NOTEBOOK: Men's Hockey Beanpot Run Falls Short

BOSTON—For the No. 6/6 Harvard men’s hockey team, the goal was clear: bend, don’t break. It bent for 63 shots from No. 3/2 Boston University, but the 64th was the straw that broke the camel’s back.

The Crimson held off the Terriers for 82 minutes, but a turnover in the defensive zone by Harvard led to junior forward Danny O’Regan getting open in the crease and delivering the final blow.

“Our guys battled,” Harvard coach Ted Donato ’91 said. “It was a game with a lot of momentum changes. Obviously we’re frustrated…but I was proud of the way our guys played.”

MICHALEK SETS BEANPOT RECORD

Even though BU (17-4-4, 11-2-2 Hockey East) prevailed at the end of the 82-minute contest, junior goaltender Steve Michalek stole the show on Tuesday night. The third-year player registered 63 saves on the night, easily breaking the previous record of 52 saves which was set in 1970 by Boston College goalie Jim Barton.

“I thought I did my job,” Michalek said. “I thought everyone did a great job up and down defensively.  We had numerous block shots on Grade-A opportunities that I thought was the difference in the game.”

The Minnesota Wild prospect also broke the Harvard (12-6-2, 8-4-2 ECAC) school record for saves, which was previously held by Grant Blair ’86 in a performance against BC in 1984.

CRIMSON BEANPOT REVIVAL

Despite the end result of the game, Harvard faired much better this season than in recent first round appearances at the Beanpot. The Crimson had lost its previous five first round games by a combined score of 17-2. Last year was the team’s nadir in the Beanpot this century, as Harvard racked up 16 penalties en route a 6-0 defeat at the hands of Northeastern.

This year was different, as the Crimson went toe-to-toe with a top three team in the nation and taking a two-goal lead midway through the second period. Even though the team did not advance, this year’s performance was a notable improvement over past years.

“I think this is the first time that we’ve had [sophomore Alexander] Kerfoot and [Sean] Malone,” Donato said. “We still have a few guys out that we’re looking to get back soon…This last month of the season is critical. We’re not looking too far ahead.”

However, a favorable trend for the Crimson reversed last night. Harvard had won five straight games against BU coming into the Beanpot, including an overtime win earlier this year. The Crimson didn’t make it easy for BU, but the Terriers finally snapped their losing streak with a dramatic double-OT win.

LAST BEANPOT FOR BROTHERS

This year marked the third year that brothers junior forward Danny of BU and Harvard senior forward Tommy O’Regan faced off against each other in the Beanpot and the sixth time that the Crimson and the Terriers have faced off while both the Needham, Mass. natives have been on the teams. Danny made it a memorable one.

“I guess I saved the best for last,” the younger O’Regan said. “It was a great game and I’m really excited to get to a Beanpot final….It happened to be against my brother which I won’t try to bring up too much at home.”

The Terrier notched the final goal for BU to help his team advance to the championship game for the first time in his tenure. The former Roxbury Latin star leads the Terriers with 17 goals on the season.

After having played only four games this season, the elder O’Regan started on Harvard’s second line in his last opening round game of the Beanpot. With the score tied 3-3, Tommy found open ice around the left face-off circle and fired past goaltender Matt O’Connor, but the puck ricocheted off the crossbar and into the netting, which kept the game knotted at three goals apiece. He also was trailing sophomore Tyler Moy on a breakaway and positioned for a rebound, but Moy was unable to launch a shot on net.

—Staff writer Kurt. T. Bullard can be reached at kurt.bullard@thecrimson.com.