Senior goalie Charlie Finn brought his best game to Cambridge, Massachusetts, Friday night as he stopped 41 of 42 shots on goal in leading Colgate to a 1-1 tied with No. 12 Harvard.
Showing great lateral movement and a very quick glove hand, Finn stonewalled the host Crimson until 12:52 of the third period and then through the rest of the game and the extra five-minute overtime period.
“I have never seen Charlie find the puck as well as he did tonight,” said Colgate coach Don Vaughan.
Finn was making his 105th start for Colgate and, according to Vaughan, he is just getting sharp after recovering from hip surgery this past summer. Harvard got 42 shots on goal for the night and Colgate only managed 15.
Colgate could never match Harvard’s speed, but in front of Finn Colgate played an almost perfect defensive game, clogging lanes with bodies and sticks and forcing Harvard’s speedy forwards outside of the scoring zones in front of Finn.
“Jake Kulevich was very effective,” Vaughan said about the huge defenseman from Marblehead, Massachusetts. “Harvard’s top six forwards are as good as any top six in the country right now.”
“Finn played an outstanding game,” Harvard coach Ted Donato said. “We knew from the past what he is capable of. We got frustrated at times, but we were not surprised. Our team persevered and we stayed with it. We would have preferred to get the two points, but I have to give Colgate a lot of credit.”
Harvard forwards Alex Kerfoot and Tyler Moy agreed that Finn may have been the difference in the game, but both said their team has to play better in the future.
“I think we were holding on to the puck a little too long,” Kerfoot said. “We have to be better getting pucks to the net. There are a lot of good defensive teams in our league.”
Moy said that often “goalies will get hot, but we have to get shots through”
Donato added that “this was a good point for us. We did a lot of good things. We need to create better second a third chances.”
Donato specifically mentioned how pleased he was with freshman defenders Adam Fox and John Marino, making their first collegiate appearances in front of the hometown crowd.
“Both of our freshmen did some real important things and they will be real important as the year goes on,” he said.
Manning the point on the power play, Fox, fresh from the elite USNDTP, lobbed the puck goalward and Kerfoot deflected it in for the tying goal in the final period, just as many in attendance had thought Harvard would never pierce Finn’s armor.
ECAC roundup
Brown at Rensselaer
Rensselaer got two assists from Lou Nanne and an empty-netter from Drew Melanson to beat Brown 3-1 in Troy, New York. It was the second win for Rensselaer and Brown remains winless in three starts.
No. Yale at No. 20 Union
Mike Vecchione scored the hat trick, with two goals short-handed, as No. 20 Union came back from a two-goal first-period deficit to beat No. 16 Yale 5-3 in Schenectady, New York. Adam Larkin scored two power-play goals for Yale.
No. 6 Quinnipiac at Clarkson
Tim Clifton had two goals and an assist as No. 6 Quinnipiac beat Clarkson 5-2 Friday night in Potsdam, New York. Sheldon Rempal had a goal and an assist for Clarkson.
Princeton at St. Lawrence
Gavin Bayreuther and Jacob Pritchard each had a goal and an assist and Alexander Dahl and Ben Finkelstein added two assists each as St. Lawrence beat Princeton 4-0 Friday night in Canton, New York.
Cornell at Dartmouth
Cornell and Dartmouth matched third-period goals and tied 1-1 Friday night in Hanover, New Hampshire. Mitch Vanderlaan scored short-handed for Cornell and Corey Kalk, with an assist from Cam Strong, matched that score for Dartmouth.
