NEW HAVEN, Conn. — A matchup between Harvard and Yale rarely lacks for dramatics, and Saturday’s game at Ingalls Rink might have been one of the more exciting in recent times. Freshmen Kevin O’Neill scored twice to help the Bulldogs to a 2-1 win over Harvard in the regular season finale for both teams. Corbin Kaczperski had 33 saves to get the win for Yale.
The Bulldogs’ win, coupled with Quinnipiac’s loss at Clarkson, means the Bobcats will travel to New Haven next weekend for a best-of-three series in the first round of the ECAC Hockey playoffs. Yale entered Saturday one point behind Quinnipiac for the eighth and final home ice spot in the league.
“It was a huge win for all of us, especially going into the playoffs,” O’Neill said. “Hopefully this picks us up going into next weekend.”
O’Neill’s game-winner came 16:44 into the third period. The Yale forward took a pass from Mitchell Smith and deftly skated past a Harvard defender before sneaking a low shot between Crimson goalie Merrick Madsen’s pads.
“It was a bit of a lucky break, and I made a move and luckily I got around him,” O’Neill said.
The two goals gave O’Neill six on the year, but the Bulldogs coaching staff is aware of his offensive potential.
“That move on the second goal was something we know he has in him, and it’s a good time for him to bring that out,” Yale coach Keith Allain said.
However, it was the hectic closing seconds of regulation that sent the packed crowd at Ingalls Rink into a frenzy.
An interference call on Yale’s Chandler Lindstrand gave the Crimson a chance to tie the game with 2:57 left in regulation. Harvard coach Ted Donato pulled Madsen for the extra skater, but the Crimson couldn’t convert.
A scoreboard malfunction midway during the second period meant that the Ingalls Rink public address announcer boomed out the time remaining every sixty seconds for much of the final period, including a second-by-second countdown that got the home crowd rocking as regulation ended.
“I know we were not happy about the scoreboard, and I’m sure they weren’t either, Kaczperski said. “It’s tough to look up and not know how much time is left. But I thought we showed a lot of resilience and battled through and got the win.”
Kaczperski made a behind-the-back stick save in the closing minutes, with an assist from Smith, who knocked the puck away from the open net. The strong defensive effort came after Yale allowed six goals in a loss to Dartmouth Friday night.
“I think tonight we did a much better job in the defensive zone,” Kaczperski said. “We blocked a lot of shots, we were picking up sticks. That was just a great team win.”
Yale kept Harvard junior and leading scorer Ryan Donato scoreless a few days after Allain coached him as a member of the Team USA coaching staff at the Winter Olympics in South Korea.
Harvard (13-12-4, 11-8-3), which entered the weekend already in possession of a first-round bye, finishes the season fourth in the league standings. It’s the third straight year the Crimson have had a bye in the conference tournament.
Madsen stopped 28 shots for Harvard. The senior captain drew the start for the Crimson one night after Michael Lackey allowed six goals on 29 shots against Brown.
“That’s something we’ll sort out over the next couple of weeks,” Ted Donato said of his goaltending. Lackey and Madsen have been rotating starts for the last several games.
O’Neill gave Yale a 1-0 lead 17:39 into the first period, taking a pass from Joe Snively and cruising up the right wing before putting his own rebound past Madsen. The assist was Snively’s fifth point of the weekend.
The Crimson’s Henry Bowlby scored to tie the game 4:30 into the third period. Bowlby almost gave Harvard the lead later in the period, but Kaczperski slid to his right to deny the freshman’s backhand attempt.
The Crimson, who scored three times in five power-play chances against Brown Friday, ended Saturday 0-for-6 on the man advantage against Yale.
“Whether it was faceoffs, or puck battles down low, we weren’t able to have as much time as we would have liked to on the power play,” Donato said.
