Harvard Men’s Ice Hockey Overcomes Colgate, Propels to 2-1 Opening Homestand

A final entry to the week-long homestand for Harvard men’s ice hockey (2-1-1, 1-1-0 ECAC) quickly appeared a run-away game as it pummeled Colgate (2-7-1, 0-2-0 ECAC) 6-5.

The win also marked Harvard’s second straight game scoring 6 goals, doubling its tally from the previous year, a 6-goal victory against St. Lawrence in mid-February.

First scores for two Crimson players propelled the team to a 3-1 opening period. Captain defenseman Mason Langenbrunner scored the first goal from the right circle over Colgate senior goaltender Ryan Takacs’s stick side.

A minute later, senior forward Casey Severo secured Harvard’s second of the night assisted by a quick drop-off pass in the crease from sophomore forward Mick Thompson.

The puck was originally kept in the zone on senior forward Philip Tresca’s keep-in grab of the flying puck. It exited the zone and was put it back on the ice, pushing it ahead to Thompson.

Strong positioning later in the period and repeated poor defense on the zone entry by Colgate led to Langenbrunner also coming away with an assist on junior forward Joe Miller’s first goal.

Scored in the final five minutes of the period, the leftside Raider defenseman and forward were caught puckwatching behind the net and let Miller take a wild open shot from the same spot as Langenbrunner into a hole the size of an envelope.

“We’ve made it an emphasis to start strong, to defend home ice,” Miller said. “And getting a lead early in a game makes our lives a lot easier. Obviously, in a game like tonight, we'd like to hold on to it a little bit better.”

Despite the successes, Harvard showed it had not yet recovered from crippling mistakes it made in the middle period against Stonehill and in closing out the game against Cornell last night.

Langenbrunner was called for the Crimson’s only two penalties for holding and crosschecking. The second penalty was converted and let Colgate come away with something to look up at on the scoreboard, as well as the first powerplay goal scored against Harvard this season.

It was Colgate that came out of the blocks quicker following intermission and managed to tie the game less than 5 minutes in.

The latter score was a tragic own-goal by Langenbrunner who took an errant swipe at the puck in the air, not allowing the otherwise stellar sophomore goaltender Ben Charette to make the save.

Harvard Head Coach Ted Donato ‘91 liked the team’s offensive output, but recognized it would have to do more to stay ahead of teams moving forward.

“You'd like to not kind of help the other team come back, but unfortunately we did. Whether it was taking penalties or turning the puck over. And not often do you have a chance twice to protect a three goal lead. But we had it tonight due to some timely goals and some good offense.”

Fortunately for Harvard, Colgate’s defense’s continued struggles outweighed Harvard’s, and the Crimson quickly pulled back ahead to a two-goal lead on a sequence featuring goals just 16 seconds apart from sophomore forward Mick Thompson and senior defenseman Ryan Healey.

Another two goals in the closing part of the second period were shared by Harvard and Colgate. Thompson assisting on Tresca’s goal gave them their third and second points, respectively.

Thompson now also secured his second 3-point game of the season.

“Mick Thompson’s been excellent producing offensive opportunities,” Donato said.

“Their whole line, along with Casey Severo and Phil Tresca, I think have gotten off to a good start. And I think we’re a deeper team offensively than we've been in the last year or two.”

The game finally settled, but not before the final period. Beyond a few penalties, both teams traded opportunities carrying the puck up ice.

Colgate finally displayed the defensive effort that you would prefer to have seen to open the game and Harvard continued to be pressured to not just end the game ahead, but to do so cleanly and prove it’s capable of not allowing crucial comeback chances it’s been prone to allow.

A faulty recovery of the puck off a Colgate shot by Langenbrunner gave the Raiders an undefended chance on net put away by a very late shot with Charette already splayed on the ice and time ticking down in the contest.

“You kind of enjoy them as a player when there’s a lot of goals going on and pucks bouncing around,” Donato said of the high-scoring contests. “But, we put two pucks in our own net, I think they put one of them off of their knee, and so it just happened to be one of those nights.”

Still, the multiple 3-goal leads for Harvard proved too insurmountable and the team walked away with the win in arguably one of its toughest stretches, starting games behind many teams and still playing three games on home ice this week.

Next up for the Crimson are two familiar ECAC opponents in Clarkson University and St. Lawrence University on the road. Games will take place Friday and Saturday at 7:00 p.m. EST and will be available to stream on ESPN+.

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