Crimson Hangs Tough In Defeat

BOSTON—As the Harvard men’s hockey team battled against the No. 7 Boston College Eagles (15-6-7) for the 56th Annual Beanpot Championship, the quest for the crown looked all but hopeless as the Crimson (9-11-3) were playing against a two-goal deficit with just 8:46 left in regulation.

But in that moment of greatest uncertainty, Harvard’s resiliency as a team proved to be its defining strength as the Crimson rose its level of play to the stakes of the finals.

“We talked from the outset that we needed to compete to the end,” head coach Ted Donato ’91 said.

“Sometimes you can do a lot of things right against good hockey teams and still fall behind a little bit, but our guys kept battling.”

Against a team whose quick skaters and hard checking proved just enough to lead it to victory, Harvard exerted consistent pressure on the Eagles defense throughout the night.

The Crimson battled hard for the puck in the neutral zone and kept finding ways to get a stick on the puck in front of the BC goalie John Muse.

Call it plain old competitive fire, the seniors’ desire to graduate with a Beanpot trophy, or simply a flair for the dramatic.

Regardless, the Crimson’s players were able to draw on mental toughness to maintain faith in their ability to skate with the Eagles all night, coming back from deficits to tie the game three times.

When that critical moment came in the third period, Harvard surged to life and managed to finish the third tied with BC for 12 shots in the period.

“I can’t really put my finger on it. It was just kind of a feeling that we were going to stay with it the entire game today,” co-captain Mike Taylor said.

“You know it’s the Beanpot. You’ve got to pull out some extraordinary performances, and I thought today everyone stuck with it.”

The Crimson managed to stay even for most of the game partly by playing mistake-free hockey until the third period, as Harvard committed only one penalty the entire night.

When the Crimson and BC last met, Harvard allowed the Eagles to net four power play goals on the way to a lopsided 7-2 loss.

Even injuries to two Crimson forwards did not prevent the Harvard from sustaining a strong offensive attack.

During the week, the team had to cope with an injury to senior Alex Meintel during practice.

Also, in just the fourth minute of the game, junior Steve Rolecek went down hard in the neutral zone and would not return.

WEATHERING THE STORM

Harvard has viewed sophomore goalie Kyle Richter as a source of confidence all season long.

And during one of its toughest challenges all year, Richter responded to adversity with calmness and focus to help his team maintain a determined attitude.

By stopping 27 shots, Richter’s ability to come up with the clutch save gave his team hope that he would hold the defensive line as long as they kept generating shots on net.

In overtime when the Crimson could not manage a single shot on goal, Richter held the Eagles highly-touted offense at bay for 7:07.

He also withstood six shots before BC finally netted the game winner after the puck stayed in front of the net for too long.

“He’s been doing that all year from us,” Taylor said.

“Every game he’s good for one or two really good saves that give us some jump and I think that definitely had something to do with it today.”

The Eagles opened overtime by testing Richter and the Crimson defense and nearly ended the game several times.

Just five minutes into sudden death, Richter slid across the crease to block a BC defender waiting at the post to stuff the puck in, as the puck slid just outside the net.

Harvard’s fight to the finish ended when Richter proved unable to slide across the net to cover the far post, allowing Nick Petrecki ample time to get off a shot on the open side of the net.

The Crimson will look for Richter’s dominant play in net as a confidence enhancer as the team enters into its remaining ECAC schedule and vies for a spot in the NCAA Tournament.

BENCH MINORS

In this high stakes game, both teams hit hard from the moment the puck dropped, but the referees called only one penalty in the first two periods...Nathan Gerbe went to the box at 18:36 in the second for the game’s first penalty...the teams combined for a total of four penalties, three of which went against BC...The Eagle’s overtime win marks the fourth time in five years that the Beanpot Championship ended in sudden death, and it is Harvard’s third overtime game against BC, which holds a 2-1 advantage in that series...The Eagles entered last night’s game with the top-ranked power play in the nation. The Crimson didn’t give BC much of a chance to execute on the man-advantage, though, as Harvard only committed one penalty the entire game...Rogers fought hard to keep the puck in Harvard’s possession; he won 21 out of 32 faceoffs last night.

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