Harvard Cruises in Penalty-Filled Rout

In a game filled with historic goals, seemingly endless penalty minutes, and the tension of rivalry, the Harvard men’s hockey team’s 6-1 victory over Yale (12-10-4, 8-7-4 ECAC) on Friday night at the Bright Hockey Center was anything but ordinary.

Unlike the Crimson’s victory last weekend over Princeton in which the only scoring came by way of a Doug Rogers hat trick, the offensive attack for Harvard (12-11-3, 10-7-2 ECAC) featured five different scorers, including sophomore goaltender Kyle Richter.

Crimson coach Ted Donato ’91 was pleased with the performance.

“I thought we played very well, played with the lead,” he said. “[We] were really able to dictate the flow of the game.”

The scoring spree began 13:58 into the first period with a hard slapshot from junior Brian McCafferty from the center of the blue line during one of Harvard’s eight power plays.

The Crimson’s dynamic offensive attack brought two more quick goals in less than six minutes time. Senior Jon Pelle put senior Paul Dufault’s cross into the net with a strong redirection from the left side at 17:14, followed by a quick goal from co-captain Mike Taylor at 18:53, sending Harvard to a 3-0 lead by the end of the first period.

“It’s always good to have everyone contributing,” Taylor said. “That’s always big.”

But it was in the opening minutes of the second period that the Crimson’s scoring took an unexpected and historic form. With a delayed penalty on Harvard, the Bulldogs pulled goalie Alex Richards for a 6-5 advantage. But in an effort to recover the puck from the right corner after a save from Richter, a sweeping stick from a Yale attacker sent the puck squirting across the empty ice to sneak inside the left post of the empty Bulldog net.

The bizarre play resulted in Richter being awarded the goal, having been the last Crimson player to touch the puck. It was the first time in recorded history that a Harvard goalie had been awarded a goal.

“Kind of a blooper play, but I’ll take it,” Richter said after the game. “It’s definitely not something I practice, that’s for sure.”

Though Richter’s goal sparked an already lively crowd, his offensive play was trumped only by his superb performance in net. Along with strong defense from the Crimson skaters, Richter held the Bulldogs scoreless except for one power-play goal in the 10th minute of the second period, when a shot by the Bulldogs’ Tom Dignard found its way to the top of the net.

Still, with 23 saves for Richter in that period alone, and a Doug Rogers goal on a single-handed drive from the left corner a few minutes later, Harvard stayed firmly in command of the game.

The Crimson still maintained this momentum at the beginning of the third period, and when a quick five-minute major penalty and game misconduct was called on Yale’s Jean-Francois Boucher for checking from behind, Harvard had nearly everything going its way.

Pelle capitalized on the 5-on-4 advantage by scoring his second goal of the night on a put-back, giving the Crimson a season high of three power-play goals for the night. Harvard’s strong defense and persistent attack kept Yale scoreless in the third to clinch victory.

Yet the night did not end without its drama. A heated scuffle among several of the skaters from both teams with only three minutes left to play had to be stopped by the referees, and resulted in a number of penalties assessed on both sides and a meeting with the referees and the two team captains.

“When you’re down a lot, they try to get their guys going physically, and we had to protect ourselves,” Taylor said when asked about the source of the scuffle.

Still, the game was a significant victory for the Crimson.

“It’s a great effort by everyone,” said Richter, who ended the game with 37 saves.

With this victory, Harvard extended its winning streak to three games and clinched home ice in the first round of the postseason.