Late Push Not Enough as No. 9/10 Men’s Ice Hockey Falls 4-1 at No. 2/3 Quinnipiac

HAMDEN, CT – A third period push for No. 9/10 Harvard men’s ice hockey (10-4-1, 8-2-0 ECAC Hockey) was not enough at No. 2/3 Quinnipiac (16-1-3, 12-0-0 ECAC Hockey), as the Crimson fell, 4-1, to the Bobcats at M&T Bank Arena.
 
Sophomore forward Alex Gaffney scored for Harvard, and senior goaltender Mitchell Gibson made 25 saves in net.

HOW IT HAPPENED

For the second consecutive night, Harvard trailed 3-0 heading into the final period of play. The Crimson outshot Quinnipiac 12-4 in the final frame, and finally broke through at 4:52 of the period.
 
Gaffney cut around a Quinnipiac defender and ended up with the puck again after a great give and go with first-year forward Casey Severo, burying a shot into an open net to make it a two goal game.
 
The Crimson earned a power play chance midway through the period, and had several net front opportunities in the final minutes, but Quinnipiac sealed the win with an empty net goal with 1:26 to play.
 
Quinnipiac jumped out to a two-goal lead in the first period despite some early chances for Harvard in the opening 20 minutes.
 
Collin Graf scored on a partial breakaway at 4:17 to give the Bobcats a 1-0 lead. Then Ethan De Jong redirected a puck past Gibson at 15:44 to put Quinnipiac up 2-0.
 
In a defensive second period, Harvard’s top line generated some pressure midway through the frame, leading to a one-timer chance for senior defenseman Henry Thrun that Yaniv Perets (21 saves) slid across his crease to stop without allowing a rebound.
 
Harvard killed off Quinnipiac’s first power play opportunity of the night with Thrun in the box for holding, but with tired penalty killers still on the ice, Christophe Tellier drove the net, found a loose puck and beat Gibson at 12:40 to make it 3-0.
 
The Crimson would get a power play opportunity of their own at 17:37 with CJ McGee in the box for tripping, but failed to capitalize, and the deficit remained three heading into the third.

GAME NOTES

• Gaffney scored his fifth goal of the year, and now has 12 points (5-7-12) on the year in 15 games played.
• Severo (assist) has four points (1-3-4) in his last three games.
• Harvard finished the night 3-for-3 on the penalty kill, it’s 10^th perfect PK effort this season in 15 games.

UP NEXT

Harvard continues ECAC Hockey play with its first home series of the new year, as it hosts…