Harvard Rallies from Early Deficit To Dominate BU, 7-4

BOSTON—The Harvard men’s hockey team has won only two games in the last three months, but the Crimson continues to have Boston University’s number.

Harvard won its first game Monday night since a dramatic overtime win over the Terriers on Jan. 9 by defeating No. 13 BU, 7-4, in the Beanpot consolation game at TD Garden.

After falling behind, 2-0, the Crimson scored five of the next six goals in a dominant offensive performance while freshman Peter Traber made 43 saves to earn his first career victory.

In its last two wins over the Terriers, Harvard has scored more goals than it did in the nine games in between.

“My first comment to [Harvard coach] Teddy Donato is that they should play us all the time,” BU coach Jack Parker said. “They manhandled us.... It was nowhere near the type of effort we need.”

Just over a minute and a half into the second period, BU’s Evan Rodrigues scored a power-play goal to put the Terriers ahead, 3-2.

But from there, seniors Luke Greiner and Marshall Everson went on an offensive tear, registering two tallies each during a 20-minute span.

Everson scored first, tying things up two minutes after Rodrigues’ goal when he took a behind-the-net pass from rookie Kyle Criscuolo and fired it home from the slot.

“We’ve been trying to work the puck down low,” Greiner said. “Tonight we did a good job behind the net and springing some guys in front.”

Just a minute later, Greiner snagged a pass from classmate Conor Morrison and beat Maguire to give Harvard a 4-3 lead.

At the 16:33 mark of the period, the forward was at it again, this time on the power play. Greiner’s second score of the game, off passes from senior Danny Biega and freshman Brian Hart, put the Crimson up, 5-3.

Late in the period, BU’s Alexx Privitera was thrown out of the contest after he kneed senior forward Alex Fallstrom, who remained down for a few moments before slowly getting up.

BU was able to kill the ensuing overlapping five-minute power play, but just seconds after it ended, Everson collected a Fallstrom rebound in the slot and fired past Maguire to put Harvard up, 6-3, with 16:47 to go.

“Our senior group, I thought, carried the day for us,” Donato said. “It was nice to see them have such a big night.”

Cason Hohmann squeezed a rebound past Traber from the left corner of the net with 8:35 remaining to cut the deficit to two, but the rookie was able to withstand heavy pressure and hold the lead the rest of the way. Greiner completed his first career hat trick with an empty-netter with eight seconds to go.

“[Traber] made a lot of huge saves and he looked strong in there,” Donato said. “It’s nice to see him get his first win.”

The Terriers got on the board three minutes into the game after a Traber save attempt deflected right to Mike Moran, who had an empty net to put it away.

BU expanded its lead to 2-0 at the 11:45 mark of the opening period with a shorthanded score. With Harvard on a power play, the Terriers’ initiated a two-on-one against Biega in the offensive zone. Wade Megan took a pass took a pass from Hohmann and beat Traber to put the Terriers up, 2-0.

But Harvard answered right back 75 seconds later when junior defenseman Dan Ford put home a rebound for his first goal of the season, cutting the Terriers lead to 2-1.

Biega tied the game with 14.2 seconds remaining in the period. After taking a big hit from the Terriers’ Patrick MacGregor along the right boards, the captain got up, intercepted a BU clear attempt, and fired a shot through Maguire’s legs to tie the game.

“I knew I was going to get hit,” Biega said. “Luckily the puck squirted back out. I just remember shooting it as hard as I could and luckily it went in.”

Harvard would go ahead in the subsequent period and not lose its lead for the remainder of a contest that saw a total of 17 penalties.

The performance handed the Terriers just their fifth fourth-place Beanpot finish ever and its worst tournament loss since falling to Harvard, 9-6, in the 1989 title game. The Crimson’s seven goals—which came despite the squad being outshot, 47-31—was its most in a Beanpot contest in 12 years and improved Harvard’s record to 16-20 all-time in consolation contests.

Biega said he hoped the win would spark the team to a late-season run, just as a consolation victory over the Terriers two years ago spurred a struggling Crimson squad to seven wins in its next eight games.

“I think [this victory] has the ability to turn the team around,” Biega said.

—Staff writer Scott A. Sherman can be reached at ssherman13@college.harvard.