Men's Hockey Concludes Regular Season Play, Battles in Tight Contests Ahead of ECAC Playoffs

Closing out regular season play, the Harvard Crimson (6-17-6, 6-10-6 ECAC) defeated the Yale Bulldogs (10-17-2, 7-13-2 ECAC) 2-1 in OT, and lost to Brown (8-18-3, 6-14-2 ECAC) in an OT shootout. Holding Brown scoreless after a back-and-forth overtime period secured the Crimson a home-rink advantage in its ECAC playoff game against No. 9 ECAC-ranked Princeton on Friday.

The Crimson struggled early in its season after losing five of its top scorers to the National Hockey League, and as a result, a lot of the talent displayed by the young team, largely constructed of underclassmen, has gone unnoticed. Despite several wins-for-points valuable to ECAC standing, multiple games throughout the season have gone down in the record book as a tie. This included the season series against Dartmouth College that first saw the longest shootout in Harvard program history, an entire 18 rounds before junior defenseman Jack Bar scored the game-winning goal.

Praising senior goaltender Derek Mullahy on Senior Night against Brown on Saturday, Harvard Head Coach Ted Donato remarked on the overlooked skill of the team.

“I feel bad in the sense that I think [Mullahy has] played some incredible games for us and not been rewarded with wins because we haven't been able to score a timely goal or make a play when we most needed it” Donato said.

This past weekend, the squad was able to step up and make the timely plays it needed to clinch its home-rink advantage going into ECAC postseason play.

Harvard 2, Yale 1

The fierce Mar. 1 Ivy League rivalry game between the Harvard Crimson and Yale Bulldogs was explosive. Plays ended not on especially skillful stick play but by thunderous hits against the boards that often led to penalties. Pucks, too, struggled to connect for both teams, signaling the kind of intensity, and nervousness, players carried into tonight.

“This rivalry and this game, regardless of where the teams are in the standings, ... [are] always very emotional, very hard fought, very physical,” Donato said.

Though a scrappy and unpredictable game through the first period, the score remained tied at zero, and shots were near-even at 12 for Yale and nine for Harvard. Penalties would be doled out twice against the Bulldogs, first for too many men at 19:10, and then for a cross-check that knocked Harvard junior left wing Alexandros Gaffney into the boards with 10:36 remaining.

Offense was even in the general lack of strength on both sides of the ice. Pucks were taken and shot, but well outside the area of the net. Most of the zone time in the first came on Yale’s penalties, but of course they resulted in little substantively.

Hard-hitting play in the first grew more refined in the next period. Despite an early unsuccessful power play from Yale off of Crimson sophomore right wing Marek Hejduk’s boarding minor, players took more time with takes up the ice and translated it into goal scoring.

“Our ability to not turn pucks over, to get out of our zone clean, and to make them have to stop and play defense,” Donato said of the strategy given in the locker room, “[makes] it … hard to be as physical when you're in your own zone.”

This momentum was interrupted by first-year right wing Ryan Fine’s penalty, also for boarding, with 14:09 remaining. While on the penalty kill, the Crimson strung together several good attempts, even being gifted a two-on-one opportunity that was ultimately stopped due to an errant pass from junior defenseman Jack Bar to Hejduk.

In the final few seconds of the powerplay, Yale’s senior defenseman Ryan Conroy took the puck for the last opportunity with the extra man and wristed a shot home from the point to put the Bulldogs on the scoring sheet. Harvard looked like it would quickly respond when less than a minute later senior left wing Ryan Drkulec aimed for the goalie’s glove side and whose puck appeared to ring around all three posts. An extensive review determined the puck never crossed the goalline, but was one of the most remarkable plays seen this season.

Donato spoke about Drkulec’s performance, while reflecting on the team’s seniors, as being one of the strongest down the stretch.

“Another guy that played in some important games over the last couple of years. Also a very unselfish guy and an excellent teammate … and very proud of what he's been able to do both on and off the ice as a member of our team,” Donato said.

Though unsuccessful in the first comeback attempt, Fine managed to redeem himself late in the period by scoring off a take on the right side of the ice that tipped off a Yale defender’s skate and snuck under the legs of the netminder.

Adding to the positive strides for Harvard was a drawn roughing penalty against Yale by junior defenseman Connor Sullivan with 34.9 seconds left. Again entering a period with strong plays in its back pocket, Harvard struggled to keep up the pace in the third and was still unable to convert on the powerplay after Yale received an early two-minute bench minor for too many men on the ice. The period came to an end still gridlocked at one goal apiece.

The first glimpse of action came as sophomore left wing Joe Miller skated speedily up the ice and got a shot off wide of the net as a defender closed in on his position. The play drew in the other two skaters for Harvard, which set up a breakaway opportunity going down the other half of the ice. But sophomore goaltender Aku Koskenvuo stood tall and turned down the shot with his right pad to keep play going.

Captain junior defenseman Ian Moore discussed the pressure he expected to face in a team like Yale and what the game plan was for keeping the game close.

“They're a great team. They play really hard. They have a great forecheck. So, we were just trying to keep it simple. Try and keep guys away from our net. Let Aku [Koskenvuo] see the puck and just try and get it out as quick as we can.”

