Flyers Draft Pick Up For Hober Baker Award

Goaltender Dov Grumet-Morris Flyers 5th Round Pick in 2002 Draft Up for Hobey Baker Award

Cambridge, MA - Hobey Baker candidate Dov Grumet-Morris recorded his league-record second career postseason shutout and Jon Pelle tallied a goal and an assist in Harvard's 2-0 victory over St. Lawrence in game one of the ECACHL quarterfinal series on Friday night at the Bright Hockey Center. The Crimson wins its 12th straight home ECACHL Tournament game, and puts St. Lawrence in an elimination tilt in Cambridge.

A scoreless first was not without excitement, as the Crimson was outshot 11-5 - yet had the better of the opportunities. Brendan Bernakevitch (Regina, SASK) rung the post just minutes before Charlie Johnson (Calgary, ALB) had appeared to score the game's first tally, but the goal was waved off, as referee Dan Murphy had lost sight of the puck and blew the whistle before it had crossed the line beneath the leg of St. Lawrence netminder Mike McKenna.

Play pressed on, and the teams played through a majority of a tight, physical second without either team finding the back of the net. SLU's Max Taylor had the best opportunity of the night for the visitors just over 14 minutes into the middle frame, when he had the puck alone in the low slot and appeared to have Grumet-Morris beat, but the senior netminder came up with the big save to preserve the scoreless tie.

Saint leading scorer TJ Trevelyan was whistled for a major penalty for elbowing with contact to the head at 15:18 of that middle frame, which put the Crimson on a five-minute advantage. With just over a minute and a half expired, Johnson, stationed just over the left circle, got the puck from Noah Welch (Brighton, MA) in the high slot. Johnson held the puck and took three strides forward, waiting for an opening or an open man, and finally wristed the puck netward and over the right shoulder of McKenna to get the Crimson on the board at 16:44.

The game wore on, and the Saints continued with an aggressive forecheck and continued to get chances, outshooting their hosts by a 2:1 ratio and coming up with blocked shots that kept clear of McKenna. The Crimson caught a break late in the period, when freshman Mike Taylor (Maple Grove, MN) - who would later joke that he shouldn't even have been on the ice, as the coaching staff made a late change - picked the pocket of Trevelyan down low, when he was attempting to break the puck out of the zone. Taylor found a crashing Pelle, who got his stick on the puck and with a defender draped on his side, put the puck into the upper left corner for his eighth of the season, and some insurance in an incredibly tight game.

"Steve Mandes had been out for a long shift, and I jumped out there as he was coming off," laughed Taylor, when asked to describe the play that gave the Crimson some breathing room in the late stage of the game. "As I was going, the coaches changed their mind and wanted a different line out there. I had already gone too far, I thought - so I just kept going hard."

The Saints pulled McKenna for the waning moments of regulation, but Harvard's senior netminder was up to the task. He made 33 saves on the night, and tied an ECACHL Tournament record with his second career shutout in conference postseason play. It was his sixth shutout of the season and 11th of his career overall, both school marks.

The Crimson needs just one more victory to advance to the League's semifinals for the fifth straight season, and will go for that knockout punch tomorrow when the same teams face off at 7 p.m. in Cambridge.

NOTES: Grumet-Morris will appear in his 111th career game on Saturday, tying him with with Grant Blair for the Harvard all-time record. He needs 42 more saves to break Blair's school mark of 6,563, and 42 more minutes between the pipes to shatter Blair's record in that category ... Grumet-Morris also extended his own record of ECACHL tournament victories to 14 ... Harvard improves to 13-1 on its home sheet this season ... Tom Cavanagh is seventh all-time in the ECACHL annals with 134 consecutive games played. He will tie the school record tomorrow night in games played in his career, set by Tim Pettit '04 last March ...

FIRST PERIOD: Scoring: None. Penalties: (S) Josh Anderson, tripping, 2:17; (H) Tom Walsh, boarding, 7:36; (S) Matt Macdonald, tripping, 14:21; (H) Noah Welch, cross checking, 14:21; (H) Dave Watters, contact to the head-high sticking, 17:06; (S) T.J. Trevelyan, diving, 18:08.SECOND PERIOD: Scoring: (H) Charlie Johnson 8 (Welch, Jon Pelle) 16:44 ppg. Penalties: (S) Macdonald, contact to the head-roughing, 2:15; (H) Peter Hafner, hooking, 10:51; (H) Kevin Du, slashing, 11:42; (S) John Zeiler, obstruction-hooking, 12:14; (S) Trevelyan, contact to the head-elbowing, 15:18; (H) Welch, roughing, 18:51; (S) Kyle Rank, charging, 18:51; (H) Brendan Bernakevitch, roughing, 19:34; (S) Mark Wallmann, charging, 19:34.THIRD PERIOD: Scoring: (H) Pelle 8 (Mike Taylor) 13:12. Penalties: None. Goaltending: Dov Grumet-Morris, Harvard, 59:57; 33 svs., 0 GA. Mike McKenna, St. Lawrence, 58:18; 14 svs., 2 GA. Shots: Harvard 5-5-6--16; St. Lawrence 11-12-10--33; Penalties:< /I> Harvard 7 for 14 minutes; St. Lawrence 8 for 19 minutes. Power Plays: Harvard 1/6; St. Lawrence 0/4. Officials: Dan Murphy (R), Derek Wahl (AR1), Richard Patry (AR2). Three Stars: (1) Dov Grumet-Morris (H) (2) Mike Taylor (H) (3) Charlie Johnson (H) Attendance: 1,730