Men’s Hockey Battles No. 11 Dartmouth to the Final Minutes, Falls 5-4

The Harvard men’s ice hockey team (7-6-1, 5-4-0 ECAC) fell to the No. 11 Dartmouth Big Green (13-4-0, 7-2-0 ECAC) in the final game of its winter break road trip.

The game was mainly kept competitive by Harvard’s special teams scoring, but throughout the contest, the Crimson had a hard time staying out of the box, and its defense struggled at crucial junctures, which enabled the Big Green to avoid an upset.

Nonetheless, Harvard proved once again its ability to compete against a top-ranked opponent.

The Crimson’s last three games marked its most challenging series since its back-to-back games in late November against the No. 1 University of Michigan Wolverines.

All three of its recent opponents are nationally ranked, including the No. 8 Quinnipiac Bobcats, No. 11 Dartmouth, and the No. 20 Princeton Tigers.

Although it had been ranked No. 9 last week, the Big Green lost four of its last five games, the last two against the Tigers and Bobcats, the same contests as Harvard.

Dartmouth’s recent performance came as quite a shock to many college hockey fans after the team kicked off the 2025-26 season with an 11-game win streak.

Much like the Big Green, Harvard, too, entered the game looking to regain a foothold after suffering a 9-1 blowout and a 3-2 buzzer-beater loss on consecutive nights last weekend.

Hoping to gain leverage against Dartmouth, the Crimson did its best to hold off an early offensive surge.

Unfortunately, Harvard’s streak of penalties continued, putting the Big Green on the power play three times. In just its last three games, the Crimson has given up nine penalties.

While Harvard can normally rely on its penalty kill, which is ranked second in the nation, Dartmouth posed the first major challenge with a third-ranked scoring offense.

That matchup still worked overwhelmingly in Harvard’s favor, as the Crimson struck twice short-handed.

The first goal came in the early seconds of Dartmouth’s second power play.

Harvard’s sophomore forward Mick Thompson stripped a Dartmouth player of the puck and carried it in the zone on the breakaway for a simple backhand play that was enough to fool junior netminder Emmett Croteau.

Fellow sophomore forward Lucas St. Louis nearly made it 2-0 in four-on-four play after receiving a pass in front of Croteau’s crease and pressing the puck on the edge of his stick blade into Croteau’s glove, which, after review, was determined not to have crossed the goal line.

Shortly after St. Louis’ goal was reversed, Dartmouth’s sophomore forward Hayden Stavroff drove into the zone, flying past sophomore defenseman Sean Keohane. Stavroff sent the puck through the middle of the net, between sophomore goaltender Ben Charette’s elbow and pad, neatly turning what looked to be a 2-0 lead for the Crimson into a 1-1 tie.

Stavroff proceeded to score his second goal midway through the second period and notch an assist on the game-winning goal in the third.

Then, Harvard’s freshman forward Richard Gallant scored his first career shorthanded goal.

Unfortunately for the Crimson, Dartmouth still had a bookending answer to each of Harvard’s goals.

A goal near the end of the second period, credited to the Crimson’s senior forward Casey Severo, and the lone goal of the third period by junior forward Ryan Fine, playing in his first game since Halloween, were each followed by goals that eventually put Dartmouth ahead 5-4.

Even with Charette pulled from the net and Harvard on the skater-up advantage with two minutes remaining in regulation play, Croteau withstood the Crimson’s onslaught of shots to preserve the win.

With a few players losing the puck and tripping on the ice, all chance of getting a late goal to avenge its loss to Princeton was shattered.

The final horn at Thompson Arena signaled the end of a disappointing road trip, one Harvard hopes it can now fully put behind it.

Moving on, the team seeks its own return to form in what it hopes are more favorable matchups on the upcoming homestand.

That all starts this Monday against No. 19 BU, which will be aired on NESN and serve as a warmup for the upcoming Beanpot Tournament. Harvard will then take on St. Lawrence and Clarkson on Jan. 16 and 17, and then conclude with Union, which is currently the top-vote recipient amongst unranked teams. All of these games will be aired on ESPN+. Puck drop for all four games is set for 7:00 p.m. EST.

—Staff writer Nate M. Bolan can be reached at [email protected].