Men's Hockey Looks to Turn Season Around Against Ivy Foe Princeton

The ECAC has been anything but friendly thus far for the Harvard men’s hockey team (5-11-3, 2-9-3 ECAC), but the Crimson is looking to put another tally in the win column on Friday night as the squad faces Princeton (4-15, 3-9).

Harvard has not won a league game since Nov. 16th, when it clinched a 5-3 victory in its last matchup against the Tigers.

It was an offensive frenzy the first time these Ivy opponents squared off, with freshman forwards Sean Malone and Tyler Moy, as well as sophomore forward Kyle Criscuolo scoring one goal apiece.

Sophomore forward Jimmy Vesey, who has posted 12 points in 11 ECAC contests, had two scores on the night. The first came off of a power play early in the third period, and the second finished off Princeton with an empty net shot as the clock approached zero.

“They’re a pretty physical team, and they like to get up and down the ice,” Criscuolo said. “For us, I think we just need to be aggressive early, and confident. We’ve been struggling a little bit lately. We just need to stay calm throughout the game, stick to our own plan, and not let the game change how we play.”

The last time these two Ancient Eight foes met, much of the scoring came late in the game for the Crimson. Three of the night’s five goals came in the final 20 minutes.

Slow starts to contests have plagued Harvard thus far this season, forcing it to come from behind on several occasions.

Through the first 19 games of the season, the team has scored only seven of its 47 goals in the first period, and has allowed more goals in the first twenty minutes of play than in either the second or third segments.

“[Starting better has] been a real point of emphasis the past few weeks,” captain Dan Ford said. “I think we started better last weekend in our game at Union than in the two games the previous weekend. Its something that’s just a mentality sort of thing, just being dialed in and ready to go to capitalize on our chances from the start.”

The Tigers are coming off of a 3-0 loss to No. 3 Union, which sits atop the ECAC standings.

Princeton’s goaltender, freshman Colton Phinney, had a career-high 45 saves, but allowed two of the three goals scored in the match.

But penalty trouble for the Tigers gave the Dutchmen a chance to attack Phinney, and they outshot Princeton, 23-5, in the second period.

Although Union was unable to score on the power plays, it kept the puck on its end of the ice, preventing the Tigers from earning scoring opportunities throughout the contest.

Given Princeton’s penalty issues, power play chances could give Harvard prime chances to gain momentum.

Thus far, the Crimson has struggled to capitalize on power play advantages this season, ranking second to last in power play goals in the Ivy League.

“We want to make sure that we’re sharp and getting chances every time we go out on the power play,” Ford said. “Those are big situations that can change momentum in the game, and scoring a big goal on a power play can [do just that].”

Harvard’s most recent matchup also came against the Dutchmen, in which the Crimson fell just short, 4-3.

Despite the loss, Harvard put up a fight against a top team that gives it hope against Princeton.

“We played [Union] pretty tight and I think everyone was feeling as good as you can out of a loss,” Criscuolo said. “We put a lot of pressure on them, and we’re pretty excited to get into the game on Friday against Princeton and put some pressure on them.”

With 10 games left in the season, Harvard is searching for wins in order to improve its playoff standing.

Eight of its remaining matchups are against conference opponents. A win against the Tigers would halt the team’s current four-game losing streak and do much for its position in the conference.

“It’s a big game for us,” Ford said. “We’re battling here in the standings trying to secure a top-eight spot in the league and get home ice in the first round of the playoffs.”

“Princeton is one of the team’s we’re competing with, so that’s a big two points for us, and we’re excited about the game on Friday,” Ford added.

—Staff writer Kurt T. Bullard can be reached at kurtbullard@college.harvard.edu.