NOTEBOOK: Defense, Solid Goaltending Are Keys to Crimson’s Late-Season Turnaround

The No. 17 Harvard men’s hockey team certainly saves the best for last.

Since its midseason slump characterized by a 10-game winless streak, the Crimson has undoubtedly turned its act around. Harvard most recently added to its six-game unbeaten run with Friday night’s astounding 11-0 victory over Quinnipiac in the quarterfinals of the ECAC Championship tournament.

Indeed, Friday night’s goal total and margin of victory were the biggest since Harvard defeated Yale 12-1 on Dec. 11, 1993 and matched the largest winning margin of the tournament’s history. But perhaps the statistic that best underscores the team’s transformation was that the Crimson scored one more goal on Friday night than it did for the entire month of December.

The ability to combine a strong defensive line and variegated forward attack—eight different players scored—was something the team was unable to accomplish earlier in the season. However, Harvard’s sound defense effectively translated into a powerful offensive line on Friday night, allowing the Crimson to control the pace, and ultimately the outcome, of the game.

“It was just a great all-around team performance,” sophomore forward Doug Rogers said. “Guys covered for each other and everyone worked hard to play their position and it just made it a lot easier for every individual teammate on the ice.”

“For us to have success, we need to have guys step up every night—different guys sometimes,” said Harvard coach Ted Donato ’91.

On a night characterized by such high-octane offensive play, the performance of the defense often becomes lost in the mix.

The defensive play, led by sophomore goaltender Kyle Richter, strengthened as the night went on and contrasted sharply with the Bobcats’ deteriorating protection of the net—perhaps the largest contributing factor to the win.

“As far as Kyle goes, I think he was very solid if not spectacular,” Donato said. “He was positioned very solid and didn’t have to put himself in a position where he had to make a lot of acrobatic saves.”

After getting off to its fastest start of the season, scoring two goals in under six minutes, the game remained evenly contested for the rest of the period with the teams trading scoring opportunities.

During the first and early second periods, Richter was forced to make several difficult saves as Quinnipiac regrouped and regained momentum. 5:01 into the second frame, the Bobcats capitalized on a Harvard penalty to press forward into the Crimson area and fire shot after shot on goal.

The Bobcats out-shot Harvard, 24-21, in the second period, even though the Crimson scored five goals in the frame. Richter’s success in knocking away all of Quinnipiac’s attempts to even the score was evident from his 13 saves in the period.

“When they did have chances—and [Quinnipiac] did have some in the first half of the game—I thought [Richter] was very solid for us,” Donato said.

Junior forward Steve Rolecek’s first goal halfway through the second period—the third of the contest—seemingly crippled Quinnipiac’s starting goalie, Bud Fisher, and opened the floodgates for a torrent of Crimson goals. The Bobcats twice replaced their goalie throughout the course of the game, but each switch was to little avail—none could provide the solid defensive backup Quinnipiac’s offense so desperately needed.

On the other half of the ice, Harvard was writing a completely different story. Its stalwart protection of the goal allowed the offense to effectively accomplish its job—to take control of the game and score goals.

“The defense has been solid for us all year and you can see Richter seeing the puck really well,” Rogers said. “The saves, he’s making them look easy and they’re certainly not easy saves—it’s just that’s how well he’s playing and he’s certainly been great for us.”

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