Harvard Hockey Meets Vermont in Home Opener

Friday night is more than just the home opener for the Harvard men's hockey team. It is also the night that Vermont returns to ECAC hockey after a ten month absence.

On January 8, 2000, the Catamounts played their last conference game, a 4-4 tie with RPI, before a hazing scandal rocked the college and forced the university to cancel the remainder of the 1999-2000 hockey season.

It has been a long wait for the Vermont players, and if the Crimson has anything to say about it, the Catamounts will have to wait beyond Friday night for their first ECAC win in almost a year.

Harvard (1-0, 1-0 ECAC) cruised to a relatively easy, 3-0, victory over Brown last week and has a good chance to push its conference record to a perfect 3-0 against Vermont (0-2) and Dartmouth (0-2) this weekend.

Vermont captain Andreas Moborg, who scored 14 points in a shortened 17 game season last year, will lead the Catamounts from the blueline. Although the Crimson stack up better player-for-player against Vermont, Harvard will have to be careful to avoid an upset against a squad that will have a lot of extra motivation to win after a long absence.

The Big Green made it to the post-season for the first time in five years last season, and will be looking to improve upon its performance with a slew of returning veteran players.

Dartmouth will need co-captain Mike Maturo and Frank Nardella to produce offensively if the Big Green hopes to down the Crimson. Maturo and Nardella combined for 16 goals and 20 assists last year, and beyond the duo, Dartmouth doesn't pack a lot of scoring punch.

Despite starting only five defensemen, the Crimson held opposing forwards to mainly perimeter shots against Brown and senior goaltender Oliver Jonas stopped all 28 shots for the shutout.

If the defense can play as well as it did last weekend, this time against only slightly tougher competition, the offense should take care of the rest and ensure a Harvard sweep.

Captain Steve Moore, assistant captain Chris Bala, and sophomore Dominic Moore, the three leading scorers from last year, all pocketed goals against the Bears in the season opener.

If the trio continues to perform up to expectations and Jonas is once again solid in net, there is no reason why the Crimson shouldn't emerge from its second week of ECAC play undefeated and atop the standings.