Men’s hockey wraps up regular season with a loss to Harvard, looks forward to Union

Men’s hockey (8–19–2, 7–14–1 ECAC) suffered its second straight shutout on Sunday, Feb. 27 as they finished the regular season with a 3–0 loss to Harvard (17–9–3, 14–6–2). The Tigers will now turn their focus to Union, who will host them for a best-of-three playoff series this coming weekend.

The Tigers went into Sunday with a small chance to still place in the top eight of the ECAC and host a playoff series. Harvard goalie, Mitchell Gibson, had other plans. Gibson stopped all 28 Princeton shots, shutting down an offense that was already missing a few key players. Junior goalie Aidan Porter did his best to match Gibson, stopping 30/32 shots to keep the game close throughout.

Harvard opened the scoring 8:17 into the first when forward Jack Donato took a pass from below the goal line and beat Porter for a 1–0 Crimson lead (assists Baker Shore and Henry Thrun). Overall in the first, Harvard outshot Princeton 13–4.

In the second, the gameplay was much more even, as Princeton had a number of quality chances to tie the game. Gibson withstood the test and kept the Tigers off the board. Porter did much of the same, but a Harvard powerplay late in the period loomed over the Tigers.

After winning the faceoff, the puck found Harvard forward Alex Laferriere around the left circle, who flung a wrister off the post and in to double the Crimson lead to 2–0 (assists Ian Moore and Nick Abbruzzese). The goal came with 2:04 to go, and that score held through the remainder of the period.

In the third, Princeton once again had a number of chances to cut into the lead. Their best came with 12:31 to go when senior forward Christian O’Neill roofed a backhander that appeared to go in. The referees called it a goal on the ice, but after review, determined that the puck hit the crossbar and did not cross the goal line. The Tigers stayed down 2–0.

From then on, the Tigers just could not find the back of the net. Porter was pulled for an extra skater with 4:31 to go, but it yielded no results for Princeton. An empty-net goal by Harvard defender Marshall Rifai with 2:41 to go made the score 3–0 and sealed the Tigers’ fate.

With their regular season over, the Tigers will turn their attention to the playoffs. Union will host the best-of-three first-round series between the two teams this coming weekend. Union beat the Tigers both times the two faced off this season, once in overtime and once in regulation.

Despite their situation, Princeton has some optimism that things could improve for them before the postseason, as some reinforcements could be on the way as injured players return to the lineup. First-year defenseman David Ma and sophomore forward Ian Murphy have both been on the shelf for a couple of weeks, but they could return as the Tigers begin the playoffs. Sophomore forward Joe Berg could also return, but senior forward Finn Evans, who was injured against Cornell, could be out for the season.

Regardless, the Tigers got a much-needed break after playing three games in three days as they look to upset Union this coming weekend.

Ben Burns is an Associate Sports Editor at the ‘Prince’ who typically covers basketball, hockey, and soccer. He can be reached at bwburns@princeton.edu or on Twitter @bwburns5_.