Huxley Scores Game-Winner on Power Play to Send Raiders Packing

Friday the 13th is usually a day to beware, but the Harvard men’s hockey team beat the dark superstitions with a 3-2 win against Colgate on Friday night at Bright Hockey Center. The victory over the Raiders (9-16-5, 4-11-3 ECAC) initiated a weekend sweep of two opponents the team trailed in the ECAC standings. The Crimson (7-14-4, 7-7-4 ECAC) is now tied for sixth in the league.

Sophomore Chris Huxley launched the game-winning goal on a power play in the final frame, and sophomore goaltender Ryan Carroll tallied his first collegiate win with 29 saves overall.

“It was a good win,” said Harvard coach Ted Donato ’91. “I thought we started the game excellently, I thought we really moved the puck and cut the jump out of the gates...We responded well to a little bit of adversity with them coming back.”

Sophomore Michael Biega put Harvard on the board just 90 seconds into the first period. Picking up a pass from freshman Ryan Grimshaw, Michael Biega carried the puck down the left slot and made a tricky move to shake his defender. When Colgate goaltender Brian Bessette locked him out at the left post, Michael Biega skated around the back of the net and wrapped the puck around the post to make the score 1-0.

The Crimson doubled its lead less than a minute later with senior Nick Coskren’s team-leading seventh goal. Senior Steve Rolecek launched a shot from the right faceoff circle after co-captain Jimmy Fraser slid him the puck. Bessette got in front of Rolecek’s attempt, but Coskren was there to hammer home the rebound to boost Harvard to a 2-0 lead.

Although Colgate outshot the Crimson 12-10 in the first frame, Harvard kept the Raiders out of its defensive zone for the majority of the period, with blueliners Alex Biega and co-captain Brian McCafferty holding Colgate in the neutral zone.

The second period began with a pair of power plays for both sides, but neither team managed to convert. Colgate came out swinging and turned up the pressure against the defense, with junior David McIntyre and senior Tom Riley taking tough shots against Carroll.

“[Carroll] was pretty solid, and he was good with his rebound control, so I think he made a lot of good saves tonight, and he gave us a chance to win,” Donato said.

But even though Harvard limited the Raiders’ chances, Colgate still managed to break through, as senior blueliner Jason Fredericks knocked a wrist shot into the back of the net at 14:01 in the middle frame, narrowing Harvard’s lead to one, 2-1.

“[In the second period,] we didn’t play as well as we played in the first,” Donato said. “I wasn’t concerned with the shots because as far as scoring chances, I thought we did a good job of limiting them. [But] I think we could’ve done a better job in finishing the game as far as giving them opportunities via turnovers.”

The Crimson attempted to extend its lead on the man-advantage, as the final period opened with a Harvard power play. Alex Biega fired a shot from the center, but Bessettte knocked it away. Sophomore Pier-Olivier Michaud tried to cash in the rebound but couldn’t quite turn it around the post.

When the power play expired, Colgate mounted the charge, and McIntyre finished off a pass from sophomore Brian Day at 2:48 to knot the score at two.

But sophomore Chris Huxley broke the third-period tie against Colgate on a power play at 10:42. Harvard won the faceoff and after passing around the outskirts of the offensive zone, sophomore Matt McCollem picked up a pass from freshman Daniel Moriarty and sent the puck from the right to sophomore Chris Huxley in the center. Huxley launched a shot through traffic and into the right pocket of the net to reclaim the lead and secure a Crimson victory, 3-2.

“McCollem came up the wall, and so I snuck in a little bit and he passed it right through a guy—it was a great pass,” Huxley said of his goal. “I was going to pass over to [junior Doug] Rogers, but the guy took the pass away and so I just shot on net, hop[ing] for a tip or something.”

Harvard faces St. Lawrence on Friday night on the road.

—Staff writer Courtney D. Skinner can be reached at cskinner@fas.harvard.edu.