M. Hockey Produces Forgettable Opener

PROVIDENCE, R.I.—If you couldn’t make it to the first game of the Harvard men’s hockey season here on Saturday night, don’t worry.

You didn’t miss much.

The Crimson lost to Brown, 4-0, in a game that was eerily similar to last year’s season opener, when the upstart Bears came to Bright Hockey Center and surprised Harvard, 4-2.

This time, though, there was no “upstart” or “surprise” about it. The Crimson knew exactly what to expect after four hard-fought battles between the two teams last year.

Harvard had the scouting report on Brown—quick, workmanlike forwards, a steady defense and spectacular goaltender.

But planning is one thing. Execution is another.

“It didn’t look like we had energy tonight,” said Harvard coach Mark Mazzoleni. “It looked like we had heavy legs.”

In all, it was a disappointing effort for the Crimson, a team that played mature, opportunistic hockey under intense pressure during its run to the NCAA tournament last spring.

“We’re the defending ECAC champions,” said Harvard captain Dominic Moore. “Our intensity has to go up. We were beat to a lot of loose pucks tonight.”

That said, give credit to the Bears. They were the better team on Saturday, helped, of course, by Yann Danis, an All-American last season who reasserted his place among the elite goaltenders in college hockey with a 30-save shutout.

“He showed why he’s such an excellent goaltender,” Mazzoleni said. “He brought his ‘A’ game. He lived up to his billing.”

So did the Brown defense, which forced Harvard to take off-angle shots all night and swiped away the few rebounds Danis surrendered.

Meanwhile, Harvard goaltender Dov Grumet-Morris didn’t have the consistency that characterized his play down the stretch last season. He made 20 saves but coughed up rebounds on many of them.

Grumet-Morris also appeared to have clear lines of sight on goals scored by Paul Esdale and Scott Ford.

“Dov didn’t play one of his better games,” Mazzoleni said.

But certainly Grumet-Morris didn’t deserve all the blame. Both Esdale and Ford had clear shooting lanes because of breakdowns in the defensive zone.

In all fairness, this was just the first game of the season, and Harvard did show some flashes of the relentless forechecking that helped it win the ECAC title last year.

But the Crimson needs to make some improvements on both ends of the ice—and fast. As the reigning conference champion, Harvard won’t be able to take any nights off, and it can expect several teams in the league to compare quite favorably with Brown in terms of talent.

In that sense, Saturday night was a good barometer for the Crimson—a barometer whose needle is now stuck somewhere between “good hockey team” and “hockey team that needs work.”

“This isn’t the end of the world,” Mazzoleni said on Saturday. “We’ll make improvements.”

There’s no doubt they will—heck, they’d better. The old line, “Harvard is still young. Wait ’til next year,” went straight out the window of the 1980 Olympic Rink when Tyler Kolarik scored in double-overtime to capture the ECAC championship last March.

After all, Harvard has been pointing to this season as The Season for a few years. There’s little margin for error.

“We can’t overreact,” Moore said. “This is just one loss.”

True. And there’s no cause for great concern.

Yet.

—Staff writer Jon Paul Morosi can be reached at morosi@fas.harvard.edu.