Men's Hockey Upset by Last-Place Brown

PROVIDENCE, R.I.—The No. 6/6 Harvard men’s ice hockey team arrived at the George V. Meehan Auditorium tired on Saturday, already having played 142 minutes of hockey this week. In its performance against cellar-dweller Brown, it showed.

Two goals proved to be enough for the Bears (5-17-1, 2-13-1 ECAC) to earn their first conference win of the calendar year, as sophomore goaltender Tim Ernst came one minute away from pitching his second career shutout, leading his squad to a 2-1 win over the Crimson (12-8-2, 8-6-2).

“I think there’s a great deal of frustration,” Harvard coach Ted Donato ’91 said. “We’re just not creating enough offense, enough dangerous plays. [In] two games in a row, we’ve only generated two power plays.”

Having held a tenuous one-goal lead since early in the second period, Brown had to deal with a Crimson side applying constant pressure to the Bears' defense. But Brown forward Nick Lappin was able to alleviate some of the stress for Bears’ fans. The junior received a pass from the left boards and continued his drive down the slot, went backhand, and lifted the puck over the right shoulder of junior goaltender Steve Michalek.

Junior defenseman Desmond Bergin was able to make things interesting, scoring with 54 seconds remaining in the contest, but Harvard was unable to find the game-tying goal in the end.

Brown freshman forward Tyler Bird found the back of the net 1:03 into the second period, knocking in the puck during a scrum in the crease to give the Bears the early lead. The goal was the first ever for the Andover, Mass. native.

The story of the first period was missed opportunities. Within the first 100 seconds of the game, Brown senior forward Massimo Lamacchia was able to maneuver behind a sprawling Michalek, but a second of hesitation allowed sophomore defenseman Clay Anderson to move to the crease and block the shot. Later in the period, junior forwards Jimmy Vesey and Kyle Criscuolo were able to create great chances in the slot, only for the Nashville Predators prospect to be denied by a diving Ernst, and for the co-captain to miss just over the crossbar.

Frustration has been mounting as of late for the Crimson offense. Before its goal in the last minute, Harvard had not scored since a Sean Malone unassisted score at the 8:28 mark in the second period of Tuesday's Beanpot opener—a span of 172 minutes without a goal. That frustration seemed to come to a boiling point when Vesey hit Bears' forward Max Willman in response to the freshman putting the puck in the Harvard net after a whistle late in the third.

“I think the effort was there,” Donato said. "I don’t think it was a lack of effort or focus. It was there.”

Since losing junior Patrick McNally to a regular season-ending injury, the Crimson has gotten two goals off the sticks of defensemen: Bergin's score and one which came in the waning minutes of a 5-4 loss to Union courtesy of sophomore Victor Newell. McNally had four goals on the year and was second in points scored by defensemen in the conference (16) before a leg injury forced him to the bench.

The second period saw Harvard generate great chances only for Ernst and several other Brown defenders to sacrifice their bodies to block pucks from reaching twine. Sophomore forward Phil Zielonka was denied at the doorstep at the 15:40 mark by the outstretched left pad of Ernst.

Before Saturday, the Bears had last won exactly four weeks prior in a 5-3 game against now-No. 13/13 Providence. Their last conference win came on Dec. 6 against Rensselaer, who sits ninth in the ECAC.

With the loss to Brown, Harvard could fall into a three-way tie for fifth in the conference depending on the results of other ECAC matchups later on Saturday. Only the top four teams receive byes in the conference tournament that begins in March.

“I think we need to regroup completely and change our mindset,” Criscuolo said. “We need to do things harder, we need to do things faster. We need to believe that we’re going to win.”

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