Harvard fought back from a 3-0 deficit after two periods, but could not gain the go-ahead tally, settling on a 3-3 tie at St. Lawrence on Saturday evening at Appleton Arena.
St. Lawrence drew first blood in the contest, netting a hard-fought tally at the 17:10 mark. Jimmy Ball roofed a rebound over a sprawling Will Crothers for the early lead.
The Saints extended their lead to 2-0 on a two-on-one break in the second period, as Andy Marchetti netted his second of the year off an assist from Ray DiLauro at the 13:26 mark. Marchetti added his second of the night just over three minutes later to give the home team a commanding 3-0 lead headed into the dressing room for the second intermission.
The Crimson began its comeback early in the third, as it tallied its first of the night in the early moments of the first period. As a Saint defender attempted to dump the puck out of the defensive zone, sophomore winger Rob Fried intercepted the puck and fired it on net. SLU goalie Mike McKenna made the initial save, and the rebound flew into the air. Fried corralled his own rebound and sent it past McKenna for his career-high fifth goal of the season.
The Crimson had an opportunity to cut into the lead with about ten minutes remaining, as Tim Pettit poked the puck free and went in one-on one with McKenna. The freshman netminder stoned the attempt to preserve his team’s two-goal advantage, but the Crimson was gaining momentum as the period wore on.
The visitors continued the offensive pressure, and finally solved McKenna at 12:55. Freshman center Tom Cavanagh picked up a loose puck and tucked it past McKenna glove-side to bring Harvard to within 3-2.
Harvard gained the equalizer with a Peter Capouch tally at the 14:24 mark. The senior captain collected the puck behind the net, and fired it off the back of McKenna’s right leg and into the net for his third of the season.
The overtime was played with a sense of urgency on both ends, including a nice save by Crothers with 3.2 seconds remaining and another off the faceoff as time expired. The Crimson netminder finished with 33 saves on the night, while McKenna had 23 for the Saints.
