Garnet Hockey Report: Line carries Union to 4-3 win (with 2 videos)

Box Score

by Ryan Fay

Union head coach Rick Bennett didn't know how Friday's game would have gone if not for the line of Michael Pontarelli, Matt Hatch and Mike Vecchione.

Probably not in Union's favor, though, as the trio combined for three goals and five assists to help Union overcome occasional lackluster play and beat Harvard 4-3 in front of a standing-room-only crowd of 2,169 at Messa Rink.

Hatch had an assist and a pair of goals, including the game-winner. Pontarelli had a career-high three assists. Vecchione, who returned to the lineup after missing four games with a full-body injury, chipped in a goal and an assist.

"They were excellent tonight," Bennett said. "Anybody who watched that game realized they were on tonight. That's a positive thing, to get a player back the caliber of Vecchione. But to have Hatch and Pontarelli going at the same time is just an added bonus."

The win, Union's fourth in a row, moved the Dutchmen (10-2 ECAC, 16-4-3 overall) into sole possession of first place in the ECAC by one point over idle Quinnipiac. Third-ranked Union has one game in hand on the Bobcats.

Harvard (2-9-3, 5-11-3) opened the scoring at 4:30 of the first when Alexander Kerfoot redirected a pass from Clay Anderson that found the back of the net.

Vecchione was in the right place at the right time when he tied the game at 13:28. The puck got away from Hatch on a wraparound attempt, but it found Vecchione in the slot and the freshman fired it past Harvard goaltender Steve Michalek.

“Playing with these two [Hatch and Pontarelli], it’s pretty easy to get into a rhythm out there,” said Vecchione. "As the game went on, I got a little more comfortable out there. I got a goal. That really breaks the ice for me. We were rolling from there.”

After Kevin Sullivan gave Union a 2-1 lead at 6:14 of the second, the Dutchmen capitalized on a rebound to increase its edge to 3-1 at 16:04.

Michalek turned aside a Pontarelli shot from the right circle, but the rebound came out to Vecchione at the top of the crease. He poked at it, but Hatch had a better bid and sent it home.

“The coaching staff stresses doing the little things and outworking your opponent,” said Hatch. “We knew they were going to come at us hard. We knew the building was going to be packed. We knew it was going to be an intense game and an intense atmosphere. Right from the beginning, our plan was to get pucks low and outwork them. That was a process of a couple of our goals.”

At times, Union didn't play smart with the puck in the third and turned it over several times. One turnover was especially costly, as it led to Brian Hart slicing the lead to 3-2 at 11:41.

“I don’t know if we kept it as simple as we could tonight,” Bennett said. “We had a few turnovers there. Our emphasis of our five-foot rule [and] simplicity was lacking there tonight. And it’s easy to throw it on the young guys. It was collective tonight, and that’s a little disheartening.”

Hatch responded with the eventual game-winner just under a minute later. After Pontarelli forced a turnover in Union's zone and led a two-on-one rush down the ice, he stopped at the left circle and made a cross-ice pass to Hatch. The senior sent it past Michalek for his second strike of the night.

“One of their forwards tried to throw it back to their defenseman in the high zone,” said Pontarelli. “It jumped over his stick, and we went on a two-on-one. I sent it over to ‘Hatchie.’ I think the pass was too hard, and he did a great job of stopping it and having great poise to put it in there.”

Harvard made it 4-3 after Trevor Moy's shot from the slot caught Colin Stevens off guard at 13:42, but the Crimson never found the equalizer.

Though it wasn't always pretty, the Dutchmen were glad to skate away with a win.

“At the end of the day, the main goal is that we won,” Pontarelli said. “That’s what we’re taking away from it. Obviously, we want to get better every game. There was a little bit of adversity tonight, but we came with the ‘W.’ That’s all that matters.”

Union returns to action when it battles Rensselaer in the non-league Mayor's Cup at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at the Times Union Center. The Engineers downed Dartmouth, 4-2, on Friday.

POSTGAME VIDEOS