NOTEBOOK: Seniors, Defense Spark Crimson

ITHACA, N.Y.—The final game of the season, with playoff positioning still at stake, may not be the best time to start testing one of the most tried-and-true axioms in sports, but it worked for the Harvard men’s hockey team. Defying the notion that a good offense is the best defense, the Crimson spent most of the game playing in its own zone, but seemed to thrive offensively following the periods of greatest pressure from the Big Red.

This dynamic was most directly evident in the first period. Having already killed two Cornell penalties, Harvard was faced with the prospect of dealing with a third when sophomore Ian Tallett was whistled for hitting from behind.

Co-captain Mike Taylor, however, responded to the challenge by stepping up his offensive play, putting on an impressive burst of speed finished with some deft stickhandling to maneuver his way to a shorthanded goal just 21 seconds into the penalty.

“[With] the crowd, it can get away from you if you lose your emotions, how loud they are,” Taylor said. “We did a good job sticking to our game plan.”

After tying things up near the end of the second period, the Big Red came out in the third looking the hungriest it had all night. The Crimson once again found itself scrambling to clear the puck from its zone, only to see Cornell dump it right back in and resume its attack.

While the Big Red seemed as though it might break through at any moment, it was Harvard who would seize the lead on a rebound score from senior Paul Dufault, once again turning the Cornell momentum on its head.

“When they have it in the corner [by the Cornell student section], the crowd can be loud, and they can have control of it,” Taylor said of countering the Big Red charge. “We just like to stay patient, stay on our guys.”

The Crimson would add its insurance goal in the same fashion, weathering a threat from the Cornell offense (reinforced when goaltender Ben Scrivens was pulled) before senior Tyler Magura was able to find an open lane to send the puck into the empty Big Red net.

“It was a dogfight out there,” Dufault said. “Thank God we came out on top.”

PK VALUE MEAL

The previous night at Colgate, the Harvard penalty kill had played well, but a series of first-period infractions eventually proved too much to overcome, with the Raiders finally scoring coming off of their third-consecutive power play.

Against Cornell, the Crimson was once again forced to spend most of the opening frame killing penalties rather than mounting offensive charges. This time, however, the penalty-kill unit was more than up to the task.

“Once again, guys were blocking shots when they needed to, [playing] in the right position, getting the puck all the way down the ice,” Taylor said. “[The penalty kill] was a big factor tonight.”

While Taylor’s shorthanded strike represented the obvious special-teams highlight of the evening, the penalty kill performed admirably on every Big Red power-play opportunity. Each Cornell man-advantage began with Harvard dumping the puck into the Big Red zone, and the Crimson was even able to generate some shorthanded opportunities before Taylor’s mad dash to paydirt at 15:09.

“I thought we did a good job trying to take at least some of their best options away [on the power play],” said Harvard coach Ted Donato ’91, adding, “Once we were able to get by those first 10 minutes and get even strength, I thought we were able to use our speed to back in the game.”

TWO-MINUTE MINORS

The loss caused Cornell to slide into the fifth spot in the ECAC standings, having never beaten any of the four teams above it over the course of the season...All three of Harvard’s goals were scored by seniors, playing in their last regular-season game at Lynah Rink...While Harvard’s penalty kill was successful, its power play was not, going 0-for-3 on the night and managing just one shot on goal during its man-advantage opportunities...The Big Red’s power play shot total of two was equaled by the Crimson, who managed to send two shorthanded offerings Scrivens’s way.

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