NOTEBOOK: Crimson Can’t Recover From First-Period Penalties; Ekes Out Tie

HAMILTON, N.Y.—The ECAC standings being what they were, the Harvard men’s hockey team knew it would most likely have to avoid a loss in its last weekend of the season, and that in order to do so, it would have to play mistake-free hockey.

Halfway through its road trip, the Crimson had achieved only one of these two objectives. Harvard managed to remain undefeated in the home stretch of its season by skating to a 3-3 tie with Colgate, but it did so in a somewhat sloppy performance marked by several key mistakes.

The game’s first period proved to be indicative of how the entire night would proceed, as three-consecutive penalties forced Harvard to go on the defensive. While the Crimson special-teamers were able to respond to the challenge, killing all three infractions, the third led directly to a Raiders goal, scored just after Harvard had returned to full strength.

“I don’t think we played very well in the first period,” said Crimson coach Ted Donato ’91. “We sat back on our heels a little bit...I think [Colgate] dictated the tempo of play in the first.”

“You can’t take three unanswered penalties in a road period to start the game,” co-captain David MacDonald added. “You give any team three power plays like that, you’re going to get stunned at some point.”

The early lapse in discipline was compounded by an off-night from sophomore goaltender Kyle Richter, who surrendered three goals to a league opponent for the first time since a Feb. 1 loss to Brown. The big saves that Richter had been contributing all of February were still there, but there were also several miscues, including a partial save that deflected just wide of the left post.

“I think [Richter] was okay; I don’t think he was outstanding,” Donato said. “I don’t think either goalie played their absolute best.”

While Harvard mistakes may have helped Colgate keep the score tied, the Raiders almost won the game outright on a Crimson miscue during overtime. When sophomore Alex Biega lost control of the puck at the Colgate blue line, the Raiders’ Brian Day was there to take it the other way for an uncontested look at Richter, who came up with the save to preserve the tie.

“Not a super effort from top to bottom,” Donato said. “Both teams I thought did enough good things to win the game and enough poor things to lose the game.”

WILD WHISTLES

While Harvard’s missed opportunities and Colgate’s strong play were the driving force behind the deadlocked score, the Crimson’s efforts to pull away in the third period were also frustrated by two close calls that went the Raiders’ way.

The first came with two minutes left to play in regulation, when the Colgate net was dislodged after an extended scuffle for several loose rebounds in front of goaltender Mark Dekanich. With Harvard perilously close to punching it in, some of the players seemed to feel that a Raiders player had intentionally shifted the net, which would have been cause for a delay of game penalty.

“I think coaches in general kind of see things through rose-colored glasses for themselves sometimes,” Donato said. “But I think it was pretty apparent that the guy pushed the net off.”

Another disputed call came with just 21 seconds left to play. Colgate’s Tyler Burton shoved senior Jon Pelle after the whistle, sending Pelle flying into the Raider net. Burton received a cross-checking penalty on the play, but there would be no crucial late power play for Harvard, as Pelle was also sent to the box for unsportsmanlike conduct because the officials deemed that he had taken a dive.

While frustrated by the penalty, MacDonald stressed that calls had gone against both teams over the course of the contest.

“I really didn’t agree with that penalty,” he said. “I think it’s one of those calls that’s a tough call, it’s the end of a close game, it’s in their barn...but I think we also got away with one a few minutes before, a trip off of one of their rushes, so you can pick and choose.”

TWO-MINUTE MINORS

The tie moved the Crimson into a three-way tie for third place in the ECAC standings...The Harvard penalty kill was 4-for-4...Sophomore Doug Rogers extended his team lead with his 11th goal of the season...Rogers, however, won only 6-of-23 faceoffs.

—Staff writer Daniel J. Rubin-Wills can be reached at drubin@fas.harvard.edu.