Men’s Hockey Rallies to 5-3 Victory Over Princeton

On Friday, the Harvard men’s ice hockey team came from behind, overcoming a two-goal deficit, to win its penultimate game of the regular season against the Princeton Tigers, 5-3.

The Crimson is now tied for fourth place with Princeton in the ECAC standings and is positioned for a bye week heading into the playoffs. Harvard entered the night 0-3-1 in its last four games, all of which have been on the road. Excluding the Beanpot, the teams’ last away victory was against the Colgate Raiders more than a month ago.

A well-played first ten minutes put the Crimson on the scoreboard, though the game started slipping away in the second period. Ultimately, Harvard defended the Bright-Landry Hockey Center thanks to a late offensive push.

The Crimson (13-13-2, 10-9-1 ECAC) took it to Princeton (15-11-2, 11-8-1) early, establishing a strong physical presence. In the opening minutes, captain Joe Miller’s backcheck set up sophomore forward Mick Thompson for a two-on-one breakaway. Unfortunately for the home team, the sophomore rang his shot off the pipe.

An offensive screen on a power play eventually set up the opening goal for the Crimson. After receiving the puck at the right point, junior forward Michael Callow blasted a one-timer. Helped by senior forward Casey Severo, who screened Tigers goaltender Arthur Smith, Callow’s shot ripped past Smith’s glove side.

Harvard’s lead didn’t last long, though. Sprung on a breakaway by Princeton senior forward Kevin Anderson, junior forward Joshua Karnish got in all alone on Crimson sophomore netminder Ben Charette. Though Charette made the initial save, the puck somehow bounced up and behind the goaltender, crossing the goal line to even the score at 1-1.

A flurry of penalties in the first period gave both teams opportunities on the man advantage — five in total. Operating at 19.5 percent, the Tigers’ power play helped the visitors capitalize on the special teams battle.

After successive penalties by freshman forward Richard Gallant for tripping and the Harvard bench for too many players, senior forward Brendan Gorman made no mistake on the resulting five-on-three opportunity, scoring to put the Tigers ahead 2-1.

Harvard head coach Ted Donato ’91 was irate at the too many players on the ice call, but play continued nonetheless.

Before the go-ahead goal, freshman forward Heikki Ruohonen made a sacrificial block that sent him to the locker room, though, to the relief of the Harvard fans, he returned to the bench a few minutes later.

The second period was played at a more conservative pace, as total shot production stayed the same, but only two penalties were called.

Princeton’s momentum began to fade when it couldn’t capitalize on its odd-man rushes, and on the opposite end of the ice, the Tigers couldn’t prevent the Crimson from scraping back with multiple goals.

Thompson had the first of three tallies to give Harvard the lead. In the dying seconds of the middle frame, the forward impressively deflected junior defenseman Ryan Healey’s point shot, giving Smith no chance to make a save.

“I think to be down just one goal going into the third is a huge difference,” said Donato. “I just said, hey, we’re one shot away, and we haven’t played that great, but we can get this thing going.”

Down by just one entering the final period and cleaning up its shot-placement on offense, the team found new life.

Ruohonen tied the score after recovering a puck that bounced behind the net, converting on a backhand while falling to his knees.

Only 33 seconds later, sophomore forward Justin Solovey rocketed a shot past Smith’s blocker side to make it 4-3 Harvard, electrifying the crowd at the Bright.

“We needed three points, so coming into that third period down, we all knew we could step up and make something happen,” said Solovey. “It was a full team effort.”

The Tigers’ frustration boiled over in the final ten minutes of regulation, resulting in a cross-checking penalty on junior defenseman Ian Devlin. After fostering momentum on the power play, the Crimson played shutdown hockey until the final buzzer.

Princeton’s Head Coach, Ben Syer, pulled Smith for the extra skater with under two minutes in regulation, but Harvard captain Mason Langenbrunner put the finishing touch on the Tigers, tallying an empty net goal.

The Crimson’s final regular season contest starts Saturday at 7:00 p.m. EST against No. 7 Quinnipiac University and can be streamed on ESPN+. If Harvard wins and Princeton loses, the Crimson will secure fourth-place and a bye; if the opposite occurs, Princeton will claim the spot. If Harvard and the Tigers finish tied, points against the top four teams will decide it. The first two conference tiebreakers, head-to-head points and wins, could still leave both teams tied. Therefore, the upcoming games are critical for both Princeton and the Crimson’s playoff positioning.

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

— Staff writer Kai I. Russell can be reached at [email protected].