Clean Play Leads to Crimson Victory in Game Three

Each with a win in hand, the Harvard and Quinnipiac men’s hockey teams were literally playing with everything on the line last night at Bright Hockey Center, both knowing that a loss would end their seasons.

Emotions ran high from the very beginning of the game, with members of both teams engaging in physical exchanges.

But in the end, it was the No. 17 Crimson (16-12-4, 14-8-3 ECAC) that was left standing, after effectively avenging Saturday night’s loss with a 3-1 win over the Bobcats (20-14-4, 13-9-4 ECAC) in Game 3 of the ECAC quarterfinals.

“It was huge for us to come back,” co-captain Mike Taylor said. “We had a letdown after the lopsided win Friday. We played pretty bad on Saturday and we came back and played really well as a team today.”

Harvard relied on its strong offensive lines and special-teams play to muscle goals past Quinnipiac’s goaltender, Bud Fisher. Additionally, the team’s ability to play clean hockey and stay out of the penalty box last night contrasted sharply with Saturday’s loss in which the Bobcats were able to capitalize on four power-play opportunities.

“They were hacking and whacking and talking trash and trying to get us off our game and it worked Saturday night,” Taylor said. “We didn’t do a very good job of staying disciplined, but we did a much better job tonight staying out of the box.”

Taylor proved to be the star of the night, notching two goals and an assist to lead the Crimson’s offensive charge. He drew first blood with a shorthanded goal at 13:07 in the first period to end the back-and-forth action between the two teams.

After sophomore defenseman Ian Tallet was sent to the penalty box for roughing, Harvard was forced to retreat to penalty-kill mode. Taylor intercepted the puck at about mid-rink before skating down the left wing and slipping it behind Fisher for a shorthanded tally.

Quinnipiac managed to even the score halfway through the second period. The Bobcats’ first attempt on goal was deflected wide and sophomore goalkeeper Kyle Richter sprawled himself wide in front of the net in an attempt to block the goal, but Quinnipiac’s Bryan Leitch’s put the equalizer into the top right corner of the net.

The tie didn’t even manage to last 30 seconds before the Crimson immediately answered with a power-play score of its own that ultimately proved to be the game-winner. Sophomore forward Doug Rogers, included last-minute in last night’s lineup after injuring himself in Saturday’s game, received an assist from Taylor just outside the circle on the left-hand side before firing a perfectly timed rocket into the net.

Trailing Harvard and forced to play catch-up, Quinnipiac came out of the second intermission firing on all cylinders. In the third period, the Bobcats out-shot the Crimson 17-7 and forced Richter to make several key saves. In addition, Quinnipiac took out Fisher to create a 6-on-5 lineup and played with an empty net for the final two minutes of the game in a desperate attempt to even the score.

“I thought we did a much better job limiting their ability to get easy offense,” said Harvard coach Ted Donato ’91. “I have a great deal of respect for Quinnipiac. I thought they battled right to the end and it was a very hard-fought victory.”

However, all its efforts were to little avail as Harvard hung on and added to its lead. With 5:15 left to play, Rogers’ high-velocity shot at the goal from the right side was deflected to a waiting Taylor, who punched the puck into the net.

The score secured the win and a ticket to the ECAC semifinals against Cornell to be held at the Times Union Center in Albany, N.Y. next Friday.

“I think after the stretch we went through in December and January I don’t think a lot of people would have predicted, one, we’d get home ice and two, we’d get back to Albany, so it’s a nice goal we can check off now,” Donato said.

—Staff writer Lucy D. Chen can be reached at lucychen@fas.harvard.edu.