The persistent question for the Harvard men's hockey team this season has been defense, and Saturday night the Crimson blue-line finally provided a firm answer. Harvard blanked Princeton, 7-0, in front of 3044 at Bright Center.
While Mike Vukonich and Tim Burke each netted two goals, the night clearly belonged to Crimson goalkeeper Allain Roy. The netminder was brilliant between the twines, saving 30 Princeton shots and recording his first shutout of the season.
The victory avenged a 4-3 early-season loss to the Tigers and kept Harvard (10-8-0 Overall, 10-6-0 ECAC) tied with Rensselaer for fourth place in the ECAC. The Crimson's second blowout win in as many nights gives the squad strong momentum going into tonight's Beanpot opening round matchup against Boston University at the Garden.
"We're getting better defense," Harvard Coach Ronn Tomassoni said. "If we're going to get better it's defense that will cure us. Offense will take care of itself."
Harvard's offense, reorganized by Tomassoni's line changes over the exam break, clearly took care of this weekend. This first weekend after the breakup of the Ted Donato-Peter Ciavaglia-Mike Vukonich superline saw an amazing 19 Crimson goals, spread out over four lines rather than dominated by the Fabulous [Hobey] Baker Boys.
The checking line of Tim Burke-Steve Flomenhoft-Scott Barringer--which revived from a scoring drought to scrap for four goals this weekend--opened the scoring when Burke skated uncontested into the crease and shoved the puck past Princeton goalkeeper Mark Salsbury 6:22 into the opening period for what proved to be the game-winner.
"Our line seems to thrive on being aggressive," Burke said.
After Tiger winger Troy Ewanchyna was sent to the penalty box, a successful Crimson power play made the score 2-0 before the first intermission. Vukonich beautifully backhanded a pass into the crease, where Ted Drury batted in a rebound after an initial Ciavaglia shot.
Vukonich, who had a hat trick in Harvard's 12-2 manhandling of Army on Friday, thrived this weekend in spite of the breakup of the superline. The senior forward now plays on the second line with Ciavaglia and sophomore Matt Mallgrave.
"Just as long as I didn't lose [Ciavaglia], I'll be all right," Vukonich said. "As long as I have my stick on the ice, he gets me the puck."
In the second period, Vukonich put a beautiful fake on Salsbury to pad the Crimson lead, while fourteen Roy saves held Princeton's attack at bay. Four minutes into the final frame, Ciavaglia fed a perfect cross-crease pass to Vukonich, who redirected the puck into an open net for a 4-0 lead.
Several Harvard penalties in the final period gave Princeton power play opportunities, but Harvard's defense preserved the shutout. The Crimson blue-line was particularly fierce in killing a Princeton 5-on-3 advantage midway through the frame.
"We were all concentrating on playing tough defense," Harvard defender Brian McCormack said. "Last time at Princeton, it came down to defense and we didn't want to allow them anything this time around."
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