Against BU, Men's Hockey Ends Five-Year OT Drought

Overtime has been quite the struggle for the Harvard men’s hockey program of late.

The Crimson had not won a regular season game in extra time in over five years—since November 20, 2007, when Doug Rogers ’10 put home the game-winner to give Harvard a 2-1 win at BU.

After that night, the Crimson went winless in its next 31 overtime matches, and it also failed to emerge victorious from Agganis Arena, home of its intracity rival and one of the nation’s best squads.

But that all changed Wednesday, when six different players scored for Harvard (5-7-1) to twice help it storm back from a three-goal deficit and stun the No. 8 Terriers (11-7-0).

The Crimson scored thrice in the final 15 minutes of the third period before senior forward Connor Morrison’s breakaway overtime goal with 48 seconds remaining beat Matt O’Connor and sealed a thrilling 6-5 comeback victory.

Two years ago, it was a 5-4 win over the Terriers in the Beanpot consolation game that sparked the Crimson—4-18-1 to that point—to a late-season resurgence, as Harvard went on to win seven of its next eight.

The Crimson—which had entered Wednesday’s game winless in its last six—now hopes an equally dramatic and improbable win over BU initiates a similar run.

“I think this group really believes in itself and things really haven’t gone their way as of a late,” Crimson coach Ted Donato ’91 said. “It’s a real close group—[they] really enjoy working hard for each other—so hopefully a win like this allows them to play with some confidence.”

O’BROTHER!

Brothers Tommy O’Regan (a Harvard sophomore) and Danny O’Regan (a BU freshman) were both major contributors Wednesday night in their first collegiate matchup, though it was Tommy who emerged victorious.

“It [was] just cool to be out there against [Danny],” the sophomore said. “That was one of the best games that I’ve played in since I’ve been at Harvard.”

The younger O’Regan struck first, putting home a backdoor power-play one-timer with just 35 seconds remaining in the opening period to give the Terriers a 2-0 lead.

After a Megan Wade goal put BU up three, Tommy gave Harvard its first score when he fired home a wrist shot from between the circles at the 2:29 mark of the second period.

Following a power-play tally by freshman Brian Hart that cut the BU lead to 3-2, goals by Matt Nieto and the Terriers O’Regan left the Crimson in another three-score hole.

But Harvard was not to be denied, rallying back from there to tie things up. Senior Marshall Everson cut the Crimson deficit to two with a backdoor goal at the 6:38 mark and classmate Luke Greiner added a power-play tally to get the Crimson within one moments later. Colin Blackwell tied the game with under four minutes to go, collecting a loose rebound in front of the net and squeezing it past O’Connor for the equalizer.

“Among the last handful of games we’ve had some real tough bumps that didn’t go our way,” Donato said. “It was nice to get a little puck luck there on Blackwell’s goal.”

In overtime, it was the elder O’Regan who got the last laugh. The sophomore, the team leader in assists, sent a perfect centering pass to a streaking Morrison, who fired the puck past O’Connor on a breakaway to give Tommy’s Crimson the win over Danny’s Terriers.

“Tommy’s one of the most well-liked guys in the locker room,” Donato said. “Knowing Tommy he’s just as excited for his three points as for his brother Danny scoring three points. He’s just a very nice kid. It’s quite an accomplishment for the O’Regan family to have two kids playing at this level.”

GRIPES BETWEEN THE PIPES

Despite earning the win, Harvard goaltender Raphael Girard experienced another tough night in net. Though he made 38 saves, Girard allowed five goals for the fourth time in five games.

Luckily for the junior, O’Connor and the Terrier defense was no better.

“Anytime there’s that many scoring chances and goals early in the game, I don’t think [either goaltender] looked particularly comfortable,” Donato said. “[But] they are both excellent goalies.”

Terriers coach Jack Parker was far more displeased with his defense’s performance.

“Our entire core of defenseman was out to lunch,” Parker said. “As the game progressed they got worse and worse.”

“We acted like the game was over when we made it 5-2, and then we just went to sleep and couldn’t get it back,” he added. “When they scored the third goal, their bench erupted and my team just died. I don’t think I had one guy who played well—five goals and not one guy played well. I don’t remember being this disappointed in a BU team in a long time.”

--Staff Writer Scott A. Sherman can be reached at ssherman13@college.harvard.edu