Harvard gets even with BC

Eagles, Crimson play to tie

As post-Thanksgiving college hockey games go, yesterday’s 4-4 tie between No. 14 Boston College and Harvard provided the Kelley Rink crowd of 6,283 a dessert with a flourish.

Both the Eagles and Crimson had a line producing a big game. BC’s top trio of sophomore left winger David Cotton (goal, three assists), sophomore center Julius Mattila (two goals, two assists) and freshman right winger Jacob Tortora (goal, two assists) each registered single-game bests.

As for Harvard, the second line of freshman center Jack Badini (goal, two assists), sophomore right winger Nathan Krusko (three assists) and sophomore left winger Ty Pelton-Byce (assist) kept the pace going for the Crimson.

Although BC’s seven-game win streak was halted, the Eagles (85-2) managed to extend their unbeaten streak to eight.

“From my perspective, it was a really solid college hockey game,” said BC coach Jerry York. “I’d like to generate more shots on goal, but Harvard has a good club. They’re stingy in that respect.”

Harvard (2-5-1) had a 32-22 advantage in shots and rallied from deficits of 1-0, 3-2 and 4-3.

“I thought we did a lot of good things. Quite honestly, we’ve played well these past few games and haven’t gotten the result. (Today) we showed a lot of character. I think we’ll look back and say it’s a step in the right direction,” said Harvard coach Ted Donato. “On the negative side, there were a lot problems we caused ourselves. We have to understand when there is a play and when there isn’t.”

The first period had a fast, up-and-down pace with only two whistles for stoppage in the opening 10 minutes.

BC grabbed a lead at 16:48. A minute after regaining full strength following a minor penalty, the 5-foot-8 Tortora dashed to the left dot where he snapped a wrist shot over the glove of Harvard goalie Merrick Madsen (18 saves), who was coming off a career-high 48 saves in a 2-1 loss at Minnesota.

The final minute of the period featured more drama as BC’s Cotton hit the left post at 19:40. Just 10 seconds later, Harvard freshman Benjamin Solin missed a clean break on BC sophomore goalie Joseph Woll.

Harvard pulled even at 1:21 of the second when junior defenseman Adam Baughman connected from the left circle with his first college goal.

Harvard went ahead while shorthanded at 7:51. Junior right winger Michael Floodstrand tried a wraparound attempt that was foiled by Woll’s frantic dive. Floodstrand collected the rebound and flicked it home.

BC appeared in trouble after defenseman Casey Fitzgerald picked up a minor penalty at 7:51. Undeterred, the Eagles responded with Mattila firing a shot to beat Madsen at 8:00 to tie matters at 2-2.

BC regained the lead at 10:50 of the second when Cotton beat a lunging Madsen to a centered puck in the low slot and flicked home a backhander.

The third period began with BC defenseman Connor Moore sending a shot off the left pipe at 1:16. That near miss was followed by a Harvard direct hit for a power-play goal as Krusko slipped the puck to Solin, who converted backdoor at 4:11 for his first goal and a 3-3 tie.

BC sophomore Graham McPhee snuck behind the defense at 12:01 but his backhand attempt went wide. Harvard attacked with Woll (28 saves) twice robbing Floodstrand.

“I thought Joe Woll stole two or three goals in the game. You almost come to expect that from him,” said Donato.

Mattila connected over the glove of Madsen at 14:25.

Badini used speed to swing the BC defense and roof home the equalizer at 17:18 and set up overtime.