By Tim Healey/DFP Staff
In a battle of brothers, childhood friends and former teammates Wednesday night, Harvard University came out on top, beating the No. 8 Boston University men’s hockey team, 6-5.
There were storylines abound at Agganis Arena, as brothers Danny and Tommy O’Regan were on opposite sides of the ice, childhood friends Matt Grzelcyk and Jimmy Vesey played against each other for the first time and former St. John’s Prep teammates Sam Kurker and Colin Blackwell faced off. But the one storyline that mattered most for the Terriers (11-7, 8-4 Hockey East) was that they blew a three-goal, third-period lead and lost to the Crimson (5-7-1) in overtime.
“The way we played in the third period was a disgrace,” said BU head coach Jack Parker. “The way Harvard played in the third period was a feather in their cap. They played so hard. They kept coming after us. But we just made it easy for them they way we played.
“We acted like the game was over when we made it 5-2, and then we just went to sleep. And then we couldn’t get it back and they just kept coming.”
Harvard senior Conor Morrison netted the game-winner, taking a pass from Tommy O’Regan and skating down the left side before beating BU freshman goaltender Matt O’Connor stick-side at 4:13 in overtime.
Morrison’s tally, his first of the year, followed the Terriers’ third-period collapse.
After BU went up 5-2 early in the final frame, Harvard senior Marshall Everson made it 5-3 at 6:38 in the third. His linemate, senior Luke Greiner, made it 5-4 two minutes later when he walked around sophomore defenseman Ahti Oksanen and easily put it through O’Connor’s five-hole.
Blackwell tied it up at five apiece at 16:14 in the third. He flipped a weak shot on net, but when BU freshman goaltender matt O’Connor could find the rebound Blackwell took advantage and slipped it by him.
“When they scored the third goal their bench erupted and my team just died,” Parker said.
Parker said not a single athlete on his team played well, despite his team collecting five goals, and the Terriers’ sense of complacency in the third was the tipping point after BU underperformed for much of the game.
In many ways, it was a continuation of the Terriers’ poor play from the Dec. 29 game vs. Denver and Friday vs. Rensselaer.
“I don’t remember being this disappointed in a BU hockey team in a long time,” Parker said. “It was a bad game in the goal, it was a bad game in the d-zone coverage, it was a bad game on the initial rush coverage, it was a bad game on the penalty kill. It was an unbelievable low point.”
For a long time, though, it looked like the Terriers would come away with their second straight win.
BU got on the board at 5:37 first when freshman forward Wes Myron, who returned to his regular slot of third-line center after playing on the first line for one game, tapped a rebound through Harvard goalie Raphael Girard’s five-hole. Senior assistant captain Ryan Ruikka took the initial shot and was credited with an assist, as was freshman forward Sam Kurker, who kept the play alive by digging at the puck before Myron swooped in to finish the job.
Freshman forward Danny O’Regan doubled the Terriers’ lead in the last minute of the first period, again by putting away a rebound. With BU on the power play, junior forward Matt Nieto’s shot from the top of the right circle got tipped by sophomore forward Evan Rodrigues near the crease. O’Regan put it in a wide-open net for his sixth goal and 12th point of the year.
The tally snapped BU’s 0-for-14 stretch on the man-advantage, a drought that went back to the first period of the Terriers’ Dec. 8 game vs. the University of Maine.
Senior captain Wade Megan, who returned after missing one game with a shoulder injury, made it 3-0 BU at 0:56 in the second by continuing the team’s strong work near the net. Junior forward Sahir Gill took a shot from the slot, and after it bounced out to Megan he took a few swats at the puck before getting it by Girard.
“They won a lot of battles at the front of our net,” said Harvard head coach Ted Donato. “Any time they get three or four whacks before they score, those are goals that we need to eliminate.”
The Crimson made it 3-2 with back-to-back goals six minutes apart, first when Tommy O’Regan, a Harvard sophomore, found the back of the net, and then on a one-timer by freshman Brian Hart, assisted by Tommy.
Nieto gave BU some breathing room, though, at 9:51 in the second when his shot from the top of the right circle cleanly found it’s way through myriad bodies in front of the goal.
Nieto’s goal, just his fourth of the year, was his first since Nov. 24 vs. St. Lawrence University.
“The points aren’t coming easy this year but I’m continuing to work hard,” Nieto said. “I’m just going to keep working hard and points, they don’t mean everything. If I play well, I’ll be satisfied with my play and if points come that’ll be great.”
Nieto struck again early in the third when he assisted on Danny O’Regan’s second goal of the night, the goal that made it 5-2 and proved to be the Terriers’ last before the Crimson ran off four straight.
The Terriers have just one day of practice to regroup before taking on Merrimack College in North Andover Friday. That contest will feature the return of sophomore defenseman Alexx Privitera, who has sat out the last two games for his penalties against Denver.
The question, though, will be whether Privitera has learned from his punishment.
“There’s no sense in saying you’re sorry for the behavior unless you stop the behavior you’re sorry for,” Parker said. “So we’ll see. I think we got his attention, that’s for sure.”
This team better find it’s way back to a sixty minute game or it’s going to be a long second half. The defense never looked in sync, the offense took the night off twice after getting up by three goals and it burned them in the end. The goaltending was shaky on certain goals and the whole team looked as if they were mailing in the third after going up 5-2. A much better effort is needed starting Friday against Merrimack