SEEING RED

Yes, it’s Valentine’s Day. But it’s also the biggest weekend in the Harvard men’s hockey season, and Bright Hockey Center will be rocking.

With two victories this weekend, tonight against Colgate and tomorrow night against Cornell, Harvard could vault back into first place in the ECAC. With two losses, the Crimson would back further into a corner in its quest to qualify for the NCAA Tournament.

The big game of the weekend is Saturday’s showdown with league leading Cornell. Harvard (15-7-1, 13-3-0 ECAC) is currently in second place in the ECAC and is ranked No. 13 nationally in the latest USCHO.com poll. The Big Red (19-4-0, 14-2-0) is two points ahead of the Crimson in the league standings and is ranked No. 3 in the country.

But before the rematch of last year’s ECAC final, Harvard will square off against Colgate (11-14-3, 6-8-2), a team the Crimson will be careful not to underestimate. Coach Mark Mazzoleni emphasized that the team is focused on its Friday night’s opponent despite the fact that the Crimson has already defeated Colgate twice this season.

“Colgate has won three of their last four and they are a much different team than when we saw them earlier in the year,” Mazzoleni said.

One of the Red Raiders’ three recent wins came against Cornell, a 2-1 overtime victory. It was only the second time Cornell has lost to an ECAC foe all year and is a sure sign that Colgate has the capability to defeat any team on a given night.

“The game against Colgate is just as important as the game against Cornell for the league-wide standings,” sophomore goaltender Dov Grumet-Morris said.

“If we don’t win Friday night, then Saturday’s game doesn’t mean too much,” captain Dominic Moore added.

Mazzoleni expects the Red Raiders to exert strong pressure against Grumet-Morris.

“They’re going to throw the puck on the net and charge bloody hard off the puck,” Mazzoleni said.

But in attacking Grumet-Morris, Colgate is focusing on perhaps the strongest aspect of Harvard’s game. The last time he faced the Red Raiders, Grumet-Morris turned aside 25 shots, a fact that is not lost on Colgate coach Don Vaughan.

“It’s a tough road trip,” Vaughan said. “Harvard has outscored us something like 15-2 this year, so we know we’re going to have our hands full. We might not have great possession time, and we might lose the territorial battle, but if we don’t give up second and third chances we’re going to be OK.”

Whereas Colgate will be hunting favored Harvard on Friday, the tables will be turned on Saturday. Harvard will be throwing everything it has against Cornell in the team’s biggest game of the season.

Just as limiting second chances could be critical to Colgate’s success, the Crimson will need to generate second and third opportunities if it hopes to slip the puck past Cornell netminder Dave LeNeveu.

The sophomore, who stopped 24 shots in Cornell’s 5-2 victory against Harvard earlier this season, leads the nation with a .940 save percentage and 1.16 goals against average.

“Cornell is a great defensive hockey club and it’s not just [LeNeveu] that causes their numbers to be so low, it’s a team effort,” Moore said.

Central to the Big Red’s defensive effort is towering senior defenseman Doug Murray, who is third on the Big Red in scoring with 20 points.

The two players ahead of Murray statistically—huge senior forward Stephen Bâby and speedy junior forward Ryan Vesce—lead the Big Red’s offense, the second most potent in the ECAC, which averages 4.38 goals per game.

That Big Red offense hurt Harvard early and often in the team’s earlier meeting, scoring a goal only 1:24 into the contest and continually responding with a goal whenever the Crimson cut the deficit.

“First and foremost we want a strong start against Cornell,” Morris said. “Not giving up a goal in the first five minutes is my definition of a strong start, and that wasn’t the case the last time we faced them.”

And though the Crimson may not be focusing on Cornell, Harvard hockey fans surely will be. The game is sold out—including standing room tickets. Bright Hockey Center hasn’t seen a match this anticipated in nearly a decade.

“This weekend is like a playoff series,” Morris said.

Moore agreed with Cornell’s coach.“On Saturday night, it’s going to be a big game and a big crowd,” Harvard’s captain said. “We’ll see what we’re made of.”

—Staff writer Timothy M. McDonald can be reached at tmcdonal@fas.harvard.edu.