Harvard finally lived up to the preseason expectations that faced them, by winning the ECAC championships in Albany. After being mired in a mediocre regular season, in which they scraped together a .500 conference record, the Crimson, anchored by 11 draft picks, began playing to their potential at the right time.
After falling behind two goals to the Clarkson Golden Knights in the first period of the championship game, Harvard took five minutes to knot things up in the second, on a pair of Tom Cavanagh goals. After Clarkson dominated much of the third, they iced the puck with 37 seconds remaining in regulation. On the ensuing faceoff, Crimson captain Kenny Smith’s shot beat Knights’ goalie Dustin Traylen. Adding an empty-net goal just seconds later sealed the deal for Harvard, who take their second conference championship in three years, and will appear in their third consecutive NCAA tournament.
Harvard stifled Dartmouth in the semi-finals to advance, while Clarkson beat Colgate. In the consolation game, Colgate, the regular-season champion, got a late goal from their captain to win, 3-2. Colgate also got help from the referees, who missed a call and waved off a late Dartmouth goal by blowing the play dead when the puck was still loose.
Harvard advances to the East Regional, which is to be held this weekend at the Pepsi Arena. They will take on the Maine Black Bears, the number one seed in the region, and the number one team in the nation, according to the latest USCHO poll. In the other game, the Ohio State Buckeyes face off against the Wisconsin Badgers.
RPI is the host school for the regional, due to proximity. The Harvard/Maine game is at 5 pm, while the Ohio State/Wisconsin contest starts at 8:30 pm.
