CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Junior forward Alex Laferriere had a goal and two assists to lead No. 15/15 Harvard men's ice hockey (4-0-0, 4-0-0 ECAC Hockey) to a 4-0 win over Yale (1-3-0, 1-3-0 ECAC Hockey) on Saturday night (Nov. 5) at Bright-Landry Hockey Center.
 
Laferriere earned the Tim Taylor Cup for the second straight season as Most Valuable Player of the Harvard-Yale game played at Harvard, the award named after the legendary Yale coach and Harvard alum.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Harvard wasted no time getting on the scoresheet in a dominant first period in which it outshot Yale 13-1.
 
Laferriere skated down the middle of the ice on a rush into the Yale zone, drawing four Bulldog defenders before finding Alex Gaffney (goal, assist) on the left wing. Gaffney beat Yale goaltender Nathan Reid between the pads at 3:51 to make it 1-0 Harvard.
 
Later on in the period, it was Laferriere again in the middle of the action, as he swept behind the net with the puck and fired a blind backhand pass into the slot that Gaffney fired off the pad of Zakary Karpa and into the net, with Karpa notching his third goal of the season at 13:50.
 
The Crimson continued to dominate possession in the second period, but still only led 2-0 and found themselves down a man midway through the frame. But the Crimson responded, as first-year Marek Hejduk found a loose puck and skated in alone on a breakaway from the left side. He beat Reid just under the bar at 13:08 for a shorthanded goal to put Harvard up 3-0.
 
Laferriere would score a goal of his own on a power play later in the period, skating into the middle of the slot and firing a backhander into the top corner at 19:13 to put the Crimson ahead by four.
 
Senior goaltender Mitchell Gibson helped Harvard earn the shutout, making six of his 10 saves in the third period, as the Crimson killed off three Yale power plays to keep the Bulldogs off the scoreboard.

GAME NOTES

• Three different Crimson players recorded multiple point nights: Alex Laferriere (1-2-3), Alex Gaffney (1-1-2), and Henry Thrun (0-2-2). Laferriere now leads the team with nine points (5-4-9) in four games this season.
• Senior goaltender Mitchell Gibson made 10 saves to earn his fourth career shutout.
• Harvard is now unbeaten in its last eight games (6-0-2) against Yale.
• Harvard is 4-0 in its opening four games for the third straight season.
• Harvard finished the night 1-for-3 on the man advantage while Yale went 0-for-4 on the power play.

UP NEXT

Harvard will play its first road contests of the season when it heads to Rensselaer (Nov. 11) and Union (Nov. 12) next weekend. Both games will start at 7 p.m. and will air on ESPN+.