Harvard Takes Down No. 16 Rensselaer

Box score

Cambridge, Mass.-- The Harvard men's hockey team started its season off on the right foot, taking down No. 16 Rensselaer, 3-0, at Bright Hockey Center on Friday.

Alex Biega notched the game-winning goal in the second period and added his second assist of the season. Brian McCafferty provided an insurance goal in the third period and Jack Christian netted an empty netter for his team-leading third goal of the season.

"From the net on out, I thought we did a lot of good things," cites head coach Ted Donato. "I like the way we competed and I like the fact that we didn't give up much, as far as many opportunities."

Sophomore goalie Kyle Richter racked up 28 saves in a stellar shutout performance, his first of the season.

RPI (5-3-2, 0-1-2) came into the game having scored only one power play goal in 39 opportunities. The struggle continued against the Crimson as Harvard held the Engineers 0-for-5 on power plays and limited RPI to eight shots.

Harvard (2-1-0, 2-1-0) broke through on a power play with less than a minute to play. Doug Rogers dumped a pass down low to Jon Pelle who threaded a pass across the goalmouth and found a wide open Biega on the far post, putting Harvard up going into the first break.

Harvard's intensity bit them early as slashing and roughing penalties gave RPI a 5-on-3 advantage just four minutes into the game. The Crimson stayed goal hungry through the power play, and captain Mike Taylor was even able to put a trying shot on the RPI net that narrowly missed the top right corner.

RPI goalie Mathias Lange proved too tough for the Crimson forwards through much of the first period, getting a bit of help from his glove-side post on a Christian shot at the 10:35 mark and turning away back-to-back rockets from McCafferty with 2:30 to play.

RPI nearly knotted the game at the tail end of a Harvard power play, but Christian hustled back and broke up a breakaway opportunity for the Engineers.

The Crimson endured a potent RPI attack in the latter half of the middle stanza, but Richter stopped all 10 of the shots the Engineers put on frame to keep the score 1-0 through two. A penalty-free period allowed the Crimson to outshoot Rensselaer 12-10 with Harvard doubling its shot total from the first stanza.

Things got physical on the ice to start the third as two players from each team were sent off for roughing after the whistle just 3:21 in. Harvard continued to knock at the door as Piere-Olivier Michaud and Paul Dufault had close-range shots turned away by Lange.

With 8:15 to play in the game, RPI 's Andrei Uryadov was sent off for cross-checking and the Crimson netted an insurance goal eight seconds later. Alex Meintel won the face-off to Biega who slid a pass across the ice to McCafferty who wristed a chest-high shot through a crowd and into the netting over Lange's right shoulder.

McCafferty added a short-handed goal with the RPI goalie pulled and 1:40 on the clock from beyond his own blue line to seal the 3-0 final.

Harvard takes the ice at Bright Hockey center again tomorrow night as it squares off against Union College at 7 p.m.