A year after not playing due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Harvard is one win away from being ECAC Hockey champions.
The third-seeded Crimson scored three third-period goals to beat No. 2 Clarkson 5-3 in the second semifinal of the night Friday at the Herb Brooks Arena in Lake Placid.
Harvard will face No. 1 Quinnipiac in the ECAC Hockey championship game Saturday at 7:30 p.m., while Clarkson’s season comes to an end with the loss.
Friday was the third time in a row that the Crimson and Golden Knights played in the league semifinals; Clarkson won the previous two matchups in 2018 and 2019. It was also the sixth consecutive time that Harvard made the ECAC Hockey semifinals in a full season, a streak that was interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, which brought the college hockey season to an abrupt end in 2020.
Harvard and the rest of the Ivy League schools then made the decision not to play the following year.
“It means a lot,” Harvard captain Nick Abruzzese said of making it to the league title game. “Two years ago, we were playing some of our best hockey down the stretch and getting it cut short really burned. But being back here now and having gotten through the last two years, we’re really excited that we got to play tonight and that we get to play tomorrow.”
The Crimson’s top line of Abruzzese (two goals, two assists), Sean Farrell (goal, two assists), and Matthew Coronato (two goals, two assists) combined to score all five Harvard goals. Alex Campbell had two goals for Clarkson.
It was an impressive showing by a Crimson team that had a lot of new faces at the start of the season. Now, Harvard will attempt to win its first Whitelaw Cup since the school won two titles in a span of three years during the 2015 and 2017 seasons.
“At the start of the year, we were really excited with the group that we had,” Farrell said. ‘We went through some growing pains, but we fully expected to be here and put ourselves in this position. Throughout the year, we’ve been getting better and better and we’ve kind of hit our stride and our playing good hockey right now.”
The Crimson were the only team among the four teams in Lake Placid that didn’t play last season. Harvard coach Ted Donato said captains Casey Dornbach and Abruzzese deserve a lot of credit for getting the Crimson ready to play.
“When you think that over half of your lineup has never played college hockey before…now granted a lot of coaches would like that have the talent that we have in the locker room.” Donato said. “For us, we had to learn how to play and how to have success. Obviously, we’ve got guys who can get up and the ice make plays, but at this time of year you’ve got to be able to defend, manage the puck, and play with discipline. I thought we showed a level of maturity tonight that we’ve been building upon all year.”
Clarkson led 3-2 heading into the final intermission thanks to second-period goals by Campbell and Zach Tsekos.
Abruzzese put Harvard up 2-1 at 10:59 in the second, but Campbell scored his second power-play goal of the game 13:11 into the period to tie the score at two.
Clarkson took the lead less than four minutes later when Ayrton Martino forced a turnover behind the Harvard net and found Tsekos on the right post, who beat Mitchell Gibson (24 saves) to give the Golden Knights a 3-2 lead at 16:52.
But Harvard tied it on Abruzzese’s second of the game 4:23 into the third, when the Crimson junior pounced on a rebound that had Clarkson goalie Ethan Haider out of position (29 saves) to make the stop.
The Crimson went ahead for good when Coronato took a pass off the rush from Abruzzese and rifled it past Haider at 15:06. Coronato sealed the win for Harvard with an empty-net goal at 19:49.
“To have a lead in the third period and to give it up was disappointing,” Clarkson coach Casey Jones said. “The last couple weeks, I haven’t felt us to be extremely sharp defensively and playing the right way. It was one of those situations where we were turning pucks over and giving them numbers. We were trying to outscore them instead of negating what they were going to get and counterpunching that way.”
Harvard took a 1-0 lead on Sean Farrell’s goal 8:40 in the opening period. Campbell’s power-play goal pulled Clarkson even at 14:47 in the first.
But the Crimson were able to come through in the third period and now have the chance to play for a championship.
“I think as a coach you know there is going to be some learning moments for a young team,” Dontato said. “I’ve been pleasantly pleased with how they have operated as a group. They work every day and never get down on each other. It’s been a really fun group. Tomorrow, we have a chance to do something special and I think it’s because of the chemistry within the locker room.”
