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The last time the Harvard men’s ice hockey team started a season 7-0-0, head coach Ted Donato was a forward starring for the Crimson on a team that went on to win the only national championship in program history.

However, after defeating the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Engineers, the Union College Dutchmen, and the University of New Hampshire Wildcats in its first road action of the campaign, Harvard has equaled its best season-opening stretch since the 1988-1989 season, sending the Crimson into the top ten of national rankings and raising already high expectations.

“I think the guys last year, at the end of the year, got a taste of winning the ECAC Tournament, winning the Ivy League,” Donato said. “I think guys finished the season with a taste in their mouth of success and we’re hungry to build on it, and I think we’re off to a good start.”

HARVARD 3, RPI 2 (OT)

In an evenly matched first period, both the Engineers and the Crimson traded quality chances throughout. Sophomore forward Alex Gaffney and sophomore defenseman Jack Bar each had opportunities to score early on, while senior goaltender Mitchell Gibson made an outstanding glove save on RPI forward TJ Walsh, who had surged past the Harvard defense to skate in all alone on Gibson. Gibson made another strong stop on a prime opportunity for Engineers forward Jakob Lee halfway through the period, while the line of first-year forwards Philip Tresca and Marek Hejduk and senior forward Austin Wong put pressure on RPI goaltender Jack Watson, but neither team was able to notch a goal, ending the first period knotted at 0-0.

Despite an even first period, with a narrow 10-8 Crimson advantage in shots on goal, the Engineers took control of the game with a strong second period. After killing off an early Harvard power play, RPI forward Ryan Mahshie capitalized off a Crimson turnover to record his third goal of the season and give the Engineers the 1-0 advantage. RPI continued to push after grabbing the lead, and just over a minute after Mahshie’s goal, forward John Beaton carried the puck through the neutral zone and found forward John Evans, who surged through Harvard defense and beat Gibson to put the Engineers up 2-0 after only six-and-a-half minutes of play. The Crimson had two power play opportunities in the second half of the period to chip away at the RPI lead, but the Engineers’ penalty kill and Watson shut the door, keeping Harvard’s potent power play off the board and sending RPI to the third period with a two-goal advantage.

“Even though we out-chanced and out-shot them, we gave up way too many quality chances…to expect that we can win with that kind of effort on a consistent basis,” Donato said.

Despite the Engineers’ strong play in the second frame, the Crimson came out firing to start the third in hopes of continuing their unbeaten start. Less than two minutes into the period, the line of Wong, Tresca, and Hejduk slashed the Harvard deficit to one goal after Wong knocked a loose puck past Watson after a chaotic net-front scramble. The goal was reviewed by the officials but stood after replay, putting the Crimson down by one. Harvard continued to press for the tying goal, with both Gaffney and senior defenseman Ryan Siedem taking aim at Watson but unable to secure the equalizer, while the Crimson penalty kill successfully killed off a hooking penalty on senior defenseman and captain Henry Thrun, keeping Harvard in the game. With just over five minutes remaining in regulation, the Crimson took advantage of an RPI icing to tie the game. After an Engineers icing required them to keep their fourth line on the ice, Donato sent the line of Gaffney, junior forward Alex Laferriere, and sophomore forward Zakary Karpa onto the ice. Karpa won the faceoff cleanly back to Siedem, who found Gaffney at the top of the circles, and Gaffney sniped a wrist shot through a Karpa screen and past Watson, tying the game at 2-2.

“We have a number of plays that the centerman selects,” Donato said. “I'm not sure that that wasn't just a really good play by both Ryan Siedem and Alex Gaffney creating a little bit of a seam and then coming up in kind of a soft area, and then, obviously, an excellent shot.”

Both teams traded chances in the final five minutes, but both Gibson and Watson stood tall between their pipes to send the game to overtime. The extra session proved to be chaotic, as Farrell and Beaton each recorded quality chances, but Gaffney was the hero yet again, tallying the game-winning goal after two-and-a-half minutes of play. After his initial shot from the faceoff circle was denied by Watson, Gaffney collected the rebound and circled back to the middle of the ice, where his shot deflected off of an RPI defender and past Watson, completing Harvard’s comeback and securing the Crimson’s first road victory with the 3-2 win.

“Three-on-three is man-on-man so you’ve got to stay with your guy the whole time,” Gaffney said. “But, in general, there's more time and space and I think that benefits me, being able to skate a little more and I just know once you get possession you can't really give it up.”

HARVARD 5, UNION 1

The Crimson started the first period strong, generating chances both at even strength and on the power play. Tresca and senior forward and captain Baker Shore both had early opportunities to give Harvard an early lead, and Karpa and first-year forward Joe Miller had chances on an early power play, but they were denied by Dutchmen goaltender Connor Murphy. However, the Crimson grabbed the 1-0 lead midway through the period with a shorthanded goal, their fourth of the season, from junior forward Sean Farrell, who took possession after a sloppy defensive zone turnover by the Dutchmen and fired a quick shot through Murphy. Harvard carried the play for the remainder of the period, finishing the first frame with a 14-6 edge in shots on goal.

