NOTEBOOK: Untimely Penalties Prove Crimson’s Undoing In Second Game

As the starting lineup for Quinnipiac was announced before Saturday night’s game against the Harvard men’s hockey team, the crowd chanted “11-0” following each opponent’s name. But that was the only recollection of Friday night’s landslide victory over the Bobcats.

The results of the second period revealed the full extent of Harvard’s reversal of fortune, as for the second straight night the team that dominated the second period cruised to victory. While the Crimson used the middle period to explode for five goals on Friday, the second frame allowed the Bobcats to jump ahead 6-3 by beating sophomore goalie Kyle Richter for two power-play and one short-handed goals.

“Just because they came easier than usual last night doesn’t mean that’s going to be the story every night,” co-captain Dave MacDonald said. “We’ve just got to stick to our game plan, and I think we strayed a little bit tonight.”

Even as it looked like Harvard might at least have a chance to keep the game close heading into the final period, letting in a short-handed goal at 19:34 marked the crescendo of the Bobcats’ offensive explosion.

“We showed signs of maybe making a move and even going into the third two goals back, which is a lot better than three goals back,” Harvard coach Ted Donato ’91 said. “I think it [the short-handed goal] gave them a boost and it’s something that we feel we can play a lot better.”

Quinnipiac’s determination to avenge Friday night’s humiliation translated into an aggressive rush and fore-check that forced the Crimson to play to its opponent’s tempo from the game’s outset.

“I told the guys that we were fortunate in the fact that tonight is the last night we could afford to lose a game,” Donato said. “So we lick our wounds and come back and we’ll play our best hockey tomorrow night.

PENALTY KILL CLAWED

The first four power plays for Quinnipiac ended in disaster for the Crimson’s penalty kill unit. In a game in which Quinnipiac scored only one of its seven goals at even strength, the Bobcats power play enjoyed almost free reign on the ice, as its special teams struck four of the six times that Harvard skaters were confined to the penalty box.

Both at the end of the first and the beginning of the second periods, the calls against the Crimson could not have been more perfectly timed for the Bobcats. Just as Harvard was beginning to show signs of life—each time pulling within one goal—the failure to kill the penalty allowed Quinnipiac to widen the lead to two goals.

“You need to play with discipline in the playoffs in order to win,” MacDonald said. “I think we took bad decisions...most importantly just taking bad penalties.”

The Crimson’s inability to avoid the referee’s whistle, even when it came to coordinating line changes, forced the penalty kill to defend against a two-man deficit just minutes after Quinnipiac had opened the second period with its third power-play goal of the night, making the score 4-2.

The ensuing 5-on-3 would end all hopes for Harvard to stay within striking distance.

“That whole sequence, we take a needless penalty in the offensive zone on a play that’s a non-factor, we take a too many men on the ice, and we end up 5-on-3,” Donato said. “It’s those little things that add up to the end of the game and they can really change momentum.”

The Crimson only managed to hold out for 54 seconds under the circumstances. With Harvard’s skaters packed around the slot in front of the net, the Bobcats had no trouble passing the puck around the perimeter until Dan Henningson scored his second goal of the game off a shot just inside the blue line.

Quinnipiac would not strike on its last two power plays, but the Bobcats had already damaged the Crimson’s ability to mount a rally beyond repair.

TWO MINUTE MINORS

Harvard’s offense launched more than 40 shots for the second night in a row...Senior Dave Watters notched a “hat trick” in the assists category, giving him seven for the season...Two other Crimson forwards—senior Alex Meintel and freshman Pier-Olivier Michaud—had multi-point games.

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