by Ryan Fay
The 19th-ranked Dutchmen return to action tomorrow night when Harvard comes to Messa Rink for a 7 pm faceoff. It will be the third home game in five days -- Union lost to Cornell, 3-2, on Friday and beat Colgate, 2-1, on Saturday.
All this following 48 day stretch with
no home games.
DUTCHMEN VS HARVARD: THE BIG GAME THAT ISN'TBefore the season, tomorrow's game looked like a much bigger game. Union was fresh off an appearance in the Frozen Four while Harvard looked like a team on the precipice of bigger things following a 3-1 loss to Union in the ECAC Championship game. Both were picked to finish in the top three in preseason league polls - Union first, Harvard third.
This year hasn't gone quite as well for either school. What looked like a potential key late midseason league game between two schools figuring to be chasing a Cleary Cup has instead turned into a tilt between two teams looking to regain momentum.
After a strong start to the season, which included a 6-2 win at Harvard on November 9th, Union has struggled in the past two months. The Dutchmen are 3-6-3 since November 30th and had a stretch in that period with one win in eight games. In six games since the calendar flipped to 2013, Union has scored more than two goals in a game just once (3 vs Princeton). Despite the slump, the Dutchmen remain well in contention for a first-round bye in the ECAC playoffs, but thoughts of a third straight Cleary Cup are a thing of the past.
Harvard, which was ranked as high as #13 in the USCHO poll earlier this season, has suffered a similar fate. After picking up wins in four of their first six games, the Crimson have only one win since mid-November, a 6-5 overtime win in non-conference play against Boston University on January 9th. The Crimson have dropped six straight league games and currently sit in the ECAC basement with six points.
Playing shorthanded hasn't helped Harvard. Three defenseman (Max Everson, Patrick McNally, and Mark Luzar) were removed from the roster in early December. Harvard never provided a reason for their removal, but it's widely believed it was in connection with an academic cheating scandal that rocked the campus.
The loss of the three defenseman (two of whom are NHL draft picks) has left Harvard with just six defenseman on the roster. McNally, a fourth round selection by Vancouver in 2010, had 28 points in 34 games last year and three in seven contests this season. Everson, who played in Harvard's first seven games this year, was selected in the seventh round by Toronto in 2011. Luzar had yet to play this year.
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Playing shorthanded on defense has showed. Harvard has allowed at least five goals in five of its last eight games going back to early December. In that eight game stretch, the fewest goals allowed in a game was three.
A fourth player, backup goaltender Steve Michalek, left the program in November but later admitted his departure was due to the cheating scandal. A sixth round draft choice of Minnesota in 2011, Michalek had yet to see ice time this season prior to his exit.
Even short-term losses have hurt the Crimson. Star freshman Jimmy Vesey missed three games (all losses) while he was playing for Team USA in the World Junior Championships earlier this month. The forward, who leads Harvard with six goals, went 66th overall to Nashville in last year's draft. Union can sympathize, as they lost a standout of their own to the WJC. Shayne Gostisbehere missed four games and the Dutchmen lost three of them.
Union enters tomorrow's tilt as the favorite. With Harvard's recent penchant for allowing goals, it's a game you'd like to see Union get the offense going and get four or five goals on the board. That's possible, and I'm going to say Union comes away with a 4-1 win. What's your prediction?
DUTCHWOMEN ALMOST DID IT
The Dutchwomen nearly made headlines on Saturday, but came up just short.
Playing at #2/3 Harvard, the Dutchwomen lost, but it was only a 1-0 game. Had they won, it would have easily been the biggest win program history as well as Harvard's first loss in league play this year.
Despite the loss, there was plenty to be optimistic about. It was a significantly better showing than the 9-0 thrashing Harvard delivered at Messa Rink earlier this month. The one goal Harvard had on Saturday tied their lowest single game goal output this season. The Crimson rank fifth in Division I women's hockey at 4.06 goals a game, so a lot of credit is due to the Dutchwomen defense and goaltender Shenae Lundberg (34 saves).
The Dutchwomen remain in search of their first league win this season, but they have seven wins in non-league play, their best single season win total at the Division I level. And with near upsets like the one this weekend, it's a program slowly moving in the right direction.
The biggest improvement going forward has to come on offense. The team generated just seven shots in the loss to Harvard and rank last in Division I women's hockey at 1.33 goals a game.
The team resumes play Friday night at Messa Rink against RPI, a team they beat in a non-league game (3-2) back in October. Gametime is 7 pm.
POLLS RELEASED
After splitting the weekend, Union fell two spots to #19 in this week's
USCHO poll. Other ECAC teams in the poll were Quinnipiac (2nd with two first place votes), Yale (8th), Dartmouth (12th) and Cornell (18th). Colgate fell out of top 20 but received six votes.
Union remains unranked in the latest USA Today / USA Hockey
magazine poll. The team received 7 votes, but that wasn't nearly enough to crack the top 15. Quinnipiac (second with three first place votes), Yale (7th) and Dartmouth (13th) were the ECAC teams ranked. Cornell was in consideration with 14 votes.
