BOSTON, Mass. – First-year forward
Marek Hejduk scored with 1.5 seconds left in overtime to lift No. 10/10 Harvard men's ice hockey (16-6-1) to a dramatic 4-3 OT win over Boston College (9-11-6) in the opening round of the 70
th Beanpot. Harvard will play for its 12
th Beanpot title next Monday night (Feb. 13) against the winner of the BU/Northeastern game.
Hejduk scored twice, as did sophomore forward
Matthew Coronato, and senior goaltender
Mitchell Gibson made 45 saves to help the Crimson earn the win.
HOW IT HAPPENED
In the opening minute, Harvard appeared to take a 1-0 lead over Boston College, but
Jack Bar's goal was taken off the board at :51 mark because Harvard had too many players on the ice.
However, the Crimson, which dominated play in the opening frame, took the lead on Hejduk's goal. Sophomore defenseman
Ian Moore found first-year forward
Casey Severo with a great stretch pass to start the play. Severo threaded a pass to Hejduk cutting down the middle, and he beat Benson the glove side at 11:33 to make it 1-0 Harvard.
Gibson was tested late in the period, making two right pad stops on Marshall Warren and Connor Joyce with less than four minutes to play.
With Harvard on an early power play in the second period, Coronato gave the Crimson a two goal lead, taking a feed from
Sean Farrell and firing a one-timer into an open net at 1:49 to make it 2-0.
BC cut the Harvard lead to one goal on a bad-bounce goal with the Eagles on the power play. A backhander by Lukas Gustafsson deflected off the body of Mike Posma and into the net at 7:43 of the middle period.
Coronato added his second of the night on another Harvard power play. An initial net drive by junior forward
Alex Laferriere created a rebound. Coronato again took a cross ice feed from Farrell and beat Benson at 12:34 to make it 3-1.
BC turned up the pressure in the third period, outshooting Harvard 22-2 in the final 20 minutes. The Eagles made it 3-2 with 4:14 to play on Nikita Nesterenko's goal from the slot, and then tied it with an extra attacker on Cutter Gauthier's goal with 1:31 to go.
But Hejduk came up big with the game-winner in the dying seconds of the game. A long pass from Moore up to Laferriere set up a 2-on-1 with less than five seconds to go. Laferriere threaded a perfect pass to Hejduk, who found the open net, sending the Harvard bench spilling onto the ice to celebrate.
GAME NOTES
- This was Harvard's first overtime game winning goal in the Beanpot since Seb Lloyd scored against Boston College in the Beanpot consolation game on Feb. 12, 2018.
- Harvard moved to 6-1-1 in overtime contests this season and has the most OT wins of any team in the nation.
- Hejduk (two goals) recorded his first multiple-goal game of his collegiate career.
- Harvard scored first for the first time in a stretch of six games, dating back to Jan. 14 vs. St. Lawrence. The Crimson is now 8-0-0 when it scores the first goal of the game
- Senior goaltender Mitchell Gibson's 45 saves are the most in the Beanpot by a Harvard goalie since Steve Michalek recorded 63 saves against Boston University in 2015. Gibson's 45 saves are a season high.
- Sophomore forward Matthew Coronato recorded his fourth multiple-goal effort of the season and now has a team-high 16 goals on the year.
- Harvard finished the night 2-for-2 on the power play, while going 1-for-2 on the night on the penalty kill.
UP NEXT
Harvard will return to ECAC Hockey play on Friday night (Feb. 10) with a trip to Dartmouth for an 8 p.m. contest on ESPN+.
