Men’s Hockey: Terriers Rebound With 5-3 Win Over Harvard

By: Jake Reiser

After a tough 4-0 loss to the University of Connecticut on Saturday night, the No. 7 Boston University Terriers got a chance to redeem themselves before the Thanksgiving break by taking on the No. 9 Harvard University Crimson. Thanks to two third period goals, the Terriers took a win out of an exciting bout, 5-3. Junior Connor LaCouvee made 29 saves for BU, while freshman Dante Fabbro led the way with 3 points on the night.

Harvard got the scoring started first, the 7th time in BU’s 12 games this season so far they have not scored the first goal. Sean Malone banked one off of LaCouvee through traffic and with Fabbro standing in the crease to make it 1-0 Crimson. Doyle Somerby thought he had made it 1-1 after wristing a puck on the rush off the post behind Harvard netminder Merrick Madsen, but Gabe Chabot incidentally skated through Madsen in the crease, nullifying the goal. The Terriers did grab the equalizer soon thereafter, when in a scrum in front of Madsen, Kieffer Bellows capitalized on a backhander into an open stick side. BU had a critical 5-on-3 late in the first caused by a Ryan Donato boarding call on Dante Fabbro, who was shaken up but returned quickly to game action, and a hooking call on Tyler Moy. However, Harvard potted one shorthanded, when Alexander Kerfoot took a pass away from Bellows and snapped a breakaway shot through LaCouvee. Just 23 seconds later and with only 18 seconds left in the period, a tic-tac-toe play between Jordan Greenway, Jakob Forsbacka-Karlsson and Patrick Harper ended with a slam-dunk one-time goal by Harper to even the score before the intermission.

Coach Quinn said, “That was huge because you didn’t want to live with that 5-on-3 shorthanded goal. That’s tough to swallow. To be able to get it right back was huge, it was a great play by Greenway and JFK, we had chances on our 5-on-3, it was huge to get that power play goal for a lot of reasons.”

Early in the second on a power play, Dante Fabbro seemingly got his revenge on the scoreboard, wristing a point shot through to give BU a 3-2 advantage. Only 20 seconds after that tally did Sean Malone’s speed and shooting abilities re-tie the game at 3. The Terrier penalty kill had to flex its muscle during the second period, killing off penalties to Charlie McAvoy, Jordan Greenway and Kieffer Bellows, but stood tall.

Nick Roberto broke the tie for good after banking a shot off the back of Madsen’s pads from behind the goal line. With Madsen about to head for the bench with less than 2 minutes left, Patrick Curry sniped a puck by the blocker of Madsen, sealing a 5-3 victory.

“I think Bobo [Carpenter] made a nice play on the wall,” Curry said. “I had some speed coming through the middle. I saw he was going a bit slower than me, so I grabbed the puck off his stick, and then I was in on the goal so fast, I tried to just put it low blocker, and luckily it went in.”

“The thing I like about Curry is he attacks that offensive blue line, he doesn’t slow up to make a play, he just attacks and gets the puck to the net and it goes in. Big goal for us,” Quinn said.

With some exciting games between BU and Harvard over the last few seasons, including a double OT victory in the Beanpot semifinals and a 6-5 comeback victory last January, it’s suffice to say these two teams are developing a rivalry.

Captain Doyle Somerby said, “We see a lot of those guys throughout the year, it’s definitely a rivalry. You always want to be the best team in Boston, obviously with good games that helps.”

“I think any time that we get BU, they’ve definitely proven to the college hockey world they’re a team to beat the past couple of years. Any time we play them, BC, just given the close proximity and how well they’ve done, we get up for those games a little bit more and kind of want to prove we’re up to that level,” Harvard forward Alexander Kerfoot said.

The Terriers get a 10-day layoff for Thanksgiving break before traveling down to Providence, Rhode Island to start a home-and-home against the PC Friars.