There are certain patches of the ice sheet - in front of the nets and along the boards - where bravery is required of hockey players.
In last night's first game of the 56th Beanpot Tournament at TD Banknorth Garden, Harvard showed more courage than Northeastern, winning virtually every puck battle in the danger areas of real estate.
The Crimson, who entered the night with a 1-8-1 record in their last 10 games, swarmed over the sleepy Huskies in the opening minutes, pouring three pucks past goalie Brad Thiessen in the first 7:02 for all the offense required in a 3-1 victory in the first round.
The Crimson (8-10-3) advanced to the championship game for the first time since 1998. They will play Boston College, which needed overtime to beat Boston University, 4-3, in the nightcap."That's part of our forecheck," Harvard captain Mike Taylor, who scored his team's second goal, said of the Crimson's heavy pressure. "We always try and forecheck teams hard. It's one of the strengths of our team."
On the other end, once their forwards - Paul Dufault and Doug Rogers also potted goals - took care of the offense, the Harvard defenders sealed off lanes against the Huskies (12-9-3), who were limited to a handful of scoring chances on goalie Kyle Richter (18 saves).
"They got the lead and they didn't give us many odd-man rushes," said Northeastern coach Greg Cronin, whose team is ranked 14th in the nation. "They didn't give us a lot of scoring chances. They were very fundamentally sound in the defensive zone."
Conversely, Northeastern's defense looked ragged in the opening minutes, a shortcoming that prompted Cronin to apologize to his team's fans after the game for his club's slow start. Offensively, Harvard's game plan was to use its perimeter speed to put the NU defensemen on their heels, then win the fights along the walls for loose pucks.
The plan started to work only 126 ticks into the game. Jon Pelle, from behind the goal line, caught Thiessen leaning and flipped a centering pass to the front of the net. Dufault, fighting off a defender, crashed the cage and banged the puck into the net at 2:06 to give Harvard a 1-0 lead.
Thiessen, making his 24th appearance of the season, got a piece of forward Jimmy Fraser's close-range bid with his left pad. But NU couldn't clear the puck, allowing Taylor to slip into the crease and take a few whacks. Taylor batted the puck past Thiessen at 6:29.
On the following shift, Harvard capped its three-goal flurry. Winger Alex Meintel started the play by winning the puck from forward Greg Costa along the boards. Thiessen stopped Meintel's first shot, but Rogers, once again taking advantage of NU's inability to protect its cage, bullied his way into the crease to pump the rebound into the cage at 7:02.
Speed. Hard work. Finishing touches.
That was all Harvard required.
"I don't care what level of hockey you're playing at - you can't give up multiple shots within 10 feet of the paint," said Cronin. "They've got to score goals eventually, and they did."
As explosive as Harvard's offensive-zone pressure turned out to be, the Crimson's airtight defense kept the Huskies from starting a rally. In the first period, Northeastern was outshot, 15-6. In the second period, the Crimson had a 16-6 shot advantage, with only one bona fide Husky scoring chance taking place. That came when forward Rob Rassey carried the puck deep into the zone and fed a goalmouth pass to forward Ryan Ginand. Richter, however, flashed his right pad and booted out Ginand's attempt.
With 28.2 seconds remaining in the middle frame, Ginand got revenge on Richter by scoring. But the Harvard defense shook off the blip and played a perfect third period, shutting down shooting lanes and getting sticks in front of passes to break up cross-ice plays.
The one time Harvard buckled, Richter was there to stuff the Huskies. Northeastern defenseman David Strathman cranked a one-timer from the point that deflected off traffic, throwing off Richter's timing. The puck dribbled to the far post for forward Tyler McNeely, who was staring down an open net. But as McNeely tried to settle the puck and get it off his stick, Richter recovered and dived to his left to get a piece of the shot at 5:18.
"I thought our defense did an outstanding job," said Harvard coach Ted Donato. "Although Kyle may not have faced a great number of shots, I don't think there's any question that he made two or three big saves for us to keep us in the position where we were."
Fluto Shinzawa can be reached at FShinzawa@globe.com.
