Men's Hockey Wins Seventh Straight

The Harvard and Rensselaer men’s ice hockey teams entered their final tilt of 2014 streaking in opposite directions. The Crimson made its way to the ice having won six consecutive games, while the Engineers had dropped their last five.

But after one period of play, you hardly would have been able to tell.

Playing in its first intercollegiate matchup in 24 days, No. 4/4 Harvard (10-1-2, 6-1-2 ECAC) showed some rust in the early going, mustering just four shots on goal in the opening frame. Meanwhile, RPI (6-13-1, 4-5-0) generated its best start in over a month, creating 13 shots of its own and carrying a 2-1 lead into the first intermission.

Nonetheless, sparked by a three-goal surge in the first four minutes of the second period, the Crimson notched its seventh consecutive victory, defeating the Engineers, 6-2.

“There wasn’t a lot of hanging heads or negativity [after the first period],” Harvard coach Ted Donato ’91 said. “The guys responded really well right from the first shift in the second.”

Trailing after the first period for the first time all season, the Crimson offense burst onto the scene on that opening shift. Harvard got its equalizer just over 20 seconds into the frame, and it came from a likely source—junior forward Jimmy Vesey.

Vesey assumed his position just outside the slot, as junior co-captain Kyle Criscuolo made his way behind the net. Seeing his linemate, Criscuolo sent a pass in the forward’s direction—one that Vesey put home for his tenth goal of the season.

“I think what makes [Vesey] so dangerous an offensive player is that he’s very versatile,” Donato said. “He’s very willing to go into the dirty areas, get the tough rebounds, and [make] plays in front of the net.”

The Crimson offense was just getting started. Harvard broke the game open three minutes later with two goals scored only nine seconds apart.

Sophomore forward Phil Zielonka logged the goal to put the Crimson ahead. Looping behind the net, sophomore winger Devin Tringale delivered a pass to Zielonka inside the crease, where he muscled it home.

Seconds later, Harvard struck again, as Criscuolo found sophomore forward Tyler Moy streaking up the slot on a two-on-one. Bringing the puck to his right, Moy fired a shot past the left pad of Engineers' netminder Jason Kasdorf.

Prior to Tuesday, Kasdorf had been sidelined by an injury for a month. In the former ECAC Rookie of the Year’s absence, RPI had dropped five straight games by an average of over five goals per game.

Thus, after the first period of play, Kasdorf’s return looked like it might pay dividends. But in the end, junior goaltender Steve Michalek got the better of his adversary, making 33 saves on the night.

“[Michalek] is one of the more talented goalies I’ve ever skated with and been on a team with,” co-captain Max Everson said. “A guy like Steve is the reason we’re able to come out of that first period only down one goal.”

The Crimson put the game away early in the final frame on a goal by Moy on a four-on-three chance from the left dot. Playing on the first line in the absence of sophomore forward Alexander Kerfoot, Moy has recorded at least a point in five straight games.

“Once Kerfoot got hurt, Moy seamlessly just started gelling with [Vesey and me],” Criscuolo said. “He’s found his niche at center with us. We trust each other, and we’re starting to learn where each other are on the ice.”

Harvard’s six-goal performance looked plausible early on after sophomore forward Luke Esposito got the scoring started 1:21 into the contest. But the reins fell off shortly afterwards.

After missing his last three games due to injury, Engineers’ forward Drew Melanson was effective in his return, notching the equalizer three minutes later. The freshman took a pass down low from captain Matt Neal and put it past Michalek for his team-leading eighth point of the year.

A barrage of RPI chances followed, and the Engineers finally jumped ahead at the 13:19 mark of the period courtesy of senior forward Zach Schroeder. The goal marked the first time the Crimson has surrendered multiple goals in the first frame all year.

That would be the last of the offense that RPI could generate, however, as Harvard grabbed control of the contest in the middle frame. Freshman forward Seb Lloyd later capped the scoring for the Crimson with less than ten minutes remaining, picking up the first collegiate goal of his career.

“This was an important game for us because we knew that in the league, we weren’t going to be able to get any points over the next two weekends,” Donato said. “We want to remain near the top of our league and challenge to win [it].”

—Staff writer Jake Meagher can be reached at jake.meagher@thecrimson.com.