Despite giving up three goals over the course of the game, Grumet-Morris made several strong saves, especially after Moore’s tying-goal when the Big Red forced itself into Harvard’s zone and kept the puck in for nearly four minutes of strong pressure.

Special Situations

History seemed to be repeating itself when junior forward Tim Pettit took a penalty for holding the stick less than one minute into the contest. The early penalty called to mind the last contest between these teams at Bright a month ago in which early Harvard penalties gave Cornell a lead it would never relinquish.

“We were just trying to stay positive and keep it simple,” Kolarik said. “It’s tough when they get a power play right off the bat.” This time, the Crimson didn’t face a three-goal deficit, but rather a 1-0 hole after Paolini redirected Murray’s blue-line slapper past Grumet-Morris.

“I thought we competed from the opening faceoff right down to the end,” Harvard coach Mark Mazzoleni said. “We were totally disciplined. Our team battled back from Cornell’s early goal.”

Still, the early scores by the Big Red during opening-minute penalties become frustrating when the Crimson ends up losing by one, as has been the case in the last two meetings between the rivals.

“You’ve got to give credit to your opponents,” Mazzoleni said.

Cornell is a talented team that deserves credit for defeating Harvard twice in two highly competitive games. But if the team could find away to avoid its early penalties, Crimson hockey fans might have to concede a little less credit to the Lynah Faithful.

Faceoffs

Cornell’s success utilizing faceoffs in its opponent’s zone was evident in McRae’s game-tying goal. The Big Red’s formula for success goes something like this: Rely on Vesce to win the draw, which he usually does. Have the outside wing pinch in and form a screen with Vesce, preventing the opposing team’s forwards from rushing out to attack the defenseman with the puck. Allow Cornell’s accurate shooters to fire free of pressure from the blue line.

And this recipe was exactly what the Big Red cooked up for the game-tying goal.

“They are a great faceoff team,” Kolarik said. “You saw it right there.”

That aforementioned screen that Vesce and a forward form is, of course, illegal.

“There are a number of penalties that could have been called—you look at obstruction off the faceoffs,” Mazzoleni said.

But Harvard knew that was a Cornell tactic going in, and despite that forewarning the Big Red was able to convert with that play when it needed to most.