Men's Hockey Upsets No. 10 RPI

On Tuesday night, Harvard goaltender Raphael Girard watched from the bench as the Crimson had to storm back from a three-goal deficit to earn a draw with RPI. Friday night, Girard made sure that such a comeback would not be necessary.

Behind 28 saves from the senior goaltender, Harvard (2-0-1, 1-0-1 ECAC) emerged from the Bright-Landry Hockey Center with a 2-0 victory over No. 10 RPI (4-2-1, 0-1-1 ECAC).

Friday marked the second time in as many starts that Girard has been perfect between the pipes for the Crimson. He has opened the year with 71 straight saves.

“He’s been great,” Harvard coach Ted Donato ’91 said. “He’s tracking the puck very well, he’s controlling his rebounds, he’s played the puck out of the net very well, and it’s certainly given the rest of the team confidence.”

The Crimson got on the board just seconds into the second period, and it proved to be all the offense that the team would need for the night.

With the puck tied up behind the RPI net, freshman forward Alexander Kerfoot jarred the puck loose, allowing sophomore forward Kyle Criscuolo to seize it and send it up the boards. Waiting at the blueline, senior defender Dan Ford took the pass and fired a shot toward the net which was knocked down in front of the crease.

Sophomore forward Jimmy Vesey then corralled the puck between two RPI skaters and pushed it through the legs of unsuspecting Engineer defenseman Guy Leboeuf. Moving towards his right, Vesey sent a low shot on net to beat RPI goaltender Scott Diebold five-hole for his first goal of the season.

The goal for last season’s Ivy League Rookie of the Year sparked a sharp turnaround for Harvard. In the first period, the Crimson had failed to score on three power plays, including a 5-on-3 that lasted 1:56.

Harvard was also whistled for three penalties of its own. Girard was able to hold the Engineers scoreless, but the RPI power play unit still mustered seven shots on goal.

“In the second period, we talked about just settling down and getting back into our game plan and getting pucks behind them and using our speed to create some offense, and we got some pucks through,” Donato said.

The Crimson started to dominate play, outshooting RPI 14-3 to open the second and 23-15 for the rest of the game. But Diebold, who finished the game with 30 saves, kept the Engineers in the game.

The second period tally was the only flaw on Diebold’s sheet, but it was still enough for Harvard to earn its first conference victory. The Crimson would not find the back of the net again until the final minutes of regulation after Diebold had left the ice for an extra RPI attacker.

Following an RPI loss of possession in the Crimson zone, Criscuolo took a pass from sophomore forward Greg Gozzo to the top of the Engineers’ left faceoff circle and sent a backhander just out of the reach of RPI defenseman Luke Curadi and into the empty net to seal a 2-0 victory.

With a goal and an assist against RPI, Criscuolo brought his season totals to a team-leading three goals and five points through three games. Between the 3-3 result in Troy on Tuesday night and Saturday’s rematch, Harvard finished its series against the No. 10 team in the nation by scoring five unanswered goals.

“I think when we were down 3-0 [Tuesday night] we could have rolled over and let them have the win, but we fought back,” Vesey said. “I think that definitely carried over into tonight because we knew that for the majority of the last game, we outplayed them, and we knew we were the better team.”

The Crimson defense did well to keep junior forward Ryan Haggerty, the nation’s leading scorer, off the scoresheet despite his seven shots on goal.

“He had two chances in the second period, but otherwise his shots were not big threats,” Girard said. “We did a really good job of keeping him shooting from the perimeter.”

One of those chances for Haggerty was RPI’s best opportunity to equalize over the course of the game.

With 20 seconds remaining in the second period, in the midst of a late offensive push by the Engineers, Haggerty received the puck with his back to the net at the top of the crease. Quickly spinning to face Girard, the junior fired a shot which went just inches above the crossbar, allowing Harvard to maintain its lead into the second intermission and beyond.

“I thought we overall did a lot of good things,” Donato said. “I think we’ll continue to improve, but RPI is an excellent hockey team. I think that will play out, and we’re very happy to get three out of four points against them.”