MILWAUKEE, Wisc.--When you spot a team three goals, the road to victory becomes much longer.
This may be an intuitive lesson to most, but it was one which was made painfully clear to the Harvard men's hockey team at the Badger One Showdown in Milwaukee, Wisc.
Just three days after Christmas, the Crimson started giving away its own gifts--three goals to Wisconsin, three more goals to Boston College. Although the Crimson fought back for a 6-6 tie with the Eagles, the large cushion was too much against the Badgers, who for the first time since 1994 waltzed into the Showdown's championship round.
Wisconsin 6, Harvard 3
Much like the Badgers, the Crimson has endured a dismal holiday tournament drought. Not since the 1994 Alaska Fairbanks Tournament has Harvard been able to manage a win or even a tie during Christmas break.
This year was perhaps its best chance since to reverse the trend. Playing in front of a crowd of more than 12,000 fans in an arena that many NHL teams would envy, Harvard faced off against a very beatable Badger team in the first round.
The ice surface had barely been scratched, however, when such hopes were severely dashed. Yuri Gusak put Wisconsin on the scoreboard first after only one minute of play. It took another 14 minutes for the next tally, but after they came in quick succession for Badgers.
Freshman Kevin Granato, who had only four goals coming into the tournament, racked up three goals against the Crimson--two of which came in the first period.
"Kevin is physically smaller, but be finds the puck and uses his speed and that's what it's all about", said Wisconsin Coach Jeff Sauer about his 160-pound left winger. "The puck seems to find him a lot, but he does stuff with it and that's what makes the difference."
With under five minutes left in the period, Granato--younger brother of the NHL's Tony and women's Olympian Cammi--utilized his quick first stride and broke by the Harvard defense at center ice. Harvard goaltender J.R. Prestifilippo knocked away Granato's first attempt, but a second slap at the puck sent both Presto and the puck into the back of the net.
Before the period's end, Granato helped make it 3-0, except this time it was teammate Joe Bianchi who evaded the Crimson players and stormed down the ice unmolested. Once again, Prestifilippo had no trouble with the original shot, but the pad save bounced out to the netminder's right where a trailing Granato slapped it home.
"We gave them that first period," said captain Jeremiah McCarthy, who ultimately became Harvard's sole representative on the All-Tournament team. "We gave them breakaway after breakaway and they capitalized on them. We gave them three early goals on our mistakes and you just can't spot teams that many goals."
As if the hole wasn't big enough, Harvard was dealt another setback seconds into the second stanza. Junior Craig Adams, who had scored at least one goal in the Crimson's previous three games, took a brutal hit into the boards. The impact knocked his helmet to the ice and a mild concussion, 10 stitches to the forehead and a tender shoulder forced Adams to sit out the rest of the tournament.
Right after Adams headed for the locker room, the Badgers extended their lead to 4-0.
"Adams is such a big part of our team and a tough competitor", Tomassoni said. "We certainly missed him and had to make some adjustments to give someone the opportunity to step up."
The first Crimson player to take charge was junior defenseman Ben Storey, who sent a rocket past Wisconsin netminder Graham Melanson. Senior Henry Higdon followed suite two minutes later to close the gap at 4-2.
Two more goals were scored in the final two-and-a-half minutes of the second period--one by each team--but Harvard would get no closer.
An empty-netter by Badger forward Steve Reinprecht with 18 seconds remaining in the contest sealed the Crimson's fate.
"We gave them a run for their money," Tomassoni said. "It was anyone's game at the end and we just weren't as opportunistic as we should have been."
Harvard 6, Boston College 6
Since they didn't get the job done the night before, the Harvard players had a chance to redeem themselves and at least avoid last place in the consolation game against their Boston rivals.
They did, but only barely, since the 6-6 tie forced third place to be decided by total goals scored and the Crimson beat out the Eagles by one.
"For us it feels like a win," Tomassoni said. "As opposed to the last few holiday tournaments at least we got a point out of this one."
That one precious point, however, was so close to being squandered. After a first period where the two teams marked up two goals a piece, Harvard once again fell into an abyss of mental lapses in the second period which led to three consecutive B.C. goals.
It took only 38 seconds for Hobey Baker candidate Marty Reasoner to find daylight behind the Harvard defense and flip in his second goal of the contest.
Five minutes thereafter, Mike Lephart and Tony Hutchins lit the lamp just 20 seconds apart, and all of a sudden, the Eagles were up 5-2.
This time, though, Harvard was able to rebound in time to salvage a result.
Spearheaded by goals in a five-minute span from sophomore Brett Chodorow, Senior Geordie Hyland and McCarthy, the Crimson was back in the saddle again.
"It was a pretty exciting game to be a part of," Chodorow said. "We worked hard and it was a real step up for us, especially coming back after they got the third, fourth and fifth goals."
Harvard couldn't be content with its comeback heroics just yet as Lephart put his Eagles up once again at the 15:29 mark. This time it was junior Clayton Rodgers who returned the favor and blistered his second goal of the year past B.C. goaltender Scott Clemmensen.
Strangely enough, after two periods which saw 12 goals scored, none hit the back of the net in the final 20 minutes plus overtime. All things considered, one point proved better than nothing.
"There was kind of a little victory out of the tie for us," Storey said. "We've only scored six goals in a game one other time this year and it's always nice to get that many goals."
First Period Wis--Gusak (Rothenburg, Bradley) 1:06. Wis--Granato (unassisted) 15:02. Wis--Granato (Bianchi, Anderson) 17:49. (SHG)
Second Period Wis--Granato (Anderson) 3:27. Har--Storey (Millar, S. Moore) 6:29. Har--Higdon (Storey) 8:46. Wis--Reinprecht (Rothering) 17:33. Har--Chodorow (Higdon, Morrell) 19:02.
Third Period Wis--Reinprecht (Sabo) 19:42.
Saves: Wis--Melanson 12-6-6 24; Har--Prestifilippo 12-8-12 32.
B>Power Play: Wis--0/5; Har--1/6.
Attendance: 12,801
First Period BC--Reasoner (Powers) 2:20. BC--Lephart (Bellefeuille, Hughes) 8:36. (PPG) Har--Scorsune (M. Moore, J. McCarthy) 15:49. Har--J. McCarthy (unassisted) 19:25.
Second Period BC--Reasoner (Scuderi) 00:38. BC--Lephart (Reasoner, Hemenway) 5:39. (PPG) BC--Hutchins (Caulfield, Powers) 5:59. Har--Chodorow (Scorsune, Millar) 8:16. (PPG) Har--Hyland (Bala, Millar) 9:55. Har--J. McCarthy (unassisted) 10:14. BC--Lephart (Hughes, Bellefeuille) 15:29. Har--Rodgers (Bala, Morrell) 16:23.
Third Period No Scoring.
Saves: BC--McClaughlin 6-7-0-0 13; Clemmenson 0-3-6-0 9 Har--Prestifilippo 12-10-7-3 32.
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