“We took a few too many offensive reads in the first period,” captain Kenny Smith said. “We were losing battles at net front.”
During the first, when Harvard surrendered two goals, the Crimson five saved just one.
SPECIALTY TEAMS
Blanked on special teams against Dartmouth for the first time in the playoffs, Harvard struggled to establish itself inside the Big Green zone with an extra skater.
Lacking the crisp puck movement seen against Brown, when the Crimson netted three goals in eight opportunities, Harvard never really threatened Dartmouth netminder Dan Yacey.
Nor too did it seem as if the Crimson would accomplish much of anything against Dustin Traylen the following night, with Clarkson not only clearing the zone with great efficiency, but taking the momentum inside the Harvard zone and running time off the clock far from its own net.
Only a flash of brilliance from juniors Brendan Bernakevitch and Tom Cavanagh could end that drought, as the pair broke in 2-on-1 off the opening faceoff at the start of the second, with the latter tacking on the Crimson’s first tally. Making matters more difficult for the power-play line was the unwillingness of the officials to blow their whistles in the high-profile game, allowing scrappy play to arguably go beyond the limits of legal contact. When infractions were called against Harvard, however, its penalty kill was as rigid as ever, extending its record over four games to 14-for-15.
“When you win the specialty team battles,” Mazzoleni said, “you have a chance.”
BRIEFLY
After an uneven performance from his fourth line last weekend against Brown, Mazzoleni had planned on swapping senior Blair Barlow into the lineup for sophomore Dan Murphy alongside Rob Fried and Rob Flynn.
But after skating Barlow throughout the week of practice, Mazzoleni opted instead to stick with the same line as he had throughout the playoffs.
—Staff writer Timothy M. McDonald can be reached at tmcdonal@fas.harvard.edu
—Staff writer Timothy J. McGinn can be reached at mcginn@fas.harvard.edu.