Crimson Clinches Home Ice

Photo by DSPics.com

Final	1	2	3	Final
Quinnipiac (15-15-3, 8-10-3 ECAC)	0	1	0	1
Harvard (8-14-6, 8-7-6 ECAC)	0	2	0	2

Scoring Summary
2nd - 08:49	Andrew Meyer (Quinnipiac)
2nd - 12:02	Michael Biega (Harvard)
2nd - 19:32	Alex Biega (Harvard)

Quinnipiac	Harvard
G: Andrew Meyer - 1 A: Kevin Bui - 1 Sh: Andrew Meyer - 6 Sv: Bud Fisher - 23	G: 2 Players (#3, #27 - 1) A: 4 Players (#2, #6, #15, #21 - 1) Sh: Alex Biega - 4 Sv: Ryan Carroll - 27

TEAM STATISTICS	Quinnipiac	Harvard
Power Plays	0 for 5	0 for 6
Shorthanded Goals	0	0
Penalties (min)	10 (36)	8 (27)
Shots on Goal	28	25
Face Offs Won	30	24

full stats

Boxscore

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -The Harvard men's hockey team killed all five Quinnipiac power plays, including a five-minute man advantage in the third period, to hang on for a 2-1 win Friday night at Bright Hockey Center, clinching a home playoff series.

Brothers Michael Biega and Alex Biega scored second-period goals for the Crimson (8-14-6, 8-7-6 ECAC Hockey), which extended its post-Beanpot unbeaten streak to five games. Sophomore Ryan Carroll made 27 saves to improve to 3-0 at home and help Harvard move to 18-0-0 in February home games under head coach Ted Donato.

The Bobcats (15-15-3, 8-10-3) scored first, on Andrew Meyer's goal in the second period and got 23 saves from Bud Fisher. They thought they had tied the game with 1.3 seconds remaining, when the puck went in off the foot of Jean-Marc Beaudoin, but the referee standing on the edge of Carroll's crease immediately signaled no goal, ruling that the puck was kicked into the net. Quinnipiac outshot Harvard, 28-25.

The win gives Harvard two valuable points in the standings, guaranteeing the Crimson a series at home next weekend, at worst. The Crimson can still claim a bye next week and a home quarterfinal series the following week. Harvard would need to defeat Princeton Saturday and get wins by Rensselaer against St. Lawrence and Quinnipiac against Dartmouth.

Harvard wore black and pink jerseys in the game, in support of ECAC Hockey's Pink at the Rink program. The jerseys will be auctioned at ecaccoachesvscancer.com to raise money for the American Cancer Society.

The Crimson came out hitting hard in the opening period, with sophomores Michael Del Mauro and Matt McCollem delivering big body checks in the early-going. The Bobcats had more of the early offense, though, but Carroll and the Crimson kept it scoreless. Each team got two power plays and had seven shots on goal in the first period.

Harvard got its first good chance on a great shift by the line of McCollem, Michael Biega and Doug Rogers. The junior center tried to stuff in the puck at the left post, but Fisher held to the iron. On a later shift, Rogers held the puck and found a late-rushing Alex Biega, but Fisher moved across the goal to his left to stop Biega's wrist shot from the right circle.

Following some strong offensive-zone play from Harvard, it was Quinnipiac that broke through for the game's first goal at 8:49 of the second period. Meyer got the puck at the right point from Kevin Bui down low. His shot found its way through traffic and past Carroll.

The Crimson evened the score with a pretty passing sequence about three minutes later. Freshman Alex Killorn got the puck on the right half wall and threaded a pass across to freshman Ryan Grimshaw. He fed the puck back across to Michael Biega at the bottom of the right circle, and the sophomore shot high over a right-to-left sliding Fisher for his sixth goal.

Each team had had 12 second-period shots, and the game appeared to be headed to the intermission tied at 1-1 until Alex Biega scored his fourth goal on a wide-open slap shot from the left point at 19:32. Playing four-on-four, after Rogers brought the puck into the zone, senior Brian McCafferty dropped a pass through the legs of a QU player to Biega, who blasted a shot that got through Fisher for the eventual game-winner.

Harvard had abbreviated four-on-three and five-on-three chances on the power play early in the third and again looked to double the lead when sophomore Chris Huxley stepped into the slot, took a pass from freshman Daniel Moriarty and shot. Fisher reached back for a glove save as he went down to his chest.
The Bobcats got their chance to knot the score midway through the period, when Del Mauro was issued a five-minute penalty for hitting from behind. Harvard limited Quinnipiac to three shots on goal-and one off the post by Matt Sorteberg-on the long man advantage and held on for its 26th successful penalty kill in the last 27 chances.

Right after the penalty expired, Meyer took a slap shot from the left point that was swallowed by Carroll for a faceoff, and the Bright crowd rose to its feet to salute the Crimson penalty killers.

Quinnipiac held a 9-5 edge in third-period shots.

The Crimson closes the regular season Saturday against Princeton at 7 p.m. It is Senior Night at Bright, where the Class of 2009 will be honored after the game.