Harvard Rallies for Second Straight Tie
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POTSDAM, N.Y. -The Harvard men's hockey team came back from a two-goal deficit in the second period and a one-goal margin in the third to tie Clarkson, 3-3, Saturday night at Cheel Arena.
Junior Chris Huxley scored the final tying goal with about eight minutes left in the third period after junior Doug Rogers and freshman Alex Killorn tallied to erase the earlier deficit. Senior Brian McCafferty assisted on the first two goals for Harvard (7-14-6, 7-7-6 ECAC Hockey). Matt Beca scored twice for the Golden Knights (9-16-7, 7-9-4).
The Crimson had the better of the chances early on in overtime but could not get a shot on Clarkson goalie Richie LaVeau after Rogers won an offensive-zone faceoff with about a minute left. The Golden Knights moved the puck to the other end, but Harvard sophomore Ryan Carroll made a nice right-to-left slide to stone Shea Guthrie and cover with 6.2 seconds left. Clarkson won the ensuing faceoff but hit the left side of the net with its shot just before the buzzer.
Carroll finished with 30 saves as Harvard picked up a point in the standings for the fourth straight game and took sole possession of sixth place in ECAC Hockey.
The Crimson heads into the regular season's final weekend two points back of Dartmouth and St. Lawrence in the race for a playoff bye.
The Golden Knights got on the board less than five minutes into the opening frame, when Beca snuck behind the Crimson defense in the slot and finished off a pass out of the left corner from Chris D'Alvise. Carroll kept the deficit at 1-0 about three minutes later, stoning D'Alvise, who got a shot from alone in front.
Harvard got its first good chance following a pileup next to it own net. Junior Chad Morin cleared the puck to freshman Eric Kroshus to start an odd-man rush.
Kroshus carried in deep on the right side and sent a pass back to Morin, but LaVeau stopped the deflection off Morin. Clarkson then got a chance on the other end, but D'Alvise's shot rang off the crossbar.
Clarkson had a 12-6 shots advantage in the first period, but the Crimson had two good chances to tie. LaVeau stopped freshman Colin Moore from the right side on two-on-one break and, in the period's final minute, made a point-blank save on sophomore Matt McCollem following a pass out of the right corner by Rogers.
The Golden Knights doubled their lead at 3:11 of the second period, on the game's first power play. Bryan Rufenach sent a point shot into traffic that Guthrie deflected past Carroll. The score ended a streak of 20 straight successful penalty kills for the Crimson.
Harvard cut the margin to 2-1 and changed the momentum of the game while skating four-on-four at 13:08 of the second. All four Crimson skaters touched the puck on the play, as junior Alex Biega got it to McCafferty, who carried over the offensive blue line and backhanded it to sophomore Michael Biega. LaVeau stopped a hard shot from Biega, but left a rebound for Rogers, who took advantage with his third goal of the weekend.
The tying goal came with about two minutes left in the period, on the Crimson's first man advantage of the night. After Michael Biega won an offensive-zone draw, point men Pier-Olivier Michaud and McCafferty got the puck to Killorn at the top of the right circle. The freshman curled around to the middle and sent a low shot through senior Nick Coskren's screen and past LaVeau. Each team had eight shots in the second period, which ended with the score knotted at 2-2.
Beca gave the lead back to Clarkson, 3-2, less than four minutes into the third period. Following a flurry of Harvard chances, the Golden Knights went the other way. Beca carried the puck out of the left corner and his first shot stopped by Carroll's pad, but Beca pushed his own rebound into the net before the Crimson could recover.
The Crimson's first chance to tie came on a two-on-one break, but Clarkson defenseman Adam Bellows went down on one leg to keep freshman Ryan Grimshaw's pass from reaching Coskren.
Alex Biega returned the favor, going down to his chest to stop a CU shorthanded two-on-one. On the ensuing Harvard rush, McCollem dropped the puck back to freshman Daniel Moriarty, who centered to Huxley. The sophomore wristed his third goal of the season past LaVeau.
For the second straight night, a physical exchange involving both teams resulted in a late power play for the home side, but Carroll made three saves during the penalty kill to send the game into overtime. Harvard finished a strong third period with a 12-8 edge in shots.
The Crimson closes the regular season at home next weekend against Quinnipiac and Princeton.
