Harvard Men’s Ice Hockey Eliminated from ECAC Tournament After 1-2 Series Loss to Clarkson

A crushing 2-1 overtime loss to Clarkson in game three of the ECAC quarterfinals on Sunday sent the Harvard men’s ice hockey team crashing out of the ECAC tournament early for the second year in a row.

The Crimson and the Golden Knights had split the series 1-1 going into Sunday’s match, with Clarkson edging out Harvard 3-2 in game one on Friday before losing to by the same margin in overtime in Saturday’s game two.

Coming off a thrilling overtime victory the day before, the Crimson was put on the defensive quickly, Clarkson taking — and missing — 19 shots before freshman forward and Ivy League Rookie of the Year Mick Thompson found the back of the net on a breakaway during Clarkson’s own power play with just under six minutes left to play in the period.

A tight second period saw both teams fail to convert a series of chances, and with just over nine minutes left in the game the Crimson had the ECAC semifinals in its sights. But after sophomore forward Michael Callow was penalized for hooking, Clarkson took their chance.

With a minute left to go in the power play, Golden Knights senior forward Ayrton Martino took a straight shot from the halfway mark that slid past Crimson junior goaltender Aku Koskenvuo, who had made 28 saves by that point.

Harvard found itself on defense again, with Clarkson taking 13 shots after scoring to the Crimson’s five, but successfully managed to stave off the Golden Knights’ efforts to send it to overtime for the second straight game in a row.

The Crimson missed a volley of agonizingly close chances just a minute into overtime, after freshman defenseman Lucas St. Louis lofted a shot at the Clarkson net that rebounded to junior forward Joe Miller off the save by Golden Knights goaltender Ethan Langenegger.

Miller’s point-blank shot was saved as well, but the puck rebounded back to St. Louis, forcing Langenegger to instantly make another save from long distance.

The Crimson kept Langenegger and the Clarkson defense busy, taking five more shots over the next six minutes — but Golden Knights freshman forward Luka Sukovic found himself with the puck off an assist right next to the goal and sweeped it in to send Clarkson to the semifinals and the Crimson back to Cambridge.

In game one of the series, the Crimson — fresh off a 5-2 victory over Rennselaer Polytechnic Institute in the tournament’s first round — found its momentum early in game one, taking three shots before Thompson found the net with just over twelve minutes left in the first period.

Harvard ramped up the pressure in the second period with 22 shots on Clarkson’s goal — up from just nine in the first period — but failed to convert a single one. A late second-period penalty on junior defenseman Mason Langenbrunner gave Clarkson their opening, equalizing just over a minute into the third period.

Minutes later, senior defenseman Ian Moore capitalized on Harvard’s own power play, scoring a shot from half-rink to give the Crimson a 2-1 lead, but Clarkson equalized just seconds later to make it 2-2 with just over 13 minutes left in the game.

Harvard lost momentum, with the Golden Knights taking 12 shots on the Crimson’s net after equalizing but only shooting five of their own — and with 27.6 seconds left, Clarkson scored to win the game 3-2.

The Crimson’s odds of making it to the semifinals dropped even further when Clarkson scored just two minutes into game two. But despite a collective 29 shots in the rest of the period — Clarkson’s 19 to Harvard’s 10 — the score remained 1-0 going into the second period.

The Golden Knights’ efforts eventually paid off. Just 56 seconds into the second period, Clarkson took a 2-0 lead off the stick of Clarkson sophomore forward Talon Sigurdson.

Harvard replied quickly, narrowing the deficit to one after senior forward Zakary Karpa converted a wraparound shot 44 seconds later to score his first goal of the season. A penalty on Clarkson for interference gave Harvard its first power play of the game, and with still 16 minutes left to play in the second period Langenbrunner scored his second goal of the playoffs to equalize the game.

The teams entered the third period tied after senior defenseman Jack Bar’s would-be goal was overturned due to offsides, the Golden Knights relentlessly tried to find the back of the net in the final twenty minutes of the game, including a heart-stopping shot from Clarkson forward Ellis Rickwood that went just wide as time expired.

Harvard, though, would successfully climb out of the hole they had dug early on in the game, after junior forward Casey Severo scored in overtime six minutes into the extra period, giving the Crimson its first overtime playoff victory since its 1-0 win against Cornell in the 2023 ECAC semifinals.

But its 3-2 loss in overtime in game three would end the season in a crushing defeat and send Clarkson — who last won the ECAC tournament in 2019 — to the semifinals, where they will face Dartmouth, with the Big Green in search of their first-ever ECAC championship.

Reigning ECAC champions Cornell — who dispatched Harvard with a 2-0 series win at the same stage in last year’s tournament — will play Quinnipiac in the other semifinal.

—Staff writer Rahem D. Hamid can be reached at rahem.hamid@thecrimson.com.