After falling to St. Lawrence the night before, Harvard bounced back to win its second game of the weekend, 3-1 over Clarkson.
“We challenged our kids today,” said Harvard coach Mark Mazzoleni. “I thought that Clarkson for the first period had the upper hand, but we were able to withstand it. The second period was very even, and in the third we played as well defensively as we’ve played all year.”
“It’s a big win for us. It’s a huge win, it’s the first time our seniors have won up here in four years.” Harvard snapped the eight game win streak the Golden Knights had over the Crimson with the victory.
Clarkson came out of the gate strong, and kept the puck in the Harvard zone. But the Crimson would not allow a repeat of the night before, and at 11:47, Harvard struck first.
A Clarkson penalty to Craig Foddrill for hitting from behind put Harvard on the power play at 10:54. Less than a minute later, Dominic Moore took a shot that was saved by goaltender Shawn Grant. However, Grant was unable to control the rebound, as the puck bounced off his right leg. Tim Pettit was there for Harvard and he slammed the rebound home before Grant could recover, giving the Crimson a 1-0 lead.
In the second period, Clarkson hoped to regain some of the momentum they started the game with.
Just 44 seconds into the frame, Rob McFeeters tied the game. A Golden Knights shot on goal was saved by goaltender Oliver Jonas, but with traffic in front of the net, Jonas was unable to hold onto the puck, and McFeeters took the loose puck and put it home, knotting the game at one-all.
Midway through the period, the Crimson regained the lead for good with a goal at 10:29 by Harry Schwefel. Schwefel skated in along the right hand side of the ice, and took the shot from the faceoff circle. Grant made the initial save, but could not control the puck as it bounced out of his glove and trickled into the net, putting Harvard ahead 2-1.
The third goal of the evening for Harvard came on the man advantage. Murray Kuntz was whistled for obstruction interference at 19:17, and the Crimson wasted little time capitalizing. Nine seconds after the penalty was called, Dominic Moore recovered a rebound on the right side of Grant, and easily scored on an out-of-position Grant, for a final of 3-1.
Clarkson attempted to get back into the game in the third period, but Harvard’s defense frustrated the Knights. The best opportunity for Clarkson came midway through the period, but with Jonas down on the ice and the puck free in front of the goal the Knights could not take advantage.
“We had plenty of opportunities to win the game, but we didn’t capitalize.” said coach Mark Morris. “Jonas played extremely well against us. We couldn’t ask for many more opportunities to score goals, but we didn’t capitalize, and they did.
“I really couldn’t fault our team on the effort we had. They played extremely hard, didn’t get a whole lot of breaks. When the effort is there, but the results aren’t, sometimes it just doesn’t match. You have to give them credit for making the most of their chances.”
On the evening, Jonas made 34 saves, while Grant played for the first two periods and gave up three goals and made 19 saves. Karl Mattson came in for relief in the third period, making five saves. The Crimson worked the power play, going 2-for-4 on the evening, while Clarkson, saved by the man advantage the night before, was unable to pick up any goals, ending the evening 0-for-4.
Harvard will host ECAC foe Brown Thursday, and then take on Vermont Saturday. Clarkson is idle until the 28th of December, where the Knights will face Maine in the first round of the Florida Holiday Tournament.
