M. Hockey KO’s Vermont

Snapping a three-game skid, the Harvard men’s hockey team dominated ECAC opponent Vermont in a 6-0 blowout on Friday night, beating the Catamounts for the first time in four meetings.

By virtue of the victory over last place Vermont (3-19-2, 3-11-1 ECAC) , Harvard (10-9-3, 9-5-2) remained five points in back of first-place Cornell, who beat Princeton 5-1.

“If we have aspirations still for first, but especially for second place, it was a must-win for our team,” Harvard Coach Mark Mazzoleni said.

Powered by two-goal performances from sophomore forwards Tyler Kolarik and Tim Pettit, the Crimson took control of the game midway through the first period, ensuring the outcome of the contest from that point forward.

The scoring began 11:48 into the first period, when Kolarik took a breakaway up the left side, firing a quick wrister from the lower face-off circle past the unprepared Vermont goalie, Shawn Conschafter. The tally was Kolarik’s seventh of the season. Freshman Brendan Bernakevitch provided the assist.

“Their forwards played extremely well,” Vermont Coach Mike Gilligan said.

Kolarik’s second goal of the night came at the 7:14 mark in the third period with Harvard on the power play. The Crimson kept the puck in the zone and put steady pressure on Vermont goalie Tim Peters, who replaced Conschafter at the start of the second period.

Kolarik stationed himself in front of the net, in perfect position to collect the rebound off a hard shot by Pettit. With Peters still sprawled on the ice after making the initial save, Kolarik had no trouble scoring his eighth goal of the season to extend the lead to 4-0.

“That was great work by the power play [unit],” Kolarik said. “We kept the puck in, and I was looking at the empty net.”

The Crimson scored in similar fashion earlier in the game, as pressure in front of the Vermont goal led to the Crimson’s second score. On that play, sophomore forward Rob Fried collected the rebound off of freshman defenseman Ryan Lannon’s blue line slapshot and found the back of the net for his fourth goal of the season.

Harvard pushed the score to 3-0 on sophomore defenseman Kenny Smith’s power-play goal in the second period.

Following the same pattern, pressure in front of the Vermont goal created the scoring opportunity. Sophomore forward Dennis Packard screened Peters, clearing the path for Smith’s blue line slapshot, setting off the red light.

Pettit netted a pair of goals in quick succession during the third period to cap the scoring at 6-0.

“We played with a lot of energy and on-puck intensity,” Mazzoleni said.

Faced with the one-game benching of junior forward Dominic Moore, the Crimson’s modified lines responded well without one of Harvard’s most dangerous offensive threats. Mazzoleni highlighted the play of a newly-formed line consisting of freshman Tom Cavanagh, junior Aaron Kim and Bernakevitch.

“I thought they were our best line,” Mazzoleni said.

With six tallies on the board, the Crimson’s offense dominated all night long, but the play of sophomore goalie Will Crothers was also instrumental in the Harvard victory. Crothers recorded his first collegiate shutout, stopping 18 shots and improving to 5-5-2 for the year.

Based on Crothers’ performance against the Catamounts, Mazzoleni has named him the starter for the Beanpot consolation game against BC tonight.

“That’s a very big game for us,” Mazzoleni said. “He earned [the start]. He deserves the right to be in there.”

The Crimson will be looking for redemption against the defending national champion Eagles. Harvard lost to BC 1-0 at Conte Forum on the day after Thanksgiving.

“We’re up for them,” Crothers said. “We’ll give them a good game, I’m sure.”