Crimson Drop First Game in Series

After an impressive sweep of Princeton last weekend in the first round of ECAC playoffs, the Harvard men’s hockey team (9-20-3, 7-11-3 ECAC) dropped the first game of a three-game quarterfinal series to No. 9 Cornell (18-8-4, 13-5-3 ECAC) on Friday night. The Big Red used the energy of its fans, the talent of its freshmen, and the effectiveness of its power play in a dominant 5-1 win over the Crimson at Lynah Rink.

Freshmen Nick D’Agostino and Riley Nash each scored a pair of goals to lead Cornell while junior Pier-Olivier Michaud scored the lone goal for Harvard off of an assist from freshmen teammates Conor Morrison and Danny Beiga in the loss. Mike Devin, Patrick Kennedy, Blake Gallagher and Tyler Roeszler tallied assists for the Big Red, and senior Colin Greening recorded the first goal of the game only 4: 35 into the opening period.

“I think [Friday night’s game] was a great disappointment for our team,” captain Alex Biega said, “but the good thing about best of three series is we have another shot on Saturday.”

Cornell has the opportunity to close the series Saturday night and move to the ECAC semifinals with a second win over the Crimson. The Big Red is now 3-0 against Harvard this season, winning 6-3 and 3-0 in November and February respectively in addition to the victory Friday night.

Despite the disparity of the score, Cornell only had a 29-27 shot advantage over the Crimson. Harvard goaltender Kyle Richter had 21 saves on the game before being substituted by replacement netminder, junior Ryan Carroll who made three saves in the final ten minutes of the game. On the other end of the ice, the Big Red’s Ben Scrivens made 26 saves in keeping the Crimson offense at bay. Scrivens, a senior, was recently unanimously named to the All-Ivy League first team after leading the Ancient Eight with a 2.43 goals-against average, a .921 save percentage, and a 6-4 Ivy record.

“[Cornell] doesn’t give up anything defensively,” Biega said. “We need to focus on making their best players play in their defensive zone and capitalize on our own opportunities.”

Greening put Cornell on the scoreboard early in the first period, but Harvard was quick to respond, recording its sole goal only five minutes later. D’Agostino put the Big Red in the lead for good with his score to close the first period, finishing a rebound off of a shot from teammate Mike Devin.

The freshman scored again in the second off of a 3-on-2 break with Gallagher and Roeszler who overwhelmed the Crimson defense.

Fellow freshman, Nash, took over in the third period, recording the two final goals of the game, off of a shot into the left corner of the goal and a rebound respectively, making the score 5-1.

The rivalry between Cornell and Harvard was alive and evident through the tide of Big Red fans, who opened the game by characteristically throwing dead fish at the Harvard lineup. The fans, as much as the players themselves, controlled the momentum of the game.

“We can’t let the crowd get us off our game,” Richter said, following the loss. “Their crowd always give them a definitely home-ice advantage…and it plays a bit of a factor in our game.”

Looking forward to Saturday night’s game, the Crimson believes it has great room for improvement and still has a shot at pulling the upset.

“If we can play a full 60-minute game and limit their offensive zone, I think we can find success [Saturday night].”

After a 5-1 opening loss, the only way Harvard can really go is up.