Earning those initial possessions gave Harvard opportunity. Cavanagh saw to it that the Crimson didn’t let it go to waste.
After receiving the puck back from sophomore Charlie Johnson, Cavanagh sent a cross-ice pass out to junior Noah Welch at the point, whose wrister cut back across Danis’ body and into the top right corner of the net, beating Danis.
On the ice for six of the varsity’s seven weekend scores, the Warwick, R.I. native wrought havoc on the Brown defense, even when not directly responsible for a tally.
“He can see the ice,” Welch said. “Stuff that other guys won’t see, don’t see. He sees.”
Stuff like a vulnerable spot in the Brown penalty kill. Stuff like Pettit streaking down the ice before the senior forward even starts skating.
Stuff like that.
Cavanagh chipped the puck up over the Bears defense into the corner with less than five minutes remaining in the second period of Friday’s Game 1 and Harvard looking to retake the lead following Brent Robinson’s equalizer.
Pettit dug it out, junior Brendan Bernakevitch teed it up, and Kolarik threw it on net from along the goal line and off Danis’ gear for the go-ahead goal.
Then, just 3:42 into the third period, Cavanagh intercepted an errant Brown pass in the neutral zone. Quickly shifting from the trap to the attack, Harvard’s playmaker led Johnson and Pettit past the blue line on a 3-2. Carrying the puck along the left boards, Cavanagh feigned a move inside and pulled the puck back towards the boards before snapping a pass just to the right of the goalmouth.
Pettit raced to catch up, streaking past his defender towards the right post. Barely reaching it, he swatted the puck past Danis—that had been left hanging by Cavanagh on the far post—for the eventual game-winner.
“It was one of those things where we read off each other,” Cavanagh said. “Timmy always goes to the net hard.”
Like Cavanagh doesn’t.
And if Harvard’s leading scorer—with 14 goals and 19 assists—keeps dancing in front of the goal the way he has, he won’t be snake-bitten again any time soon.
—Staff writer Timothy J. McGinn can be reached at mcginn@fas.harvard.edu.