Harvard Overwhelmed by Relentless Bulldogs Offense

Freshman goaltender Matt Hoyle made a career-high 45 saves on Friday against Yale, but it was the five shots he could not block that cost the Harvard men’s hockey team the win.

With a barrage of attempts on net and an aggressive offensive assault, the Bulldogs downed the Crimson (5-13-4, 5-7-4 ECAC) in a blowout to complete the season sweep of Harvard. Hoyle limited the damage, but his effort was in vain. No. 14 Yale (16-5-1, 11-3-1) triumphed, 5-1.

“My overall impression was that after having a great game against BU, we really took a step back,” junior Alex Biega said. “We didn’t come in with the same mentality.”

The Elis dominated in all facets of the contest, but the Crimson’s ultimate downfall was the power play. Yale converted on four of its six chances despite converting just 19.1 percent of power plays on the season. Harvard could not convert on its three man-advantage attempts.

“The biggest thing for us is just staying out of the box,” junior Doug Rogers said. “Not our best game on the penalty kill, but sometimes it’s just the luck you get.”

The Bulldogs opened the scoring a little more than eight minutes into the game. After an interference call sent junior Chad Morin to the penalty box, Yale took advantage as defenseman Mike Matczak fired a wrist shot past Hoyle for the first of his two power-play goals.

“[Yale’s] just very highly skilled,” Biega said. “They transition the puck very quickly. If we give them odd-man rushes, they’re going to capitalize.”

The Crimson responded just a minute later to tie the game at one. The scoring play started when sophomore Michael Biega preyed on a failed Bulldog clearance. He collected the puck and guided it across the ice to fellow sophomore Matt McCollem, who one-timed it past netminder Alec Richards. The goal was McCollem’s fourth of the season.

“In the first 20 minutes we played pretty well,” Rogers said. “After that Yale took over the game and dominated us. They’re very fast and stick to their game plan very well.”

The McCollem score was one of the few bright spots Friday night. Yale took the lead on a power play later in the first period after a couple of precise passes led to an open one-time shot. The Bulldogs increased the margin in the second frame when a bid on goal was redirected into the back of the net.

All night long, Yale sent flurries of shots Hoyle’s way. The freshman delivered an impressive performance, but the number of tries was just too much. The Bulldogs out-shot Harvard 17-to-2 in the first period and 50-to-15 overall.

“[Hoyle] made some unbelievable saves last night,” Rogers said. “When you give them so many power plays there’s only so much you can do. When you give a team 50 shots it’s going to catch up with you.”

The shot margin was Yale’s largest of the year and the 15 attempts on goal by the Crimson were the fewest the Elis had allowed this season. Yale punished the Harvard in both zones, and offensive troublemakers kept the play around the Crimson’s net.

In the third period, the Bulldogs continued their attack and slid pucks past Hoyle two more times to make the score 5-1. The fourth goal, coming off the stick of Matczak, was very similar to Yale’s first score of the game.

The final goal, which came with less than two minutes remaining, was a rebound that was stuffed into the net. Bulldog Kevin Limbert took home first-star honors by recording a goal and three assists.

This is the second time Yale has overwhelmed Harvard this season. In early January, the Bulldogs controlled the Crimson and came away with an easy 6-2 victory at the Bright Hockey Center. The result was similar this time around at the sold-out Ingalls Rink in New Haven.

The Yale win extended the Bulldogs’ unbeaten streak to six games, and made Harvard look like a team far removed from the squad that challenged No. 1 Boston University in the Beanpot last week.

“I guess we disregarded how big of a game [Yale] was,” Biega said. “Obviously they’re the biggest rival of ours, but unfortunately we didn’t come out ready to play.”

The Crimson will hope for sharper play when the team faces off against No. 12 Boston College tonight at 5 p.m. in the Beanpot Consolation Game.

—Staff writer Jake I. Fisher can be reached at jifisher@fas.harvard.edu.