“They had a set play and executed it well,” Grumet-Morris said of the Eagles power play, which finished 2-for-6. “I thought we did a good job of taking care of the rest of their outlets, but that’s the nature of a 5-on-4: They have the one extra guy.”
It certainly seemed like BC had an extra guy during the first and second periods as Harvard was outshot 13-6 and 14-5, respectively.
But Grumet-Morris couldn’t have been sharper in keeping the score tied. He turned aside back-to-back chances by Gionta with about four minutes left in the second, to keep it 2-2 entering the third.
But despite Grumet-Morris’s best efforts, the Eagles popped the game-winner a little over six minutes into the third. Again, it came from Voce, this time on an assist from a different Eaves—Ben, the BC captain and Patrick’s older brother—who warded off the Crimson’s Dennis Packard along the boards before feeding Voce as in the slot. It marked the first time all season Grumet-Morris allowed more than two goals.
Of the nine points scored by Eagles players in the game, eight belonged to players named either Eaves or Voce. Afterward, BC coach Jerry York said Ben Eaves was “as good a player as I’ve seen in college hockey.” York has been involved in the college game almost every year since 1963.
Meanwhile, Harvard fans had the heroics of Grumet-Morris to talk about.
He kicked away Voce’s point-blank power-play bid with seven-and-a-half minutes left in the game—one of 11 more dandies in the third—to keep his team in it until the end.
And the Crimson almost tied it. Tom Walsh put one through the pads of Kaltiainen with 3:20 left in the game, only to see it sail inches wide, and Cavanagh hit the post with a minute and a half to go.
“We could just as easily be talking about a 3-2 win for Harvard,” Grumet-Morris told the press corps outside the locker room.
Instead, Mazzoleni and his players were left to wonder again why they are a .500 team, scoring 2.55 goals per game—ninth-best in the ECAC. Last year, that same figure was a league-leading 3.91.
“When you have high aspirations, and it’s not happening for you, it’s test of your character,” Mazzoleni said. “I have confidence these guys will respond.”
—Staff writer Jon Paul Morosi can be reached at morosi@fas.harvard.edu.