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Last season, the Harvard men’s hockey team easily passed through Brown in the first round of the ECAC Tournament, bombarding the Bears’ defense with 64 shots—10 of which caught twine—throughout the duration of the two-game sweep.

While pieces have shifted for both teams since last March, the picture remains the same today.

Behind pairs of goals from senior forward Jimmy Vesey and freshman Ryan Donato, the No. 7/6 Harvard (3-0-1, 3-0-1 ECAC) notched its third win of the season, comfortably handling Brown (0-3,0-2), 5-2, to remain undefeated on the year.

“The first five minutes of the game we just weren’t dialed in the way needed to be,” said Harvard coach Ted Donato ’91. “But after that, I thought we got going.”

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Donato’s son gave Harvard its first and final lead of the game at 16:29 in the first period. After junior Tyler Moy drove towards the net and flicked a backhander off Ernst’s right pads, Ryan Donato corralled the drifting puck a few feet beyond the goal line to Ernst’s right. With the goaltender having drifted to the outer edge of the crease to make the initial save on Moy, the coach’s son banked a shot off Ernst’s pads and into the back of the net.

“I think guys that think about shooting all the time sometimes get those bounces,” Ted Donato said. “But they put pucks on net…. It was certainly fortunate, but it was a pretty smart play and a big goal for us.”

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Brown was the first team to find the scoreboard. Less than three minutes into the game, sophomore defenseman Josh McArdle sent a pass from the Bears face-off circle to a streaking Tim Lappin at the blue line, who was able to break through defensemen Victor Newell and Jacob Olson and beat freshman goaltender Lackey blocker-side just inside the far post with a weak wrister.

Vesey soon quelled any early concerns Harvard may have had. A minute after a hit from behind call sent sophomore Phil Zielonka to the box, the Charlestown native pickpocketed Brown defenseman Max Gottlieb at Harvard’s blue line, leaving only ice between him and junior goaltender Tim Ernst. The Hobey Baker finalist patiently glided to the net and deked left before dragging it back across his body and flicking a backhander top-shelf for the team’s first shorthanded tally of the young season.

“Obviously he made a great play to pick that puck off,” co-captain Kyle Criscuolo said. “It seemed like [Ernst] was in the bleachers when Jimmy made that backhander.”

Vesey followed up his first goal with another midway through the second period to extend the team’s lead to 3-1. A mishmash of passes among the Walter Brown winner, fellow co-captain Kyle Criscuolo, and junior Alexander Kerfoot down the middle of the ice on a 3-on-2 left the senior with the puck just above the crease where he sent a backhander five-hole, eliciting cheers of “Hobey” from the Harvard student section.

That goal proved to the game-winner, as Brown cut the lead down to one early into the third frame. Fourth-liner Zack Pryzbek fired the puck from the left faceoff circle into the chest of Lackey, who was unable to collect the rebound as Pryzbek followed his shot and lifted a wrister over the rookie’s left pad. Criscuolo would add his third goal of the season with seven minutes left in the contest to increase the cushion for the Crimson, as would Donato with an empty-netter to seal the deal.

While the Crimson offense leads the conference in goals per game, questions still remain concerning the defensive unit, specifically who will occupy the crease going forward. After sophomore Merrick Madsen saved 43 of 45 shots opening weekend against Dartmouth, Ted Donato elected to switch things up in net, sending in Lackey for the Yale and Brown games, in which the rookie saved 54 of 58 shots.

—Staff writer Kurt Bullard can be reached at kurt.bullard@thecrimson.com.