This weekend’s roadtrip to RPI and Union proved to be a tough stretch for the Crimson, as it lost to the Engineers and tied the Dutchmen, but captain Peter Hafner and the Harvard defense nonetheless played well against Harvard’s middle-of-the-pack ECAC of

Early in the season, the No. 13 Harvard men’s hockey team struggled to maintain its early leads, playing stagnant third periods as fans bit their fingernails to the quick. And in retrospect, that very well might have been better than what’s going on now.

Because now, those early leads are harder and harder to come by, and third periods more and more frequently see the Crimson (10-7-2, 7-6-1 ECAC) playing from behind.

After Friday’s 1-1 tie with Union (10-8-4, 3-3-2) and Saturday’s 3-2 loss to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), captain Peter Hafner said he didn’t think the change was due to “anything in particular.”

“It’s frustrating,” he said. “We’re not starting particularly well, as we did in the beginning of the season. It’s a lot more fun, a lot easier playing with the lead.”

Harvard actually added another point to its lead atop the league standings, but given the fact that the Crimson has played 14 ECAC games—six more contests than five of the next six squads on the list—the picture isn’t quite so bright. Though the Crimson has won big against out-of-conference squads—North Dakota, New Hampshire, and Boston College were all top-10 when Harvard felled them—the in-conference play has proven trickier.

“In our league, anyone can play with anyone,” Hafner said. “It’s just a matter of the effort and the work put in.”

RPI 3, HARVARD 2

TROY, N.Y.—Down 3-0 in the third period, the Crimson peppered Engineers goalie Mathias Lange with 17 shots on goal—two more than in the first two frames combined.

But after the one-goal loss in Houston Fieldhouse to RPI (9-9-3, 3-2-3), Harvard coach Ted Donato ’91 told his players two things.

“The first thing was, if we played like that the first 40 minutes, we wouldn’t have found ourselves in that position and we would have won the game,” he said.

The second thing was an apology: Donato’s bench minor, assessed after an animated conversation with an official at 13:10, led to RPI’s third goal, which came with one second remaining on the power play.

“I ask our guys to play with composure—I’ve got to have more composure on the bench,” the coach said. “I was upset with the way the game was officiated...so I was frustrated. It’s no excuse for getting a penalty, though.”

A high wrister and a glove-side attempt put the Engineers up 2-0 in the second period, and then just as time ticked down on the bench minor, Jake Morissette took a long pass along the right side, deked once, and then sailed the puck over goaltender John Daigneau’s glove.

The Crimson responded with a goal 1:04 later, a Dylan Reese shot from the blue line that somehow dribbled by Lange, and Harvard closed the gap to 3-2 with 1:17 remaining, when sophomore Alex Meintel was credited with beating Lange in a crowded crease.

The puck bounced through the crease and past Crimson skates with less than a minute to go, but Lange lay across the ice and smothered it for one of his 30 saves.

“It was a frustrating one, I can tell you that,” Hafner said. “I don’t know how many times it’s happened to us, but the first two periods, we kind of sleepwalked through it, and then finally in the third period...we decided to play.”

“As evidenced in that third period, we can dominate teams,” he added. “We can be as good as anybody—it’s just a matter of getting that level of play for three periods. “Hopefully this [upcoming exam] break, this two-week break, it will sink in, and we’ll finally learn our lesson.”

UNION 1, HARVARD 1

SCHENECTADY, N.Y.—Friday night boiled down to a five-minute overtime Friday in the Dutchmen’s Messa Rink.

Midway through the extra frame, Union’s Augie DiMarzo fed linemate Olivier Bouchard close in the left circle, but Daigneau’s point-blank pad stop was a “game-saver,” said Dutchmen coach Nate Leaman.

And with less than 40 seconds remaining to play, Hafner launched a shot from the blue line that looked to bounce in the goalmouth, ricocheting off the post and Union goaltender Kris Mayotte.

“From where I was standing,” Donato said, “it looked like we had the winner, actually, and I still think that puck went in.”

But no goal was called, and the 1-1 tie that preserved the Dutchmen’s undefeated home record.

“They made it difficult to get to the net for rebounds, to take it to the net, and on our side of it, I would like us to compete harder in those tough areas and get pucks to the net, take it there, take hits to make plays,” said Donato, whose team took just two shots on goal in four power-play opportunities.

Union went up 15:20 into the third period, when Augie DiMarzo dished the puck across the slot to a speeding T.J. Fox, who easily pushed it past a sliding Daigneau.

The Crimson notched the equalizer 53 seconds later, when Alex Meintel, standing just in front of the crease, tipped in Hafner’s blue line shot.

Hafner was standing just a few yards from where he would launch his overtime attempt, the stuff of post-game debate.

“News to me,” smiled Dutchmen goaltender Kris Mayotte when told that Harvard skaters thought the puck slipped in.

Hafner himself didn’t see the play.

“A lot of guys on our bench thought it went in, hit the lower pad of the net, and came out,” he said. “But it really doesn’t matter. We can’t leave it to chance like that.”

—Staff writer Rebecca A. Seesel can be reached at seesel@fas.harvard.edu.