POTSDAM, N.Y.—Danny Biega scored the tie-breaking goal in the third period and the Harvard men's hockey team killed a five-minute penalty to seal a 3-2 win at Clarkson in the Crimson's first road game of the season Friday night at Cheel Arena.
Clarkson (6-4-3, 1-3-1 ECAC Hockey) tied the game after Eric Kroshus scored first for Harvard (2-2-1, 2-2-1) and Tommy O'Regan netted his first collegiate tally. Steve Michalek logged 30 saves to outduel the Golden Knights' Paul Karpowich, who made 24 stops.
Barely a minute after Clarkson's Matt Zarbo evened the game at 2-2 in the third period, the forward line of Marshall Everson, Luke Greiner and Eric Kroshus battled for the puck along the wall, freeing it for Biega at the point. The junior defenseman rocketed a shot off a defender's leg and past Karpowich for the winning tally with less than seven minutes remaining.
With 5:05 left on the game clock, the Crimson was left shorthanded after being whistled for hitting from behind. Harvard limited Clarkson to three chances during the advantage, and Michalek stopped them all.
Clarkson finished 1 for 7 on the power play, while Harvard was 1 for 9. The Golden Knights owned a 32-27 shots advantage.
Harvard earned the only three power plays of the first period. The Crimson moved the puck well on the first, but its best chance came when Colin Blackwell's one-timer rang off the post. Kroshus converted on the second man advantage. After getting the puck from Patrick McNally, he exchanged passes with Daniel Moriarty and skated in from the left along the goal line. He moved to his backhand to tuck the puck between Karpowich's pad and the post at the 6:18 mark.
The Golden Knights, however, answered the Crimson with their own score just 29 seconds later on a five-hole backhand shot by Nick Tremblay. The Crimson generated several chances in the following minutes, before Michalek kept Clarkson from taking the lead with a stellar save on Louke Oakley.
Karpowich started the second period by denying Alex Killorn on a 2-on-1 chance set up by a pass from David Valek and Blackwell taking a hit at the offensive blue line. The first of four Clarkson power plays soon followed, but the Crimson killed each, including a two-man advantage for the Golden Knights that lasted 39 seconds.
On the first of three Crimson power plays in the middle frame, McNally fired a wrist shot wide that shattered a pane of glass behind the net, delaying the game for about 15 minutes. After the teams came back out, O'Regan gave Harvard the lead by stealing the puck from a defenseman and slipping a shot through Karpowich on a breakaway.
After Karpowich kept the game close in the third period with huge saves on Blackwell on a shorthanded chance and Mike Seward at even strength, Matt Zarbo tied the game with a power-play goal at 12:04. That set the stage for Biega and the Crimson penalty killers.