The Crimson continued to maintain the edge in play at the outset of the second period, peppering Murphy and the Union defense. Harvard’s top line extended the advantage to 2-0 just under seven minutes into the period, as sophomore forward Matthew Coronato drove around the net and fired a backhand into the crease, where the puck deflected off of Miller’s shin and past Murphy. However, the Dutchmen answered immediately, with forward Nate Hanley collecting a feed from forward Josh Nixon in the faceoff circle and firing a shot through junior goaltender Derek Mullahy, trimming the Crimson lead to 2-1. After Union’s goal, the game became far more chippy and physical, and Bar and Nixon were assessed five minute major penalties for contact to the head and hitting from behind, respectively, in addition to 10-minute misconduct penalties for each player. Harvard took advantage of the ensuing 4-on-4 opportunity, with Farrell notching his second goal of the game before Coronato lit the lamp after receiving a great pass from Thrun, giving the Crimson a 4-1 lead after two periods.

“I think it was more just the emotions running hot,” said Donato about the large penalty minute totals. “I think it was a lot of after-the-whistle stuff. There were some big hits and I think it's just a team that is playing with a lot of drive and energy in Union and we had to elevate our compete level, especially after last night. I thought we would need to be better and I think on the four-on-four our skill players took advantage.”

Despite facing a steep deficit, the Dutchmen came out strong in the third period, with Mullahy making several strong saves to maintain a three-goal lead. Union failed to capitalize on several power play opportunities, and the Dutchmen also made a goaltending change less than six minutes into the period, with Kyle Chauvette replacing Murphy in net. The teams traded chances throughout the remainder of the period, and Shore tallied his first goal of the season when he deflected a shot-pass from Farrell past Chauvette, clinching the 5-1 victory.

“Going into last night, RPI was 5-0 at home, and going into tonight, Union was 4-0 at home, so we knew it’d be a good challenge for us,” Donato said.

HARVARD 3, UNH 1

In the first period, the Crimson continued to put their early season trend of slow starts in the rearview mirror with a strong opening 20 minutes. After an evenly matched first eight minutes, Harvard grabbed some momentum with a strong penalty kill after Bar was given a two minute minor penalty for interference. Coronato and Farrell continued to be an effective penalty killing forward duo, and less than three minutes after Bar’s penalty expired, the pair produced Harvard’s first goal. After collecting a loose puck in the corner, Farrell fired a hard pass into the slot, where Coronato ripped a wrist shot through Wildcats goaltender Tyler Muszelik, giving the Crimson a 1-0 advantage. Harvard had a late power play chance to stretch their lead, but they were only able to generate three shot attempts, and the period ended with the Crimson ahead 1-0.

“I take a lot of pride in being able to play all different scenarios,” Farrell said. “Me and Coronato played a little bit together on the penalty kill last season, and this year, we’re playing even more…and I think this year it's even resulted in some offense as well because we kind of figured out the defensive side of it.”

Although Harvard jumped out to the early lead, the Crimson’s propensity to take too many penalties threatened to swing the momentum of the game in the second period. Bar was penalized for slashing just over a minute into the period, and despite failing to score while on the man-advantage, UNH continued to lay siege to Gibson, as the Wildcats recorded six shots on goal in the three minutes after Bar’s penalty expired. The continued pressure sent Harvard back to the penalty kill after Farrell was called for holding, but the Crimson kept UNH off the board, despite having one of its best penalty killers in the penalty box. Two minutes later, Harvard was again forced to play shorthanded after a bench minor penalty for two many men on the ice, but the Crimson again tightened up defensively, stymying the Wildcats on their power play and on a strong shift after their man-advantage had expired. Towards the end of the period, Harvard had its own opportunity to play a man up, and the ECAC’s best power play unit extended the Crimson lead, as Farrell made a great move to delay his shot, evade the Wildcats defender, and beat Muszelik for a 2-0 lead heading to intermission.

Harvard’s special teams units continued to dominate in the third period, as an early holding penalty on sophomore defenseman Ian Moore was killed off with no damage done. Just shy of eight minutes into the period, the Crimson’s power play clicked once again, as first-year defenseman Ryan Healey shook off a UNH penalty killer and fired a wrist shot that was deflected past Muszelik by senior defenseman and captain Henry Thrun, who recorded his first goal of the campaign and staked Harvard to a 3-0 lead. The teams each recorded power play chances soon after Thrun’s goal, and while neither team scored on their man-advantage opportunities, the Wildcats ended Gibson’s shutout bid 30 seconds with just over four minutes to play as UNH captain Chase Stevenson beat Gibson after a lively rebound of a shot by forward Nick Cafarelli. The Wildcats generated scoring chances during their two-and-a-half minutes of time with an empty net, but strong saves from Gibson and a shot block by Shore shut down the UNH attack and secured the 3-1 win.

The Crimson will be back in action on Nov. 25th and Nov. 26th when they travel to Ann Arbor, M.I.to take on the No. 3 Michigan Wolverines.

-Staff writer Aaron B. Shuchman can be reached at aaron.shuchman@thecrimson.com.