Harvard University stifled the men’s hockey team 3-0 in a physical battle highlighted by a technical malfunction. The Big Green (4-16-3, 3-12-1 ECAC) was haunted by an 0-5 night with the man advantage.
With the win, Harvard (7-12-3, 4-9-3 ECAC) now holds a four-point lead in the ECAC standings over the Big Green, solidifying its position in 10th place.
After a Zamboni broke down during the pregame ice resurfacing and delayed the game’s start by nearly two hours, Harvard players helped move the Zamboni off the ice. A mechanic later arrived to fix the problem.
The breakdown and subsequent two-hour wait deflated players’ energy on a night when they hoped to build on their emotions from last Saturday’s win over Princeton University.
“It was different,” forward Charlie Mosey ’15 said. “We’ve never had that type of thing before, but we can’t really use it as an excuse. We need to execute no matter what the obstacles are.”
Neither offense made much headway for most of the first period, and Harvard finished the frame with a 5-4 shot advantage. Harvard, however, took advantage of the game’s first penalty to score a power play goal at the 16:09 mark.
Freshman Victor Newell collected the puck at the blue line and unleashed a slapper. Sophomore Kyle Criscuolo deflected the puck to freshman Sean Malone who shot it into the open net for the lead.
Both offenses continued to play flat for the entire second period and almost midway into the third. Most of the main action in the second derived from both teams’ 14 combined infractions. There were two five-minute majors, a game misconduct and a disqualification.
Most penalties occurred after Harvard freshman Kevin Guiltinan hit Mosey high, prompting Jesse Beamish ’15 to drop the gloves with Guiltinan. Malone would also wrestle with Geoff Ferguson ’16.
By the time all the penalties were dispensed, Harvard ended up with a power play.
Officials ruled that Guiltinan’s hit was to Mosey’s head and ejected the freshman, meaning that he will not be eligible to participate in Harvard’s next game.
The ECAC will likely review the hit this weekend and determine whether the hit merits an additional game disqualification. Eric Neiley ’15 was awarded a two-game suspension after a late-game hit on a Cornell University player earlier this season.
At 7:58 in the third, freshman Tyler Moy collected the puck behind the net and attempted a backhanded wrap-around. The puck trickled past the outstretched right leg pad of James Kruger ’16 and into the net.
Moy scored his third goal of the season with the assist from senior David Valek, who wrestled the puck from a Dartmouth defender behind the net and passed it to Moy.
Harvard effectively ended all hopes of a comeback with its third goal of the night with 4:44 remaining. Freshman Devin Tringale netted a loose puck for his second tally of the season.
Last month, the Big Green was plagued by an ineffective power play that went scoreless on 23 straight opportunities.
After an outburst of power play goals against Princeton, Dartmouth’s power play offense disappeared. The Big Green penalty kill gave up one goal on four Harvard chances.
“We didn’t capitalize on any chances we had and we can’t win that way,” Mosey said. “Harvard did a good job on the penalty kill. When we get five chances and we don’t score, that’s on us.”
Kruger had a solid performance in the net, turning away 20 shots.
With the loss, Dartmouth did not, however, back into last place in the ECAC as St. Lawrence University crushed Princeton 7-1.
Dartmouth must now turn its sights toward a Valentine’s Day face-off against St. Lawrence University on Friday followed by Clarkson University on Saturday. Both games are on the road in New York.
