Harvard Sweeps Yale to Advance to Lake Placid

A once-familiar face will be returning to Lake Placid this weekend. And it's coming in on a roll.

The Harvard men's hockey team completed an impressive two-game sweep over a tough Yale squad at Bright Hockey Center Friday and Saturday, advancing to the semifinals of the ECAC championship tournament held in Lake Placid, NY for the first time in three years.

The Crimson has won five of its last seven and enter the ECAC tournament coming off its best period of hockey and perhaps its best game all season.

"Teams that win championships peak right at the end of the season," freshman winger Tyler Kolarik said. "That third period [Saturday night] was the peak of the season for us."

Harvard will play Cornell Friday at 4 p.m. If Harvard wins that game and the conference championship game the following evening, it will secure a bid in the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1994.

The series was the first time that Harvard and Yale met in the opening round of the ECAC playoffs. The Crimson is now 20-1-3 all-time against its ancient rival at the Bright Hockey Center, which opened in 1979-80.

Harvard 7, Yale 4

As a desperate Yale team fought tenaciously to keep their season alive, Harvard finally exhibited a quality that had been missing during the season--resilience.

Down 4-3 four minutes into the period, Harvard unleashed four goals in a furious six-minute span to eliminate the Bulldogs, 7-4. The win was Harvard's first third period, come-from-behind victory all year.

"Our team showed a lot of heart and a lot of character tonight," captain Steve Moore said.

Yale seemed to gain control of the game when it took a 4-3 lead at 4:02 of the period. It was the Eli's third straight goal, and for a few moments it looked like a rattled Harvard team might not recover.

But at 7:59 into the period, sophomore forward Brett Nowak took the rebound of a Kolarik shot and lifted it high into the open net, tying the game at four

The goal brought the once-stunned crowd of 1,407 at Bright back to life. More importantly, it energized the Crimson, who sensed a chance to put the Elis away.

"We really got a wave going," Mazzoleni said. "The momentum changed and we jumped all over them. I was very proud of how our kids kept their focus."

Just minutes later, Steve Moore, scored a power-play goal that gave Harvard the lead for good.

"Steve Moore stepped his game up tonight," Mazzoleni said. "He sensed the need for him to play and assert himself, and he made a major difference tonight that was visible to everyone in the building."

Harvard refused to let up on the now-demoralized Bulldogs, as freshman winger Dennis Packard and sophomore center Dom Moore would add insurance goals to ice the game.

"When Harvard tied it up and very quickly pulled ahead, the floodgates gave way," Yale Coach Tim Taylor '63 said.

The impressive finish for Harvard seemed like a long shot just a period before, when the game was almost taken out of the Crimson's hands by rough play on both sides and some suspect officiating.

With Harvard holding a 3-1 lead midway through the second and seemingly controlling play, Yale winger Lee Jelenic crashed into Harvard senior goaltender Oli Jonas.

While Jonas was out of position, Yale center Vin Hellemeyer fired the puck into the open net.

Remarkably, referee Dan Murphy allowed the goal and did not call a penalty on Jelenic.

While Harvard complained to the officials about the disputed goal, Jelenic left the Yale bench area and skated alone right toward Jonas, verbally taunting him.

Sophomore defenseman Aaron Kim, trying to protect his goalie, rushed off his own bench and shoved Jelenic before the officials could separate the two.

Kim was sent to the box for two minutes for hitting after the whistle. Jelenic was assessed a ten-minute game misconduct, but Murphy called no additional penalty on Yale, meaning Harvard would be shorthanded for two minutes.

The penalties didn't stop there. The next three penalties were all called on Harvard, two in under a minute.

While both coaches declined to comment on the Jelenic incident, each expressed dissatisfaction with Murphy's officiating.

"There were certain things that were let go that should've been called, and other things that were very close," Mazzoleni said.

"The officiating played much too big a factor," Taylor said.

