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The Harvard men’s hockey team (6-10-6) fell to Cornell (12-6-4) 4-3 in the first game of the best-of-three ECAC Tournament quarterfinal matchup. The Crimson, seeded eighth in the playoff bracket, was unsuccessful in carrying over its momentum from its conference win against Princeton last weekend. Head Coach Ted Donato will look to rally his bench for a comeback performance against the Big Red Bears tomorrow night.

Coming into a packed Lynah Rink on Friday night, both teams were looking for the early advantage going into game one of this three-game playoff series. While Cornell dominated early, Harvard didn’t back down, and was able to make a strong comeback. In the end, the last-ditch effort wasn't enough to pull out the win, and the Big Red prevailed over the Crimson.

“It’s a great environment, a great crowd,” said Donato about the atmosphere of the game. “A lot of emotion in the game, and a very physical game.”

Cornell 4, Harvard 3

Cornell wasted no time in making an early offensive impact, scoring its first goal less than five minutes into the first period. Junior forward Jack O’Leary struck paydirt on a shot from the point through traffic, which found the back of the net. Not three minutes later, the Big Red struck again, when junior forward Sullivan Mack picked up a rebound that had left Harvard sophomore goaltender Aku Koskenvuo on his back, and extended Cornell’s lead to 2-0. Just a few minutes later, the Crimson had a chance to cut the lead in half, when the Big Red took a tripping penalty just past the halfway mark of the period. Despite a few strong scoring chances from the power play unit, Harvard was unable to come up with a goal. Then, with less than a minute to go in the period, just as it seemed the teams were going to walk away with the score 2-0, Cornell freshman forward Ryan Walsh fired a shot from the slot over the left shoulder of Koskenvuo, after a development in front of the net that left several players without sight of the puck, extending the lead to 3-0 heading into the second period.

While it was a poor start to the period, credit must be given to Koskenvuo, who, despite the three goals, put on an impressive display throughout the first twenty minutes on the ice, stopping key shots that could’ve tipped momentum even more towards the Big Red.

The beginning of the second period, which was riddled with penalties, was a far departure from the early Big Red offensive onslaught. Cornell took the first of the period, a holding penalty, less than a minute in, which was quickly followed by two penalties for the Crimson, a hook by freshman forward Ryan Fine and a slash on junior defenseman Jack Bar, which gave the Big Red a 5-on-3 advantage. After Fine had been released from the box and the play returned to 5-on-4, Cornell extended its lead, when sophomore forward Nick Desantis fired the puck towards the net where it deflected off the stick of Harvard junior captain Ian Moore and into the back of the net. A few minutes later, junior defenseman Christian Jimenez took another penalty for the Crimson, but the penalty kill unit was able to fend off the attack from the Big Red power play unit.

“I can’t say that I thought that all of the penalties were warranted,” said Donato, when asked about the frequency of penalties in this game. “I think it was a little bit tough to fully grasp the standard in the game. And for us, as a player and as a coaching staff, you gotta try to figure out how a game’s going to be called and adjust to it.”

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Just past the halfway point of the period, Harvard finally got on the board when sophomore forward Joe Miller netted a rebound from a shot by sophomore defenseman Mason Langenbrunner, to make the score 4-1. The goal marked a turning point in the intensity of the Crimson’s game, as it became much more offensive and aggressive as the period commenced. Cornell saw itself go man down just five seconds after Miller found the back of the net, and the Harvard offense took full advantage of the power play, creating several dangerous scoring opportunities. Despite not giving the Big Red a moment to breathe, it was unable to convert its takes into a goal, in great part due to Cornell junior goaltender Ian Shane, who made several big saves throughout the night and protected his team’s lead. The period waned on without many prime scoring chances for either side, and the teams returned to their locker rooms with the score at 4-1.

The Crimson struggled to maintain the offense it had generated when the third period began, but that slump didn’t last long. Five minutes into the period, freshman forward Cam Johnson fired a shot coming down the left side of the ice, which found the stick of sophomore forward Casey Severo for a tip as he was screening the goalie. With the take, momentum seemed to tip into Harvard’s favor, but the Crimson would have to continue to dig itself out of its deficit to keep the game competitive.

Neither team was able to convert for most of the period after that goal, but with just six minutes remaining, the Crimson struck again. Seeing Joe Miller flying up the ice, freshman forward Ben MacDonald fired a stretch pass off of the boards to find Miller in the offensive zone. Miller was able to split the defensemen, and tucked the puck through Shane’s five-hole to make it a one goal game.

“I thought we had some tough bounces early on, and didn’t really play to our full potential at the start,” junior captain Zakary Karpa said. “ But I thought in the second half we really attacked them, and kind of controlled the pace of play, so we're looking to build on that going into tomorrow.”

As the clock was winding down, Donato eventually made the decision to pull Koskenvuo with about a minute and a half remaining. The Crimson put up a valiant effort with the extra man, creating some dangerous chances that easily could’ve led to goals, but it was unable to come up with anything, and lost the game 4-3. The game concluded with a scrum in front of the Cornell net, which is indicative of the attitudes of these two teams as they go into game two tomorrow.

“I think knowing that we’re playing at Cornell, that they’re going to pack it and have that energy,” said Karpa, when asked about the rivalry with Cornell, “And it just kind of adds to the series, so I think it’s good for us and brings a little bit more juice going into this series.”

Harvard will look to redeem itself in the second game of this quarterfinal series, which will take place tomorrow night at 7:00 pm ET at Lynah Rink. The game will also be streamed live on ESPN+.

—Staff writer Owen Butler can be reached at owen.butler@thecrimson.com