The goalie decision was down to the wire for Harvard coach Ted Donato, but his eventual decision to play freshman Matt Hoyle was a good one, as the rookie posted 30 saves in the Crimson’s 4-1 win over Dartmouth in the team’s home opener Friday night. The

Three special teams goals in the third period propelled the No. 20 Harvard men’s hockey team Friday night.

Sophomore Michael Biega knocked in a shot to notch a tie-breaking power-play goal at 7:39, putting the Crimson ahead, 2-1. Less than a minute later, an interference violation sent a Big Green player into the box, and senior Nick Coskren scooped in another goal on the power play to boost Harvard’s lead to 3-1. To top it off, senior Jimmy Fraser knocked in an empty-netter with four seconds left on the clock.

“I think special teams was obviously a big part of [our win],” said Crimson coach Ted Donato ’91. “I thought our penalty kill battled pretty well there, especially in the first two periods, and then our power play was able to come through. At times, it looked like the first game of the season for both teams execution-wise, but I knew it was going to be a tough game…all in all, I think the guys can be very proud.”

Last season, Harvard led the ECAC in penalty kills, allowing only nine goals in 103 power-play chances in league play.

On Friday, Dartmouth made 15 power-play attempts, and the Crimson shut down all but one. In the second period, the Crimson faced a long 5-on-3 disadvantage, but managed to kill the Big Green’s chances.

“We’ve got to give a lot of credit to our penalty kill and to our power play,” freshman goalie Matt Hoyle said. “The penalty kill was phenomenal back there; they were all over the place…[they] saved me from having to make a lot of saves and really helped me out.”

The first two periods alone, Harvard posted nine penalties and killed all but one. While the Crimson came out ahead, the numerous penalties certainly disrupted the flow of the offensive line.

“We felt that we weren’t really able to get in a good rhythm, because we were short-handed so much,” Donato said. “I just told them to stay with it and really try to establish our forecheck and use our speed off the rush. I think we were able to do that in the third period [Pier-Olivier] Michaud’s line came out and had about a minute and a half, and I think that was really the catalyst for us to establish a good forecheck, and we were really able to generate some power-play opportunities off of that.”

SO FRESH AND CLEAN

Hoyle finished his first full college game and posted his first career victory Friday night.

“He looked very comfortable, he was solid, he made couple of key saves on the power play,” Donato said. “I don’t think besides the first 10 minutes he ever looked like a freshman, so that’s a credit to him. I give him a lot of credit. I’m happy for him to get his first win, and I couldn’t have asked for a better effort.”

The rookie made 30 saves in his first full-game effort, 15 of which were on the power play. The only goal Hoyle allowed was in the first frame, when the Big Green’s Scott Fleming slammed in a rebound on the power play.

Hoyle has now accumulated the most ice time of the three contenders for the goal spot; sophomore Ryan Carroll and junior John Riley have played roughly 30 minutes in their respective careers.

While Hoyle certainly stood out among the freshmen, several other rookies proved their mettle on the ice.

Freshman Colin Moore established himself on special teams, clearing the puck out of the Crimson’s zone at a few key moments. He also had a great chance to score, but the Big Green’s netminder blocked it at the last second.

“I thought Colin Moore was excellent in the 5-on-3, killing penalties,” Donato said. “He saw a lot of ice time tonight, and I thought he handled that well.”

Rookie Ryan Grimshaw also contributed on the defense, and freshman Alex Killorn notched an assist on the first goal.

TWO-MINUTE MINORS

Donato was recently inducted into the Massachusetts Hockey Hall of Fame, joining past honorees and former Harvard coaches John Chase ’28 and Bill Cleary ’56...The Crimson now has four consecutive victories against Dartmouth.

—Staff writer Courtney D. Skinner can be reached at cskinner@fas.harvard.edu.