Junior center Brett Nowak netted a pair of goals and sophomore netminder Will Crothers made 19 saves to help Harvard to a 3-2 victory at Union College on Friday evening. The Crimson increases its lead in the ECAC, improving to 6-2-2 (14 points) in conference play and 7-5-3 overall, while Union falls to 5-6-2, 1-4-1 in league play.
The Crimson outshot their hosts by a 12-4 margin in the first frame, but were unable to solve Union netminder Brandon Snee and skated to a scoreless tie in that first period. The Dutchmen found themselves man down for most of the early part of the second frame, yet got on the scoreboard with a shorthanded tally at the 5:36 mark. The Crimson surrendered the puck at the Union blueline, and Kris Goodjohn brought the puck into the offensive zone. He fed junior
defenseman Jason Kean on the 2-on-1, and Kean beat Crothers glove side for a 1-0 lead.
Harvard knotted the score at one just after the midway point of the second period. Dennis Packard managed to squirt the puck from a scrum in the faceoff circle in to Kenny Smith in the slot. Smith found a crashing Nowak, who deposited his sixth goal of the season.
The Crimson took the lead as Packard fed Aaron Kim down low, and Kim found Nowak alone again in the slot for his second of the night and a 2-1 Crimson lead.
Dominic Moore added to the Crimson lead just 5:00 into the third period, as he corralled a pass from Tyler Kolarik on the wall and whistled a shot past Snee for a 3-1 lead.
The Dutchmen answered less than a minute later, after Crimson defenseman Dave McCulloch was whistled for obstruction interference at 5:34. Five seconds later, senior captain Jeff Wilson redirected a pass from Joel Beal past Crothers to shave the Crimson lead to 3-2.
The Dutchmen were unable to pull the goalie in the final minute of regulation, as the Crimson kept the puck in the offensive zone. Crothers finished the night with 19 saves in the winning effort, while Snee made 26 for Union.
