Hanover, NH – Harvard and Dartmouth played one of those Tuesday night games no one shows up for, but on the cold night in Northern New Hampshire the two squads put on quite the show. Dartmouth controlled play throughout the contest and the attempts showed, but it was Harvard that would strike first. Patrick McNally carried the puck over the blue-line with no Dartmouth skaters in sight and took a snap shot over the glove of James Kruger, giving the Crimson a 1-0 lead at nine minutes, 26 seconds of the first period. The lead stuck until the third period.

Harvard held onto the to 1-0 throughout and added a an empty-net goal off the stick of Jim Vesey to defeat Dartmouth, 2-0. The shutout marked the first time Harvard had shutout Dartmouth in Hanover since January 10, 1953, in a 5-0 Harvard win. Harvard improves to 4-1-2 on the season, and 3-1-2 in the ECAC. Dartmouth falls to 2-3-1, and 2-3-1 in league play. Harvard with the win moves into a three-way tie for first place in the ECAC conference. Dartmouth out-attempted Harvard 90-49 in the game but only out-shot the Crimson 29-24 in the game.

What I Saw

• Dartmouth controlled play but it was unable to get into the quality areas of the ice. After two periods, the Green out-attempted the Crimson 62-31. Only 21 of those shots reached the net, with very few of them being grade-A opportunities. On the power-play, Dartmouth was especially deadly as it had many of those attempts. Many of those attempts, however, missed the net wide or high. Those shots need to hit the net to go in. Credit Harvard with keeping them outside, but rebounds are what cause 90 percent of goals in college hockey. Those rebounds were no where to be found because none of the deadly shots hit the net. Steve Michalek also played extremely well in the game, controlling the rebounds he did allow.
• In what seemed to be a cruel twist of fate, Harvard was the opportunistic team in the first period. Patrick McNally must love playing Dartmouth, because he scored his third goal against the Green this season. Dartmouth struggled against Harvard’s first line, but it seemed as though the Green had the advantage elsewhere. Harvard needs to gain more than a line to do damage, but yet it continues to work for them. Tonight the first line was again on for its goal.

What I Thought

• Harvard’s defense and penalty-killing has been phenomenal so far on the year. Harvard entered the game 21 for 21 on the penalty-kill and that streak continued on this night, as its PK went five for five Despite Dartmouth getting a plethora of shot-attempts, Harvard did a great job of getting in lanes and blocking shots. Yes Dartmouth’s misses helped but Harvard causes havoc, which causes those misses. Defense and penalty-killing were not the problem last season, as its scoring was. But the consistency has to make Ted Donato happy, as it has been great so far. Being 26/26 on the year isn’t too shabby.
• Dartmouth must be looking forward to the return of Chuck Grant. James Kruger has played admirably in net, but it seems as though the Green are missing a beat without Grant. Again it was the better team in a game and again its goaltender got out-dueled. Tonight it wasn’t a huge deal, as the he allowed just one but on some other nights, like it was against Yale, it will be. The Green just seem to be struggling to score that big goal or not give up that goal that is excruciatingly painful.

What They Said

Harvard coach Ted Donato said,

“It was a hard-fought game by both teams. Both teams battled and there weren’t an abundance of high-end scoring chances. Both goaltenders played extremely well and Steve for us played excellent in there. The penalty-kill was huge for us.”

“The specialty teams have been a big part of our success this season. Our guys have paid attention to the details so far this season and ultimately we have gotten some big saves when we needed to as well. Your goalie is always your best penalty-killer and Steve was certainly that tonight.”

Dartmouth coach Bob Gaudet said,

“We played a really hard game, tough game out there tonight. Territorialy I thought we were excellent, we defended 200 feet and our pace offensively was really good. They’re a good defensive team but I think they are really good offensive team, and we shut them down. I think another night we have four goals but we just need to find a way.”

What Else You Should Know

Dartmouth now has 11 days off,  as the Green players become studious and have finals. Dartmouth will next play a non-conference tilt at home against AIC on Saturday, November 29th. It will also have a showdown with BU the next night, Sunday November 30.

Harvard has a lone non-conference game next weekend, as it hosts Bentley on Friday night. It also has a game against BU looming, as it will travel to its cross-town rival for a Tuesday night matchup. Harvard has already defeated BC and will look for the early season sweep of the two.

Tuesday, November 18th, 2014 - 10:31 pm | Blogs, ECAC, Notes, Thoughts, Ramblings