Yale would score with a two-man advantage at 14:48 to tie the game at three, but Harvard killed off the remaining penalty time and would not allow another goal in the period.

"The coaches did a good job keeping us on an even keel, when it could've gotten out of hand," Kolarik said. "We maintained composure and that was the key to the victory."

The game had the makings of a shootout from the opening faceoff, as both teams scored on their first shots on goal.

A pretty Kolarik goal late in the first period, and a Nowak goal at 10:24 of the second gave the Crimson a 3-1 lead.

Harvard 5, Yale 4

Playoff hockey historically features tight, low-scoring contests where two or three goals are sufficient for victory. Goals become hard to come by, and referees swallow their whistles and let physical play go unpunished.

Somebody forgot to tell this to Harvard and Yale.

In an exciting game filled with numerous scoring opportunities for both teams, Harvard barely held on to one-goal lead for the entire final period, outlasting Yale, 5-4, in the opening game of the best-of-three playoff series Friday night.

"I think both teams were ready mentally to play a down and gritty, playoff intense college hockey game," Taylor said. "It turned out to be quite a different scenario out there."

Harvard took a 5-3 lead at 13:36 of the second period when freshman winger Kenny Turano lifted the puck into the net from close range.

Yale closed to within striking distance just before the end of the second period on an Earl goal at 19:42, making the score 5-4.

Harvard's one-goal lead looked shaky going into the final frame. The Crimson had lost multiple close games in which it led after two periods, and the seesaw nature of the contest indicated that this game would be no different.

This time, though, Harvard would hold on. Yale's best chance came midway through the third, when, during a sustained period of Harvard pressure, Steve Moore was whistled for cross-checking at 12:15.

But the Crimson penalty-kill unit met the challenge, and Yale failed to muster many good opportunities during the man advantage.

Yale had chances in the final minute of play, but strong goaltending by Jonas and some lucky bounces prevented the Bulldogs from sending the game into overtime.

While Jonas turned in a solid performance for the Crimson, making 37 saves, Lombard struggled in his first game back from a punctured lung and cracked rib. The Yale netminder allowed five goals despite facing only 26 shots.

Taylor said the injury did not affect Lombard's performance.

"He was ready to play," Taylor said. "You can't blame anything on how he felt, but clearly we need more saves to be made.

The game started ominously for the Crimson. Harvard knew it would have to contain Hamilton to prevail in the series, and his opening goal at 5:55 was not a good sign. But the Crimson--thanks largely to the strong defensive effort of Steve Moore--would hold Hamilton scoreless for the rest of the game.

The star forward's goal would be the 80th--and last--of his remarkable career. He graduates as the Bulldog's all-time leading scorer.

Yale's lead was short-lived. First period goals by Pettit and Steve Moore would give the Crimson a 2-1 at intermission.

The second period was dominated by the ever-present whistle of referee Dan Murphy. The teams were whistled for a combined seven penalties in the period, an event which would have appeared to work in Yale's favor, given their superior special-teams play late in the season.

Fortunately for Harvard, the penalty kill unit--a strength of the team all year--was again up to the task. Yale finished only one for seven on the power play, and failed to even produce a quality shot on a crucial 1:39 five-on-three advantage midway through the second period.

Meanwhile, Harvard's struggling power play finally awoke, scoring three goals with the man advatage.

"We've had a tendency over the last couple of games to hold the puck and allow our opponents to set their defense," Mazzoleni said. "Tonight we moved it around more."

Yale opened the scoring in the second courtesy of an uncharacteristically shaky play by Jonas. But Jonas would redeem himself with a great save just twenty seconds later.

The save was as important as it was impressive, as it prevented Yale from gaining the lead in the period. Harvard regained the lead thirty seconds later on a power-play goal by Schwefel, and Yale was forced to play catch-up for the remainder of the contest.

"With their depth, Harvard's a hard team to play from behind," Taylor said. "We might have gotten a little tired towards the end of the game shortening our bench to come from behind."