In perhaps its best game of the season, the Harvard men's hockey team (3-5-2, 2-4-2 ECAC) outshot, outskated and overall outplayed the St. Lawrence Saints (3-8-1, 2-3-1) last night at Bright Hockey Center, but still ended up with a 3-3 tie.
"[Last night] was the best 65 minutes we've played all year," sophomore defenseman Ben Storey said.
The game was an important ECAC matchup for the Crimson, and a win or even a tie was desperately needed in order to prevent it from sliding further into the bowels of the league. Last night's game was not about a few star players carrying the team, but rather an overall solid, consistent effort from what is shaping up to be four good lines.
"It would have been nice to get the win," freshman left wing Brett Chodorow said. "But I think everyone in the locker room [after the game] was pleased with the way we played. From the first line out to the fourth, every line played well."
The Crimson made it clear from the opening whistle that it had every intention of winning this game. Harvard played aggressive, smart hockey and it seemed only a matter of time before one of Tomassoni's newly-arranged lines would score.
But amidst this dazzling display of Harvard hockey, St. Lawrence center Paul DiFrancesco somehow snuck the puck into the net on a wrap around power-play goal six minutes into the game, giving the Saints a 1-0 advantage.
This sparked a Harvard shooting spree that looked like a wild western shootout, but still no Harvard goals.
The Saints struck again to make the score 2-0, six minutes after the DiFrancesco tally, but this turned out to be merely a kick in the stomach instead of a knockout blow.
A minute later Harvard freshman rising-star Mark Moore notched his fourth goal of the season when he ripped the puck into the opposite corner of the net to narrow the gap to one goal.
Harvard's class of 2000 was not finished with the first stanza though. Just over a minute after Moore's score, freshman left wing Brett Chodorow trapped a cross pass from freshman defenseman Matt Scorsune, raced down the left wing, and then flipped the puck past Saint goalie, Eric Heffler to tie the game at two.
The Saints took the lead once again with 54 seconds left in the first period to give St. Lawrence a 3-2 cushion entering the second period.
The highlight of the second period was without doubt, the ending of the Harvard power play's 0-for-56 scoreless streak. With eight minutes left in the second period, Storey launched a missile shot which Harvard junior wing Doug Sproule's tipped by Heffler to tie the game at three and end the power play curse.
Although the scoring ceased on both sides, there were plenty of scares for the Crimson. But for the first time in a long, long time, the Crimson was on the receiving end of some luck -- not to mention some big saves by freshman goalie J.R. Prestifilippo.
With ten minutes gone in the third, St. Lawrence winger Derek McLaughlin's goal was called back when he was ruled to have intentionally directed the puck into Harvard's net with his skate.
Early in overtime, the Crimson came close to losing the game when a St. Lawrence shot clanged off the post and flew right past Prestifilippo into the slot.
Harvard wasn't without its scoring chances too in sudden death overtime, but this game was fated to be a 65-minute stalemate. A tie, however, leaves a taste in the mouth something like the feeling of using someone else's toothbrush on accident, and is especially frustrating considering that the Crimson arguably outplayed the Saints in every period of the game.
"I feel we outplayed them for the whole 65 minutes," sophomore right winger Clayton Rodgers said. "Everyone was going straight to the wall, and we were doing all the little things which haven't been there for the past few games. We definitely deserved to win."
Part of Harvard's fire last night could perhaps be explained by the way the team has been practicing as of late.
"Battling in practice and really working hard -- you start to develop a chemistry with the players ... and it started to show tonight," Storey said.
Hopefully the Crimson will carry its momentum into its next crucial ECAC matchup tomorrow night against Clarkson.
First Period
Stl -- DiFrancesco 6 (Ladouceur, Poapst) 5:48. (PPG)
Stl -- DiFrancesco 7 (Cullen, Ladouceur) 11:22. (PPG)
Har -- Moore 4 (Ferrari, Allman) 12:30.
Har -- Chodorow 3 (Scorsune, Adams) 13:54.
Stl -- Creurer 1 (Stevens, Cassidy) 19:06.
Second Period
Har -- Sproule 2 (Storey, Craigen) 11:50. (PPG)
Saves: Stl -- Heffler 11-9-9-3 32; Har -- Prestifilippo 8-7-6-5 26.
Power Play: Stl -- &frac26;; Har -- ⅕.
Attendance: 1,970
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