A Season of Streaks: The 2001 Harvard Men’s Hockey Team

minute into the overtime period, Dominic Moore ’03 zipped a wrist shot past the Dartmouth goaltender to earn Harvard the victory in the ECAC Tournament consolation matchup, its final game of the 2000-01 season.

For Moore, it meant sending his brother, Steve, to the NHL with a win.

“To send the seniors out with a win was great,” Dominic Moore said to The Crimson after the game. “And to have my brother smile at the end of the day was awesome. It made me smile too.”

Steve ’01, the captain of the 2001 team, finished his career 20th on Harvard’s career points list and was selected in the second round of the NHL Draft by the Colorado Avalanche.

Dominic amassed the 10th most goals of any Crimson hockey player in his career and went on to play 13 seasons in the NHL. He was awarded the 2014 Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy, given “to the player who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey.”

The brothers ended their careers tied with exactly 88 assists each, 12th in Harvard’s record book. Both were named Ivy League Rookie of the Year in their respective freshman seasons, each was named First Team All-Ivy League twice, and both were recipients of the John Tudor Memorial Cup and George Percy Award.

The victory over Dartmouth marked the end of a season defined by how close the Harvard team got to greatness, yet how far it remained from its 1989 National Championship.

It was ultimately a season defined by streaks. A solid 6-3-1 start was followed by a four-game losing streak, which in turn was followed by a three-game winning streak.

The Crimson then found itself in first place in the ECAC standings in February, only to fall out of the top spot with a 2-1 loss to Cornell. This marked the beginning of a five-game losing streak, which included a 7-0 loss to Dartmouth — its worst defeat in 20 years —that was immediately followed by a heartbreaking 8-7 loss to Northeastern in the Beanpot.

On the defensive end, Harvard was often inconsistent and, through its losing streaks, developed an ugly habit of blowing leads late in games.

When playing well, Crimson’s defense was an intimidating force, however. Defenseman Dave McCulloch ’04 led the ECAC with 103 minutes in the sin bin, the third most in a single season in program history. Having accomplished this feat in his freshman season, McCulloch finished his career with 109 penalties, fourth most in Harvard’s storied legacy.

The Crimson’s season stood at a crossroads as it prepared to host No. 15 St. Lawrence in the midst of its five-game skid.

Harvard carried a 2-0 advantage into the third period, thanks in part to a shorthanded goal from future NHL winger Chris Bala ’01. The Saints cut the deficit to one with four minutes on the clock, but two empty netters from Tim Pettit ’04 sealed the Crimson’s upset victory, its first over the Saints at home in six years.

“You don’t call many games over the course of the year a ‘must’ game,” then-head coach Mark Mazzoleni said after the game. “They were challenged today, and they knew we had to win tonight.”

Spearheaded by a strong offense featuring the Moore brothers, Bala, and the freshmen duo of Petit and Tyler Kolarik ’04, Harvard carried the momentum of its upset victory into a late-season push.

In the second-to-last game of the regular season, goaltender Oliver Jonas ’01 saved his 845th shot, breaking the program record for saves in a season. He went on to save 1,021 shots that season, a record not broken until 2015, and it still ranks second all-time in Crimson history.

With its season salvaged, Harvard earned the third seed in the ECAC Tournament. The Crimson then had to face off against its rival Yale in the quarterfinal round in a best-of-three series at the Bright Center.

In the first game, Harvard’s penalty kill, a strength all season, held the Bulldogs to just one for seven on the power play, as the Crimson escaped with a 5-4 victory.

Harvard found itself down 4-3 in the third period in the second matchup. The Crimson proceeded to play its best period of the entire season, scoring four goals in the final frame for the victory, its third over Yale in a week, sending the rival Elis packing.

The victory sent Harvard to Lake Placid, N.Y., for the ECAC Tournament semifinals and a chance to save its season with a conference title and automatic NCAA Tournament berth.

The Crimson faced off against Cornell, which had knocked off Harvard in the ECAC Tournament the season prior.

Freshman Dennis Packard ’04 had two goals called back in the first period, and the typically defensive-minded Big Red opened the scoring with three unanswered goals in just 2:37 in the second frame. It was Cornell’s first three-goal lead of the season.

Harvard ultimately fell, 5-2, as the Big Red ended the Crimson’s ECAC Tournament run for the fourth straight time.

For Harvard, it was a crushing loss. Despite a roster with nine NHL draftees, the squad failed to qualify for the NCAA Tournament for a seventh consecutive season.

Regardless, the season marked a step in the right direction for a team that made its first ECAC Tournament semifinal trip in three seasons.

“We had three goals this season,” Mazzoleni said to The Crimson at the conclusion of the 2000-01 season. “One was to have home ice for the playoffs, the second was to advance to Lake Placid, and the third was to have a winning record. We accomplished all three.”

With a returning core centered around the younger Moore brother, the 2001-02 Crimson made a run through the ECAC Tournament, exorcising its demons against No. 9 Cornell as Harvard prevailed, 4-3, in the ECAC Championship game. With the win, the Crimson punched its ticket to return to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1994.

—Staff writer Maxwell P. Friedman can be reached at [email protected].