CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – It was a fantastic night for Harvard men's ice hockey (15-8-3, 12-5-3 ECAC Hockey), as the Crimson earned a 1-0 victory over No. 4/4 Quinnipiac (16-4-3, 15-3-1 ECAC Hockey) on Senior Night, backstopped by a 39-save shutout performance from junior goaltender
Mitchell Gibson.
Senior captain
Casey Dornbach scored Harvard's lone goal at 18:37 of the second period, and the Crimson held on for the win behind Gibson's fantastic play in net.
By way of Princeton's loss to Dartmouth, Harvard clinched the 2021-22 Ivy League title outright, it's 24
th Ivy championship in program history and first since 2016-17.
In the early stages of the first period, Quinnipiac owned a heavy shot advantage, with an 11-2 margin in the opening 10 minutes.
However, the Crimson applied the pressure in the late stages of the frame, including a 2-on-1 chance for first-year forward
Alex Gaffney down low that Quinnipiac goaltender Yaniv Perets (26 saves) stopped at 17:52.
Dornbach gave the Crimson the lead late in the second period, taking a drop pass from junior forward
Baker Shore, skating from left to right and firing a shot across the grain through traffic to beat Peters with 1:23 to go in the middle frame.
Harvard held off a late flurry by the Bobcats in the final stages of the game, as Quinnipiac forward Ty Smilanic chipped a shot over the net as time expired, sending the Harvard bench onto the ice to mob Gibson.
Harvard Highlights
- Senior captain Casey Dornbach scored his sixth goal of the season and has scored in three of Harvard's games against ranked opponents this season.
- Junior goaltender Mitchell Gibson (39 saves) recorded his second shutout in his last three starts, and his third career shutout in net.
Game Notes
- Harvard earned its first win over a top-5 opponent since a 5-2 win at No. 5 Clarkson on Feb. 21, 2020.
- Harvard is now 6-1-2 in its last nine games, including a 5-0-1 mark against its last six ECAC Hockey opponents.
- Harvard is 7-0 in its last seven Senior Nights dating back to the 2014-15 season.
