Coming into last weekend's series against Dartmouth and Vermont, it hadn't won a homestand in two years.
It still hasn't.
The Harvard men's hockey team (5-8-2, 5-4-1 ECAC) squeaked out a close one against Dartmouth on Friday and appeared set for a regal sweep against league cellar-dweller Vermont the next night. Unfortunately, Catamount forward Jerry Gernander picked up his second goal of the year at an opportune time--with less than a minute remaining in regulation--to break a 2-2 deadlock and help send the Cats home with a weekend sweep of their own.
"The tough part about this is that we have nothing to show for it," said Harvard Coach Ronn Tomassoni following the Vermont loss. "I said to the boys that you just can't get down. We have to keep our chins up and go out and get two [wins] next weekend. No way is this a knockout."
Harvard 4, Dartmouth 3
Most worrisome in preparing for Dartmouth (4-5-3, 1-5-1) was not the Big Green's depth (18 juniors and seniors on its roster), its new coach (former Brown coach Bob Gaudet) nor its recent two-game winning streak, which included an impressive, 4-1 championship victory over Providence in the Sheraton/US Airways Holiday Hockey Classic.
No, the real adversity for the Crimson came by word of mouth on Tuesday when team doctors diagnosed Harvard goal-tender, J.R. Prestifilippo--last year's team MVP and the ECAC Rookie of the Year--with mononucleosis.
Prior to the announcement, Harvard had high hopes for the contest against the Big Green, a team languishing near the bottom of the ECAC. The Crimson had already faced the hardest part of its schedule and was still in a three-way tie for third place in league play.
"J.R. wasn't at the top of his game in Wisconsin, and when we came back home and had him tested, we found out why," Tomassoni said.
Freshman backup Oliver Jonas suited up for the Crimson in Presto's absence and delivered a 31-save performance that was good enough to thwart the recently surging Big Green, 4-3.
"It was my fast game at home and my first conference game so it was pretty emotional and I was a little nervous," said Jonas, whose uncle, De Raaf, was a three-time Olympic goaltender for the German national team. "Once the puck dropped and I made the first save, the nervousness was pretty much over."
After a first period that ended with the score even at 1-1, the Crimson gave Jonas a little breathing room in the second stanza. Freshman Graham Morrell picked up the puck in neutral ice and broke down the right wing. Driving deep beyond the goal line, Morrell dropped a pass off for a trailing Chris Bala, who knocked home a one-timer at the 1:22 mark.
Dartmouth would retaliate four minutes later, and it was no surprise that junior Scott Peach was the one to inflict the damage. After scoring two power-play goals in a span of 24 seconds against Providence, Peach displayed his scoring touch once again. A rising slapshot by Peach from just over the Harvard blue line surprised Jonas and sailed over his outstretched glove hand to knot the game at 2-2.
"I wasn't too happy with that one," Jonas said. "It took a bounce there and I wasn't ready for it. Those things happen, though."
The Big Green struck again for a 3-2 lead, but two unanswered Crimson goals in that same period spelled certain doom for the band of green men from Hanover.
The equalizer came from freshman Harry Schwefel, who looped around the Dartmouth net and whipped a wrister past goaltender Eric Almon (12 saves). Freshman Tim Stay delivered the game winner at the 12:14 mark when a seemingly harmless shot from the right point took an odd bounce and trickled by Almon.
"The way the team performed, I really couldn't ask for much more," said Dartmouth's Gaudet. "We generated some good offense and we've been playing well lately. We're getting there. It just would have been nice to win tonight."
