NEW HAVEN, Conn. — Jimmy Vesey knows a dramatic moment when he sees one develop right in front of his eyes.
Friday night, the junior superstar ripped a two-on-one one-timer from Alexander Kerfoot past Yale goaltender Alex Lyon with 2:26 remaining in the third period to push Harvard past the host Bulldogs in Game 1 of the ECAC Hockey quarterfinals.
Kerfoot and Sean Malone also scored to facilitate the team’s first win over Yale in four tries this season (1-3). Steve Michalek made 19 saves for his 18th win of the season in goal.
“Yeah, it feels pretty good,” smiled Harvard coach Ted Donato, “but it doesn’t mean much unless we can get a second win.”
For Yale, Nate Repensky’s power-play goal followed Cody Learned’s, but Lyon’s 27 saves proved one too few for the Bulldogs.
“They got a break,” Yale coach Keith Allain shrugged, noting how the game-winning puck hopped over defenseman Rob O’Gara’s stick at the blueline. “But we didn’t play well enough to earn a break.”
Harvard opened with a few surprises, including its pep band and a suited-up Patrick McNally on the Crimson blueline. It was clear that the senior Vancouver Canucks draft pick had not fully recovered from his February knee surgery, but despite his creaky stride and distaste for contact, still managed to make a handful of critical outlet passes. He was also on the ice for the final minute and lofted an arcing backhand out of the zone in the game’s final seconds to secure the result.
“I’m not sure we could keep him of the ice, honestly,” Donato said of McNally’s hobbled poise.
The first period expired without a goal, but was not bereft of action. Each side made a handful of quality rushes that put Lyon and Michalek to the test, but none of the 18 shots – 10 for Harvard, eight for Yale – met the net before the first horn.
The lamps were put to work for the fist time in the second stanza when Harvard buried two quick ones. Malone opened the scoring unassisted 72 seconds in for the team’s first lead of the season over Yale and then Kerfoot scored his eighth of the year two and a half minutes later from Kyle Criscuolo and Vesey, with both goals coming from the slot.
Harvard notched another 10 shots on goal by the second intermission, but Learned stole some of the momentum back for the home side on the Bulldogs’ fifth and final shot of the frame. With the Crimson frantically chasing Yale passes and Michalek rebounds, Carson Cooper found Learned in the high slot from the low corner and with Harvard’s goalie way out of position, Learned had no trouble burying the puck into the empty net.
Repensky snatched the remaining mojo two minutes into the third with a blue line bomb that blew through marker Tyler Moy and Michalek. The goal was just the second of Repensky’s career and his first since mid-January.
This is the third postseason meeting between the ancient rivals in the last four years, with each team advancing once. They return to the Ingalls ice tomorrow night with Yale’s season hanging in the balance.
