The Quinnipiac men’s ice hockey team headed to Harvard last night, only to be sent home by the Crimson after a 3-1 loss. Sophomore Yuri Bouharevich scored Quinnipiac’s lone goal in the game.

Harvard scored midway through the first period when Luke Grenier collected a rebound deflected by Quinnipiac goalie Dan Clarke and used a wrist shot into the top right corner to score the first goal of the game at 9:54.

Six minutes into the second period, Harvard struck again, taking advantage of their power play. Crimson’s Louis Leblanc redirected a shot by teammate Chris Huxley from the point for the goal.

Bobcat freshman Zach Davies broke up a close scoring opportunity in front of the net with minutes left in the second to keep the deficit at two. With less than a minute left in the period, Quinnipiac made a strong play on offense but couldn’t connect in front of Harvard’s net.

Quinnipiac head coach Rand Pecknold said his team played hungry in the third period.

Just under three minutes into the period, Quinnipiac got on the board when senior Mike Atkinson sent the puck to senior Greg Holt at the point. Holt’s shot on net was stopped, but Bouharevich took the puck and slipped a shot past Harvard goalie Kyle Richter at the 17:19 mark. The goal was Bouharevich’s fourth of the season.

After the goal, the Bobcats visibly picked up momentum, and the section of loyal Quinnipiac fans grew louder.

Down by one with 1:25 remaining, Pecknold opted to pull Clarke from net for an extra man. The Bobcats failed to find the back of the net, and Harvard’s David Valek scored an empty-net goal with just under a minute left to play.

“We played great in the third, okay earlier,” Pecknold said. “We can’t get behind 2-0. It was our own fault. We didn’t come out and play a full 60 minutes tonight.”

Quinnipiac will open up 2010 with a conference matchup at Princeton on Jan. 4 at 7 p.m.