As much as Union fans wanted to see it happen, there was no way that the Dutchmen were going to through the ECAC Hockey regular season without a loss. Coach Nate Leaman knew it, and so did his players.
If and when the Dutchmen lost their first game, you would hope that it was in a game were they gave a great effort, and that it would take an extraordinary performance to knock them off.
That was the case Friday night against Harvard at Messa Rink.
Union fired a season-high 48 shots on Harvard goalie Ryan Carroll. All Carroll did was stop 47 of them, and lead the Crimson to a 4-1 win over the league-leading and 13th-ranked Dutchmen.
It was the first league loss of the season for Union (7-1-3 ECACH, 13-5-5 overall), which had its five-game winning streak snapped.
Don’t let the final score fool you. Harvard’s last two goals came on empty-netters late in the game. In essence, it was a 2-1 final.
You can thank Carroll for that.
"A number of our shots came from the Grade-A area," Leaman said. "You're not going to go through this league undefeated. The big thing I've been concerned about is that you may lose a game like this, where you outplay your opponent, and you don't get the bounces. I didn't want us to not show up for a game and be complacent."
Harvard (5-5-2, 5-10-2) has won four straight league games, and Carroll has won the last three. He has made 120 saves in the last three games, and allowed just four goals.
He had to be particularly sharp on eight Union power plays, making 22 saves. Union's only goal came on the power play, by Jason Walters at 3:20 of the second period.
"He's a very calm person, in general," Harvard coach Ted Donato said. "He does a good job controlling rebounds, staying square to the puck and he's looked very comfortable and confident in the net. He's given us a boost."
Carroll never seemed to be rattled, especially in the second period, when Union outshot Harvard, 21-6. Thanks to his play, the Crimson were able to erase Union's lead in the period on goals by Conor Morrison and Eric Kroshus.
Now, it will be interesting to see how the Dutchmen bounce back Saturday against Dartmouth, which dropped a 2-1 decision to RPI. There could be a tendency to be down after seeing a great effort not rewarded with a win.
"It's frustrating to lose a game like that when you feel you played pretty well," Leaman said. "But you have to move on. That's the bottom line. You have to take a deep breath, and now you have a team coming tomorrow night that lost, also. We've got to try and salvage some points out of the weekend."
The Dutchmen have nothing to be ashamed of against the Crimson. You just tip your hat to Carroll, and move on.
Disallowed goal
Before Walters' goal, Mario Valery-Trabucco had a goal disallowed when he was ruled to have batted the puck in with his glove.
Three stars
My three stars of the game:
1) Ryan Carroll, Harvard — 47-save effort.
2) Eric Kroshus, Harvard — scored game-winner, and assisted on Morrison's goal.
3) Jason Walters, Union — extended his point-scoring streak to 14 games with his goal.
That's all for tonight. I will be back with you Saturday, when the Dutchmen host Dartmouth at 7 p.m.
If you have any comments, post them below, or e-mail them to me at schott@dailygazette.com.
Good Night! Good Hockey!