Despite chances for both teams in the third period, the lamp would not light up "Considering all the things that have happened to us in the past week, this was a big win for us", Tomassoni said. "The kids hung in there tough and showed a lot of character once again, but this time it was a 'W'--and it's always better when it's a 'W.'" Vermont 4, Harvard 3 The Catamounts' offensive firepower had been all but non-existent before the new year began. A 1.93 goals-per-game average would never have been heard of in Burlington during the reign of the French Connection, the now-graduated duo of Martin St. Louis and Eric Perrin. As a result, for the first time in years, Harvard could not be called the underdog when facing off against the Catamounts (5-9-2, 2-3-2). Unfortunately for the Crimson, the odds do little to precipitate results. Vermont, which is now 4-0-1 in its last four games at Bright Hockey Center, came off its first ECAC win the night before against Brown and carried its momentum into Cambridge. "[Vermont] was the only team that we haven't yet really been able to get a feel for [before a game]," Tomassoni said. "They've been having trouble scoring goals, but they have been competitive in every game. They've always been a good skating team". It was an evenly-played contest right into the final minute--a minute which was as bizarre as any in the recent history of collegiate hockey. With both teams deadlocked at two goals apiece and the game clock winding down, Vermont winger Matt Sanders rifled a blast from just inside the right face-off circle. Jonas (29 saves) kick-saved the shot to his right, only to have Gernander one-time the rebound into an open net to give Vermont a precious 3-2 lead. Only 51 seconds remained. "That was a bit of a breakdown for us", Tomassoni said. "We went for the puck and we were a little lax and they got a nice bounce that went their way. [Gernander] was way off to the weak side and in most cases--nine times out of 10--the puck doesn't go to him. Unfortunately this time it did." With Vermont now employing a prevent defense and Harvard clearly desperate, Jonas was pulled from hit net with 44 seconds left. The Crimson pounded the puck deep into the Vermont zone, and an attempted centering pass from behind the net found no Harvard stick as the puck slipped down the length of the ice--and into the empty Harvard net. The last Dart-mouth player to touch the puck was goal-tender Andrew Allen, so according to the rulebook the empty-netter belonged to the freshman. The goaltender was clearly ecstatic in achieving such a momentous rarity. More importantly, it extended Vermont's lead to 4-2--all the more important because of what happened next. Harvard, left for dead, rallied back and with only one second left, junior Henry Higdon stuffed home Harvard's third goal of the contest. The scoring ended there, but Higdon's late tally allowed Allen's empty-netter to become the game-winner. "It was sort of weird that it went through and went down into our own net", said Higdon. "That kind of thing only happens once in every blue moon. It was a bizarre bounce and a frustrating loss because we definitely had chances to win the game before that and shouldn't have had to be in that position in the first place". Up until the end of the third period, the contest had been fairly normal. Vermont got on the scoreboard first after seven minutes of play only to have Harvard even things up at the 16:09 mark of the second period thanks to a power-play goal by Higdon. Vermont, who never trailed in the contest, snatched its second goal of the game in the third period on a power-play chance. This time it was a close-range blast from the right face-off circle by Jason Hamilton which sailed past the out-stretched arm of Jonas. Harvard junior defenseman Ben Storey responded less than a minute later for another equalizer with a rocket of his own with just under 14 minutes left in the game. "I thought that we were just outstanding in that third period", Tomassoni said. "That may have been our best period of the year, but unfortunately we don't have a lot to show for it. Give their goaltender credit, though. He played a whale of a game". Normally 30 saves would be enough to garner such praise. But 30 saves and a game-winning goal? In light of Vermont's offensive woes, Allen obviously deduced that if he wanted to get the job done right, he might as well do it himself. First Period Har--Sproule 1 (Schwefel, Conklin) 11:36. Dar--Fleming 1 (Peach) 13:41. Second Period Har--Bala 1 (Morrell, Storey) 1:22. Dar--Peach 1 (Fleming) 5:16. Dar--Buckley 1 (Lehouillier, Risk) 7:30. Schwafel 1 (Conklin) 11:36. Har--Stay 1 (Moore) 12:14. Third Period No scoring. Saves: Dar--Almon 5-1-6 12; Har--Jonas 6-13-12 31. Power Play: Dar--0/3; Har--0/2. Attendance: 2255 First Period Ver--Choiniere 1 (Caudron, Lampron) 12:29. Second Period Har--Higdon 1 (Bala, Storey) 16:09. (PPG) Third Period Ver--Hamilton 1 (Moborg) 5:18. (PPG) Har--Storey 1 (Sproule, Millar) 6:08. Ver--Gernander 1 (Sanders, Hamilton) 19:09. Ver--Allen 1 19:44. Har--Higdon 2 (Bala, Morrell) 19:59. Saves: Ver--Allen 6-14-10 30; Har--Jonas 7-11-11 29. Power Play: Ver--1/4; Har--1/1. Attendance: 2627
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