Another two-on-one chance came through for Harvard as the game wound down to the final minute. Junior center and captain Zakary Karpa first carried the puck through the neutral and offensive zones before making the pass out wide right to fellow captain, junior defenseman Ian Moore who shot in the open part of the net on the goalie’s stick side as the goalie tracked Moore’s movement down the ice.

The squad will host Princeton this weekend for the first round of the ECAC Tournament. By Courtesy of Harvard Athletic Communications

Harvard 1, Brown 1

On Harvard’s senior night, the team surged early against the Bears, rebounding from its previous slow start against Yale which saw pucks air wide of the net. The theme of the night for Donato’s squad was shoot to get hot, shoot to stay hot, and the Crimson carried through on this notching its 11th shot before Brown was able to snipe its second.

Despite its offensive onslaught, neither team struck paydirt in the first period, with the more notable action coming from the penalty sheet. A total of four penalties were called, two against each team. Through regulation and overtime the two teams combined for eleven penalties, seven of which resulted in power plays. The first was a five-minute locked-in major penalty against Brown junior defenseman Brett Bliss, for a hit from behind on Crimson junior forward Alex Gaffney as he carried the puck around the left corner boards. Following official review, Bliss was also given a game misconduct.

Donato stressed that the team would keep its head up and move on even after running up the shot totals to no avail on the scoreboard.

“It seemed like we had a lot of what seemingly were pending Grade A scoring chances that didn't end up in either shots on net or good opportunities. … So I think for us, it's frustrating, but we'll move on,” Donato said.

Harvard boasted a 25.0 power play percentage coming into the night, third in the ECAC, but was unable to put points on the board. However, the Crimson did secure 10 shots, an important step in showing the team could apply pressure when given the opportunity against closely-ranked teams like Brown.

Harvard’s senior forward Ryan Drkulec was next to be called for a similar hit, which saw him sidelined for two minutes for a boarding minor just over halfway through the period. In the first 15 seconds of the penalty, a mishandled puck by the Bears near the left circle gave sophomore forward Marek Hejduk a shorthanded breakaway opportunity that drew a slashing penalty by a trailing Brown defender. A second consecutive penalty would be called against Brown at 3:27 for high sticking against first-year right wing Tyler Kopff.

Another three penalties were called in the second period, the first two of which were for boarding against junior Crimson defenseman Christian Jimenez at 14:56 for boarding, and sophomore Bears’ right wing Zackary Tonelli. After the whistle on Tonelli’s call, Miller received a minor for a hit he made after the play. The final few minutes in the period were played four-on-four.

But just when the game looked like it would head into the third without any offensive success,the Brown Bears silenced Bright Landry. With time ticking down in the final minute, a puck taken up by Kopff was weakly shot on net, but quickly put in off the rebound by first-year defenseman Alex Pineau.

A similar incident occurred in the final period as first-year center Ben MacDonald was guilty of boarding. This, like Bliss’s penalty, was a five-minute major that was later upgraded to a game misconduct penalty. Still seeing none of its shots go in despite tallying up the total to 38 by the regulation whistle, senior goaltender Derek Mullahy was pulled with under two minutes to play.

With Donato drawing up the play during a timeout, all the Crimson needed was a strong faceoff in its offensive zone and to continue playing its high-offense game with an extra skater. Sophomore center Casey Severo completed the first step in knocking the puck out to junior defenseman and captain Ian Moore.

After a few cycles around the zone with the puck, first-year left wing Cameron Johnson snapped off a quick wrister from the middle of the ice through traffic. Both teams and Brown’s netminder searched frantically for the puck as it got deflected in front of the net. Seeing it first was Gaffney who snapped it in t from inches away to secure the game-tying goal with just 1:19 remaining in regulation to send the squad into overtime.

Play in extended time was notably slower than the hectic and hard-hitting regulation period, as both teams worked through thoughtful passing sequences to create scoring chances. A slashing call against Brown at 2:54 gave Harvard some hope that a late-game comeback would be possible, but the offense was unable to convert on the possession. With both teams scoreless in the OT regulation, the game would be decided in the shootout.

Brown’s first attempt from sophomore center Ryan St. Louis was unsuccessful, as well as Gaffney’s take from center ice. But two consecutive makes and a well-defended play by Brown secured the win in the first best-of-three shootout series.

Though an unfortunate loss for Harvard, especially the team’s seniors, senior goaltender Max Miller praised his tenure with Donato and the team.

“We have a really good group of guys where every single person in the locker room is humble, talented, driven, dedicated and most of all, just nice, good [people] and it makes for a really fun experience,” Miller said. “I wouldn't trade the opportunity for the world. I'm really glad I've been able to be a part of this team.”

The Harvard squad will welcome No. 9 ECAC-ranked Princeton to Bright-Landry this weekend in the first game of its ECAC tournament postseason play. The Crimson will face off against the Tigers on Friday at 7:00 p.m. EST. The game will also be streamed on ESPN+.

—Staff writer Nate M. Bolan can be reached at nathan.bolan@thecrimson.com

—Staff writer Owen Butler can be reached at owen.butler@thecrimson.com