Harvard’s scoring chances by forcing the squad to play defense for nearly half of the period. The Crimson recorded seven penalties overall but shut down all of the Saints’ power-play opportunities.

“Same story, we would’ve liked to stay out of the box a little more, not make it so hard on ourselves,” Donato said. “I think that we have to make sure that if we take a penalty, it’s because we’re trying to negate a real dangerous scoring attempt, not hits into the boards and offensive zone penalties. If we looked over the penalties, we had some that we can’t afford...We have to do a better job with that.”

Harvard’s best chance to boost its lead came during a power play early in the third period. Junior Doug Rogers launched a quick pass to senior Nick Coskren, who then cycled the puck to sophomore Michael Biega. Biega let off a shot that slid past Petizian, but the puck ricocheted off the post, forcing the Crimson to continue guarding a one-goal lead.

The Crimson will look for its third straight victory against Brown tomorrow night in Providence.

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