After spotting Bowling Green a 3-0 lead over the first 28 minutes of the game, the Harvard Crimson scored five unanswered goals to tally a 5-3 victory over the Falcons in the consolation game of the 2001 Denver Cup.
Once again, the name of the game was special teams for the Crimson, which got a pair of shorthanded goals and one power-play tally for its first nonconference win this season.
The Crimson (6-5-3) came out flying, and held a 15-6 edge in shots in the first period. The squad generated a pair of quality scoring chances early, including five minutes in when Tim Pettit took a pass at the blue line and ripped a shot on net. Sigalet made the save, and also stopped the shot off the rebound put back on net by Tom Cavanagh.
Four minutes later, with Dennis Packard in the box on a holding call, sophomore Tyler Kolarik poked the puck away from Falcon defender Brian Escobedo and went in alone on Sigalet, but the freshman netminder was up to the task and made the save.
The Falcons (5-12-4), however, drew first blood. Freshman winger Ryan Minnabarriet brought the puck up the near side along the wall and rifled the puck to a streaking Tyler Knight in the slot. Knight one-timed the pass and beat Harvard goalie Dov Grumet-Morris stick-side to give Bowling Green a 1-0 advantage at the first intermission.
The Falcons added to their lead 3:17 into the second when senior Greg Day crashed the net and poked a pass from D’Arcy McConvey past Grumet-Morris.
The freshman netminder then saw his workday come to an end, after Day scored his second goal as he redirected a shot from the point. That score gave the Falcons a 3-0 lead 7:50 into the second despite being outshot 23-12 to that point.
The Crimson cut into the lead at the 15:03 mark. With Crimson captain Peter Capouch in the box on an interference call, Packard broke into the offensive zone in a 2-on-1 with center Brett Nowak. Packard looked to pass, but rifled a shot past Sigalet glove-side to cut the lead to 3-1. It was Packard’s — and Harvard’s — second shorthanded tally of the season.
The Crimson opened the scoring in the final stanza with another shorthanded tally at the 5:43 mark. As the Crimson was applying offensive pressure, Capouch fed Kolarik with the puck, and Kolarik’s fancy stickwork laced it back to the senior captain on the doorstep to cut the lead to 3-2. It was Capouch’s first tally of the season, and the fifth man-down tally of his career.
Andrew Lederman’s first collegiate goal knotted the game at three midway through the third period. Pettit received the puck in the faceoff circle from Cavanagh and fed it to Lederman in the slot, and the freshman beat Sigalet as he was falling to his knees.
The Crimson took its first lead of the night at the 13:03 mark on the power play, when Kolarik found Cavanagh in front of the net to score the team’s third special-teams goal of the night and fourth unanswered tally overall.
With Sigalet pulled in favor of an extra skater in the waning moments, the Crimson iced the victory with an empty-net goal by Nowak at 19:15.
Will Crothers played an excellent final 32 minutes for the Crimson, picking up 21 saves and holding the Falcons off the board in relief of Grumet-Morris, who made nine saves in his 28 minutes. Sigalet made 42 stops in the losing effort.
