CANTON, N.Y.--If the seven-hour bus ride to Canton. New York wasn't long enough coming, it might seem a lot longer going home today.
In a poor outing, the Harvard men's hockey (5-4-1, 4-2-1 ECAC) team fell hard to St. Lawrence (7-5-0, 5 - 1 - 0 ECAC) 7-3 at Appleton Arena last night.
Where to begin?
Perhaps the second period summed up the entire game. It just wasn't pretty at all--especially for the Crimson. To give it its due, however, it was exciting. Five goals were scored, a mini-fight broke out and a goal was taken away. Not exactly a dull 20 minutes.
St. Lawrence's pride and joy--All-American hopeful captain Burke Murphy--opened St. Lawrence's second period scoring fest with a blast past freshman goalie Peter Zakowich (35 saves) from just inside the blue line.
As if offended, Harvard retaliated 12 seconds later, as junior Stu Swenson tied things up when he weaved his way through the St. Lawrence defense and roofed a backhanded shot by St. Lawrence goalie Clint Owen.
But St. Lawrence then went on to notch three more tallies in the period.
"They got a couple of goals early [in the second period]," Harvard coach Ronn Tomassoni said. "That took a lot of wind out of our sails."
Harvard did score a power-play goal at 14:48 when captain Brad Konik, off a pass from freshman Craig Adams, sent a blistering shot past Owen to close the gap to 4-3. This goal, however, came after Nielsen had muscled the puck off Owen and then a Saint defenseman into the net, only to have it taken away because that Saint also knocked the net off its moorings.
But it was clear that Harvard's intensity had diminished in the second stanza, especially on defense. The let-down let to St. Lawrence's final tally of the second period, off a transition break with only three minutes remaining. Winger Scott Stevens pounded a back pass from teammate Derck Ladouceur into the Harvard net.
"We stopped playing, especially in the second period, and they took advantage of it," Konik said.
"We played poorly," Tomassoni said. "We played in spurts here and there, but what we have to do is play 60 minutes of hockey."
And to top it off, just as the fans sat down from applauding that tally, a tiny scuffle in front of the Harvard net sent a player from both teams to the penalty box. Perhaps a fitting way to end an unfortunate period.
"We basically got sucked down to their level," Konik said. "And we sort of got stuck trying to get into their dutch-and-grab game."
There probably was a shrine made for Zakowich in the locker room after that period, considering he came up huge for Harvard time after time, as the defense allowed a host of three-on-two and man-advantage breaks. When St. Lawrence finally scored, it took Stevens three attempts to get the biscuit past Zakowich.
Perhaps the lone bright spot for the Crimson was the play of the senior first line, which has been red-hot all season.
Only four minutes into the game, the line notched Harvard's first score. After receiving a pass from junior defenseman Ashlin Halfnight, senior Kirk Nielsen drove towards the St. Lawrence net. While fighting off a pesky defender, Nielsen held onto the puck until finally laying it off to Konik, who blasted it into the upper left corner past Owen.
After this disastrous loss, the team faces off this afternoon against this season's ECAC killer, Clarkson. The Harvard players have to rebound. But if they don't, it will sure be one long trek home. First Period Har--Konik 8 (Nielson, Halfnight) 4:10. SLU--Stevens 6 (Ladouceur, McLaughin) 9:23. Second Period SLU--B. Murphy 11 (Stevens, Otkawa) 2:38. Har--Swenson 1 (Rodgers, Storey) 2:50. SLU McLaughlin 5 (Ruddock, Ladouceur) 5:02. SLU--Allard 1 (Cassidy) 13:53. Har--Konik 9 (Adams) 14:47. (PPG) SLU--Ladouceur 1 (Stevens, McLaughin) 17:00. Third Period SLU--Orkawa 6 (B. Murphy. DiFrancesco) 17:44. SLU--DiFrancesco 6 (Dashney) 19:53. (ENG) Saves: Har--Zakowich 11 14 10 35; SLU--Owen 8-10-11 29. Power Play: Har: 1/6; SLU--0/2. Attendamost 2,700.
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