M. Hockey Takes 'Progressive Steps' But Falls Inches From Goals

Talk to Mark Mazzoleni about the first four years of his tenure as men’s hockey coach, and you’re bound to hear the words “progressive steps” at least once, maybe twice or three times if he’s in a particularly reflective mood.

Clichéd as it may be, Mazzoleni has grounding for such repetition. After an 11-17-2 record during Mazzoleni’s first season behind the bench in 1999-2000, the Crimson has made a pair of NCAA tournament appearances and won an ECAC championship in the last two years. This season, Harvard’s 22 wins were the most for a Crimson team in nearly a decade, and no roster in the country had more NHL Draft picks.

Progressive steps, indeed.

And yet, as many strides as Harvard’s icemen took during a 2002-2003 season that was defined by their consistency, they weren’t satisfied with the destination—a 6-4 loss to Boston University at the NCAA Regional.

“Our goal was to make the Frozen Four,” said All-American center and captain Dominic Moore, moments after his Crimson career ended with the loss to BU. “And that didn’t happen.”

And neither did the two things Harvard wanted most out of its season, apart from an NCAA run: the school’s first Beanpot in a decade and the first back-to-back ECAC titles in Harvard history.

The Crimson missed both by the slimmest of margins.

BU ended Harvard’s Beanpot hopes with a 2-1, come-from-behind semifinal win that swung the Terriers’ way only after Sean Fields’ now-famous “toe save” on Crimson defenseman Noah Welch.

And Harvard came literally inches away from winning the ECAC title when senior forward Brett Nowak’s shot at an empty Cornell net bounced just wide. Moments later, the Big Red came back to tie with under a minute to go in regulation and then win it in overtime.

Those losses were part of Harvard’s 0-7-1 record against NCAA tournament teams-—a statistic that, unfortunately for the Crimson, may have defined its 2002-2003 season as much as its sparkling 22-10-2 record overall.

Despite some significant disappointments in big games, Harvard rolled through much of the ECAC regular season, finishing with a 17-4-1 record and 35 points—a total that either met or exceeded that of the regular season champion in five of the last 10 seasons but was not enough this year thanks to Cornell’s nearly immaculate 19-2-1 mark.

Still, the Crimson got something out of the regular season that it didn’t have during the 2001-2002 campaign: consistency. After going 11-14-4 during the regular season a year ago, Harvard needed to win the ECAC tournament to earn the league’s automatic NCAA berth. This year, however, the Crimson earned itself an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament, which it needed after Sam Paolini’s overtime game-winner capped Cornell’s comeback in the ECAC title game.

“They had to put us in last year because we won the tournament,” Mazzoleni told the Boston Herald after the NCAA pairings were announced. “This year our performance over the course of the season warranted us being included.”

The biggest improvement over last year was the team’s performance between the end of exams in January and the final weekend of the regular season. Last season, Harvard was just 2-8-1 during that span; this year, after an intensive mini-camp during intersession, the Crimson’s record during that same stretch was 7-2-1.

It was during that time period that Moore cemented his status as one of the nation’s elite forwards. He entered the NCAA tournament having scored 28 points over his last 12 games—the most productive stretch of his career, and the most points of any player in the nation during that time—then scored an emotional goal in the third period against BU that nearly brought the momentum back into Harvard’s favor.

Moore finished his Harvard career at No. 11 on the school’s all-time scoring list with 147 points.

“He was the best player on the ice tonight,” Mazzoleni said of Moore, one of 26 NHL Draft picks playing for either BU or Harvard. “Hands down.”

Moore and fellow seniors Nowak and Aron Kim saw their Crimson careers run in concert with the program’s rebirth; as they graduate, their teammates, 22 of whom will return next fall, are sure that there are more good things—progressive steps—to come from Harvard hockey.

“Next year,” said 2003-2004 captain Kenny Smith, “has to be ‘The Year.’”

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

M. HockeY

Record 22-10-2 (17-4-1 ECAC)

Coach Mark Mazzoleni

Captain Dominic Moore

Highlights Harvard wins more games in a season than it has since 1993-1994

and makes NCAA tourney for second straight year. Moore finishes with

11th-most points in school history (147) and earns first-team All-American,

All-ECAC and All-Ivy honors.