Harvard Doubles Up Prince Edward Island

Photo by DSPics.com

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - Three freshmen scored goals and Doug Rogers, pictured, found the net twice as Harvard downed Prince Edward Island, 6-3, in an exhibition game Sunday afternoon at Bright Hockey Center.

The Crimson grabbed a 2-0 lead on first-period goals by rookies Matt McCollem and Michael Biega. The Panthers twice closed within a goal, but Harvard always had an answer. Freshman Pier-Olivier Michaud notched the eventual game-winner, and senior Dave Watters scored in the final minute.

Sophomore Kyle Richter made 11 saves in two periods, and rookie Ryan Carroll played the third, making 10 saves without allowing a goal. Junior Brian McCafferty and senior Mike Taylor recorded two assists apiece.

Howie Martin scored twice for UPEI, while Dayne Davis made 28 saves. Harvard held a 34-24 edge in shots. Neither team scored on the power play, and each survived a 5-on-3 disadvantage while Harvard led 4-3 in the third period.

McCollem started off his Harvard career with a bang less than four minutes into the game. McCafferty found Alex Meintel with a pass and the junior banked the puck off the boards to McCollem. The rookie skated between two defenders, dragged the puck through his skates to a shooting position and backhanded a shot over the shoulder of Davis.

Harvard added another goal on a rush less than five minutes later. This time senior Paul Dufault banged the puck around the boards to Steve Rolecek. The junior chipped the puck past a Panther, carried into the zone and passed across to Biega, who held the puck for a moment before shooting back to the right side and in.

Martin scored at the 12:40 mark of the first to keep it close as neither team found the net for the rest of the period. Rogers got the scoring started six minutes into the second, with assists going to Taylor and sophomore Ian Tallett. Martin, however, took away that extra breathing room just 78 seconds later.

Michaud scored at 13:20 of the second to get the lead back to two, with assists going to freshman Joe Smith and senior David MacDonald. However, Craig Foster made things more uneasy in the Crimson locker room by stealing the puck at the Harvard blue line and converting a shorthanded breakaway on Richter, who had already stopped one break, in the closing seconds of the period.

Shortly after the Panthers killed a Crimson 5-on-3 midway through the third, Harvard withstood over a minute of two men down. Rogers then put the game away with 1:30 to play, when he finished off an odd-man rush with senior Jon Pelle. Watters iced the win by burying the rebound of a Jack Christian shot with 15 seconds showin on the clock.