CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Junior forwards Sean Farrell and Alex Laferriere each scored a pair of goals, and senior defenseman Henry Thrun had a goal and two assists to lead No. 5/6 Harvard men's ice hockey (22-6-2) to a 6-1 win over Princeton (13-18-0) in Game 1 of an ECAC Hockey Quarterfinal series between the two teams.

Senior goaltender Mitchell Gibson made 31 saves to earn the win in net and improve to 7-1-0 all time in ECAC Hockey postseason play.

HOW IT HAPPENED 

Harvard got off to a quick start, as Farrell scored his 19^th of the season at 3:39 to give the Crimson the early lead. Farrell took a diagonal pass from senior defenseman Henry Thrun and fired a quick shot on net. Porter stopped the first shot, but Farrell put in his own rebound to make it 1-0.
 
Then Laferriere put the Crimson up a pair midway through the frame. Senior forward John Farinacci flipped a behind the back, drop pass to Laferriere who fired a low shot from the left wing past Porter at 12:04 to make it 2-0.
 
A potentially momentum shifting sequence give the Tigers their first goal of the game. On one end of the ice Princeton goaltender Aiden Porter made a fantastic right pad stop on Marek Hejduk. Moments later on the other end of the ice, David Jacobs fired a wrist shot off the rush past Gibson at 7:51 to make it 2-1.
 
But Harvard responded late in the period on another Laferriere goal, with the Crimson on its first power play opportunity of the night. Farinacci again made a beautiful pass from behind the net to a wide open Laferriere, who found the open net at 16:19 to make it 3-1.
 
Then in the opening minute of the third period, Farrell scored his second of the night to help Harvard take a commanding lead. Senior defenseman Ryan Siedem found Farrell cutting across the slot and Farrell fired a quick shot on net that was stopped. But with Porter out of position, he got just enough on a follow up to beat the Princeton goaltender and put Harvard up 4-1 at :33 of the frame.
 
Senior goaltender Mitchell Gibson made two big saves on Mackenzie Merriman midway through the period to keep Harvard in control of the contest.
 
Then minutes later, after Thrun forced a turnover in the neutral zone, he skated in on a 2-on-0, finding Marek Hejduk with a great backhand pass to set up an open-net goal at 11:53 to make it 5-1.
 
Thrun added a shorthanded empty net goal at 16:15 to round out the scoring.

GAME NOTES 

• Alex Laferriere (two goals) recorded his sixth multiple-goal effort of the season and he now has eight goals in his last 11 games. The goals were his first career ECAC Hockey postseason scores.
• Sean Farrell took the team lead with his 19^th and 20^th goals of the season. He now has 49 points (20 goals, 29 assists) on the year. He is the first Harvard player to reach the 20 goal mark since Jack Drury (2019-20).
• John Farinacci recorded two assists and now is second on the team with eight points (four goals, four assists) in six career ECAC Hockey postseason contests.
• Thrun (1-2-3) recorded his second three-point night of the season and is one of the nation's top scoring defensemen with 29 points (6-23-29) in 29 games.
• Harvard had a perfect night on special teams, finishing 1-for-1 on the power play and 3-for-3 on the penalty kill.

NEXT UP 

The Crimson will host Princeton in Game 2 of the ECAC Quarterfinals tomorrow night (March 11) in a 7 p.m. contest at Bright-Landry Hockey Center on ESPN+.