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The Harvard men’s hockey team (2-2-0, 2-2-0 ECAC) was unable to keep its winning streak rolling from last weekend, falling in the first of its two-game homestand to Colgate (5-5-1, 2-1-0 ECAC) by a decisive score of 4-2. Despite taking the ice with an aggressive mindset that saw it control the puck in the early stages of the game, the Crimson was unable to string together three periods of successful hockey.
Harvard dictated much of the early play in the game, maintaining possession and keeping the puck deep in the Colgate zone. The Crimson was able to maintain high offensive zone pressure, putting the Colgate defense on its heels, trapping it down low due to its strong forecheck. However, Harvard Head Coach Ted Donato’s team struggled with its shot production, which didn’t match this dominant style of play. Despite being an offensive force to reckon with early this season, shot selection evaded the Crimson as the squad registered just seven shots during the first half of the period.
The Crimson was unable to protect The Bright from the Raiders’ offensive onslaught as the visiting squad drew first blood to kick off the competition.
12 minutes and 31 seconds was all it took for Colgate to strike paydirt.
After a bouncing puck found his stick, the Raiders' forward Brett Chorske – whose sister Hannah ’25 was a member of the Harvard women’s ice hockey team – came down the wing and shot a close-ranger at junior goalie Aku Koskenvuo. The puck just trickled under his arm and rolled over the goal line to give Colgate a 1-0 lead.
It didn’t take long for the Harvard bench to give its home crowd in Bright-Landry something to cheer for.
Junior defenseman Mason Langenbrunner took it upon himself to level it at one a piece. A nifty pass from sophomore forward Ryan Fine in the corner set Langenbrunner up for heroics that manifested in a one-time slap shot from the point. With help from a two-man screen in front of the Raiders’ goalie Andrew Takacs, the puck blazed into the top left corner, tying the game at 1-1 just three minutes later.
While the squad was successful at controlling its controllables this game, the team incurred its first mental mistake with just three minutes left in the first as the Crimson suffered from a too many men on the ice penalty, inhibiting its offense for the rest of the period. The penalty shifted puck control to the Raiders, enabling their defense to get much-needed rest. In true Crimson fashion, Donato’s defense was able to stymie the power play and keep the game tied at one as the teams left for their locker rooms.
Similarly to the first period, the Crimson started the second frame off on the right foot, dictating the pace of play. But despite this more confident team, shot production was still a point of weakness for the program.
Just before the halfway mark of the period, a pass across the point from junior forward Daniel Panetta found sophomore defenseman Antonio Fernandez, who rifled a shot from the top of the faceoff circle, rebounding off of Koskenvuo, before being subsequently buried by junior forward Simon Labelle, giving Colgate the lead once again.
“I think the message simply was that there was no secret to why we lost.” said Head Coach Ted Donato, as he reflected on the loss. “We just didn’t win enough puck battles. We didn’t play strong enough on the puck. Didn’t play strong enough at the front of the net on both ends.”
Following this second Colgate goal the squad admirably bounced back and battled to claw its way into contention. After a centering pass from junior forward Casey Severo found freshman forward Mick Thompson in the slot, Thompson slid a behind-the-back pass to junior forward Marek Hejduk, who picked up the pass and buried it to tie the game 2-2.
The game could be defined by this back and forth series of attacks which kept the game in close contention through all 60 minutes of play.
Unrelenting, the Raiders came out swinging immediately after the goal, registering a hard shot point blank in the slot that had the crowd in the Bright holding its breath until it heard the ring of the post. With a collective exhale, the Crimson knew that it was lucky to be tied following the too-easy opportunity for Colgate. Harvard quickly regained its composure after this close call and continued to control the puck as it had been throughout the game.
With less than three minutes remaining in the period, after a Colgate shot from the point was blocked and left sitting in the slot, the puck found the stick of Panetta, who fired it under Koskenvuo’s blocker, giving the Raiders a 3-2 lead.
Time ran out in the second before either team could have a chance at another scoring opportunity. Harvard went back to its locker room down one, hoping to change the course of the game in the third period.
“I thought we had a better start than we have games past,” captain Zakary Karpa said. “But we kind of lost our way a little bit. We didn’t stick to our game plan.”
Not relenting on its momentum from the goal at the end of the second, the Raiders commanded the start of the third period, capitalizing on its time in its offensive zone, which only further limited the Crimson’s already meager shot production.
While captain and defenseman Jack Bar noted after the Princeton game that the squad would need to limit its penalties and controllable errors if it hoped to be successful in the homestand, a holding penalty against the senior as well as a hooking penalty against Colgate forward Max Nagel revealed how the game was devolving as the clock wound down.
Despite dangerous looks from both sides during the subsequent four-on-four, neither team was able to capitalize on its opportunities.
While the power play was relatively silent, Colgate would add the final nail to Harvard’s coffin as the Raiders’ senior forward Ben Raymond entered the zone down the wing before throwing the puck to the front of the net. Freshman forward Ryan Spinale was flying through the middle of the ice, and he tipped the puck in just past the skate of Koskenvuo, extending the Raiders’ lead to 4-2. The breakdown in the defense in these final few moments would prove lethal in mitigating any hope of a Harvard comeback.
With three minutes left on the clock and a lot of ground to make up, Harvard pulled Koskenvuo to add an extra skater to its lines. While the Crimson was able to keep the puck in the offensive zone for a majority of that time, it was too little too late, and the team was unable to add another tally to the scoreboard.
“We win together and we lose together,” Donato said. “We’ve got to regroup and have a great opportunity to play against an excellent team tomorrow night, and we have to find a way to find a better level of play, if we want to try to have success tomorrow.”
The men’s hockey team will certainly need to regroup if it hopes to topple its rival Cornell tomorrow at The Bright. The Big Red is always a formidable foe for Donato’s squad, and a win against the New York team would prove that the team is capable of extending its hot start to the season. The puck will drop on Saturday at 7 p.m. at The Bright-Landry Hockey Center, and the game will also be streamed on NESN.
—Staff writer Owen Butler can be reached at owen.butler@thecrimson.com.
