Harvard Men’s Ice Hockey Topples Stonehill, Scores 6 Goals

In its first-ever meeting, the Harvard men’s ice hockey team (1-0-1, 0-0-0 ECAC) steamrolled past Stonehill (1-8-0) to a resounding 6-2 win that saw a 3-goal performance in the first period and a .944 save percentage from sophomore netminder Ben Charette.

On the back of a competitive, tight-checking loss last Friday night to the No. 9-ranked UConn Huskies, the Crimson took the opportunity at home against the Skyhawks to better display the improvements it made over the course of the offseason.

“I think it was good for us to just experience that pace,” said Charette, commenting on the first two games of the season. “Especially with teams that are pretty skilled and highly ranked, and had played a lot of hockey before.”

Harvard opened the game with even-strength goals from junior forward Ben MacDonald and senior forward Philip Tresca, along with Harvard’s first power play goal of the season from senior forward Marek Hejduk.

In addition to the goal-scoring chance on the power play, the Crimson drew a second penalty against the recent Northern Michigan transfer and Stonehill lead-scoring junior forward Matthew Romer.

Romer was the lone goal scorer in the team’s most-recent Saturday contest against Dartmouth in Boston.

Harvard proved early that it could successfully secure and hold onto the puck in the defensive zone, close out Stonehill’s opportunities along the boards, and make sure Harvard had the player formation it wanted coming up ice before carrying the puck further.

To see that kind of control and offensive output so early in the season even against a lackluster opponent is a significant development for the Crimson, a team that despite putting up the fourth-most shots on goal last season had the third-lowest shot percentage in the ECAC.

In the second period, Harvard hoped to keep the momentum. Less than a minute into the period, senior forward Casey Severo received a pass from sophomore fellow forward Mick Thompson in the slot for an easy tuck over the goaltender’s glove, extending the lead to four.

Throughout the game, it was Harvard’s penalty kill that shined, which defended well in the odd-man situations including, for a brief moment, when junior defenseman Matthew Morden lost his stick in the crease. Severo would make the heroic play to shut down Stonehill’s attempt by sacrificing his body to prevent a pass between the two Skyhawk defensemen that looked poised for a one-timer from the top of the left circle.

Soon though, Harvard had thoroughly exhausted itself and risked reviving the team it thought it had put away in the first period.

A puck punched away from senior defenseman Ryan Healey in the neutral zone opened up two opposing defenseman for an 0-on-2 breakaway just feet away from Charette, which shot in over his stick side.

Then in the period’s closing minutes, sophomore defenseman Sean Keohane fell onto Charette in net after being unintentionally shoved. A simple shot towards the left portion of the net put Stonehill in the game for the first time with a 4-2 score.

“I thought our third period was better, playing against a team that was coming hard at us,” said Harvard head coach Ted Donato, commenting on the play during the middle period. “But that second period could have ended up a lot worse than it actually did.”

Just past the halfway point, Stonehill had amassed 35 shots on goal, and had a clear advantage on faceoffs, which was a notable shift from the game against UConn.

Yet in a last-chance attempt to close the two-goal differential, Stonehill gave up another two goals on the empty-net and with the goaltender back defending in the final minute.

“I think, as a player, you always circle those games, games of high intensity and lots of emotion.” said Coach Donato, in anticipation of the game. “I think the building will be buzzing on Friday night. So I think everybody’s looking forward to it.”

The Crimson face off against the Cornell Big Red and Colgate Raiders this weekend, Nov. 7 and 8, at 7 p.m. EST at Bright Landry Hockey Center. While the game comes earlier in the season than is typical for Harvard, it nevertheless welcomes the challenge.

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

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