HAMILTON, N.Y.—There are good penalties, and then there are bad ones. And with that inescapable whistle sounding throughout collegiate hockey rinks all over the country this year, the difference between the good and the bad has become even more important.

“I think there are certain situations where as a coach and as a team, you understand why we need to take a penalty,” said Harvard coach Ted Donato ’91, “whether it’s to prevent a scoring chance or when they’re putting pressure on you and it looks like you need to stop it somehow, and sometimes it takes a penalty to do so.”

But then there are the unnecessary whistles—the late hits, the obstructions away from the play, the tempers that flare in heated rivalries such as this weekend’s.

Going into Cornell’s Lynah Rink, the Crimson probably didn’t expect to draw the whistle more often than the Big Red, though that’s precisely what happened, 7-5.

After all, Cornell has historically been the bigger, slower, clutch-and-grab-styled hockey squad, and this year’s Harvard lineup features plenty of small, speedy forwards as well as skaters both large and nimble.

Crimson captain Noah Welch made two trips to the sin bin on Friday, one of which gave the Big Red an early two-man advantage. Welch has collected nine penalties in the first three games of the season—his closest teammates have collected just two.

Freshman Dave Watters, seemingly affected by the intensity of Lynah Rink, also amassed two penalties—the first for hitting from behind, and the second for roughing with just nine seconds remaining in the third period.

Harvard had pulled goaltender Dov Grumet-Morris for one final push, but Watters’ penalty and Cornell’s subsequent power play led to the netminder’s return for the final nine seconds of the game.

Against Colgate, the Crimson was only penalized four times—three of those, though, were Welch’s.

The Crimson is averaging 16 minutes in the penalty box per game—almost a full period played beneath full strength—but that doesn’t even touch ECACHL penalty leader Clarkson, which averages 29.5 minutes per game in the slammer. In fact, Harvard sits in a ninth-place tie in the 12-team league.

But, said Donato, “I think we took a few that we can’t take on the road if we want to be successful.”

BROKEN WING

Missing from the Harvard men’s hockey team’s Colgate and Cornell games this weekend was winger Charlie Johnson. The junior, who had thus far occupied a spot on the Crimson’s top line, suffered an undisclosed injury in his team’s Oct. 30 exhibition against the U.S. Under-18 team.

“Absolutely, we miss Charlie,” Donato said. “Charlie’s a very key offensive guy for us, and he’s got experience, and he does a lot of things that we lack.”

The Crimson mustered a combined 39 shots on goal in the two games, while Cornell took 34 and Colgate 40. The power play was similarly lackluster, going 0-for-5 in both games.