Men's Hockey Suffers 5-1 Loss to St. Lawrence

Offensive efficiency was the story of the night at the Bright-Landry Hockey Center on Friday, as it took just 25 shots for the No. 4/4 Harvard men’s ice hockey team to net six goals.

That theme would continue over the course of the weekend—except on Saturday, it was the visitors doing the brunt of the damage. Needing just 22 shots to net five goals, St. Lawrence (11-10-2, 7-4-0 ECAC) ruled the night, cruising to a 5-1 victory over the Crimson (11-3-2, 7-2-2).

“I thought we came out with good energy,” Harvard coach Ted Donato ’91 said. “The puck just found the net too easily for them in the first period…. We gave up some easy opportunities, and I think from top to bottom throughout the lineup, we could have played better.”

The Crimson had 47 shots in the contest, 39 of which came over the final two periods. But Harvard could not find a way to solve freshman netminder Kyle Hayton, who stopped all but one of the shots that came his way.

Before the Crimson could put one past the rookie, the Saints had already opened up a three-goal first period lead. Harvard has now surrendered multiple first period goals in four straight games after holding opponents to a goal or less over that span in its first 12 contests.

St. Lawrence got things started seven minutes in, as junior forward Tommy Thompson began moving his way along the right boards. At the right circle, Thompson dropped the puck off to Saints’ captain Gunnar Hughes, who launched a shot past Crimson goaltender Steve Michalek to give his side an early lead.

Following the game, Gunnar—a native of Westwood, MA. and the son of Harvard hockey alum George Hughes—said that given his family ties, his matchups against the Crimson bring out the best in him.

“These games always mean a little bit more,” Hughes said. “I just get that extra fuel to play these guys, and I kind of build on it every year.”

Continuing to create pressure, St. Lawrence tacked on two more just over a minute apart midway through the frame.

On the front end, despite having just 45 seconds of power play time to work with following an expired four-on-four, the Saints made the most of their opportunity. With one second remaining on sophomore defenseman Victor Newell’s holding penalty, St. Lawrence defenseman Gavin Bayreuther found the back of the net from the left dot.

One minute later, the Saints were attacking again, as sophomore defenseman Mike Graham fired a shot on net from the right circle that went airborne off the body of Michalek.

After scanning his surroundings, the junior goaltender failed to find the airborne puck, but senior forward Patrick Doherty did not. Once the puck landed, St. Lawrence’s leading point-getter tapped it in, promptly putting an end to Michalek’s night.

“[Michalek] just didn’t have it, and that happens,” Donato said. “Unfortunately, [that’s] just a position where it’s a lot more noticeable when you don’t have it.”

With Michalek making an early exit, Donato called upon freshman goaltender Merrick Madsen in relief. In the first appearance of his college career, the rookie made 11 saves on 13 attempts.

After having one goal overturned earlier on, Harvard officially got on the board nine minutes into the second period on its third power play opportunity of the game. After the Crimson won the draw, the puck squirted out to the blue line where sophomore center Tyler Moy rocketed one past Hayton.

Helping to create the chance was junior forward Jimmy Vesey, who nearly got his stick on the puck while creating a screen in front. But the goal would be credited to Moy, bringing Vesey’s streak of 15 consecutive games with at least one point to an end.

Contributing to the lack of offensive production for Harvard was the absence of three of its top scoring threats. Sophomore forwards Alexander Kerfoot and Sean Malone remained sidelined with injuries, while junior defenseman Patrick McNally joined them for the second consecutive night.

“We caught a Harvard team that was pretty undermanned—missing a lot of [its] good players,” said St. Lawrence coach Greg Carvel. “[We] took that into account, but I really liked the way our team came out.”

Despite being outshot, 39-11, over the final two frames, the Saints put an end to the Crimson’s comeback attempt in the opening minutes of the third period.

Trailing by two goals, Harvard underwent a setback when junior forward Brian Hart was ejected for a game misconduct penalty for making contact with the head of St. Lawrence forward Drew Smolcynski. On the subsequent power play, Saints’ forward Brian Ward put the game out of reach. Sophomore forward Alexander Dahl would tag on one more to conclude the scoring.

With the win, St. Lawrence moves into third place in the ECAC—just two points behind the Crimson for second. Harvard remains four points behind Quinnipiac, who sits atop the league with 20 points.

—Staff writer Jake Meagher can be reached at jake.meagher@thecrimson.com. Follow him on Twitter @MeagherTHC.