M. Hockey Nabs At-Large Invite

After weeks of conjecture, the Harvard men’s hockey team was officially slotted as a No. 3 seed in the NCAA tournament yesterday and assigned to the Northeast Regional in Amherst, Mass., where the Crimson will face New Hampshire, the runner-up in Hockey East’s post-season tournament, next Saturday at 3:30 p.m. The following day, the winner will skate against either Denver, the defending national champion, or Bemidji State, which qualified after capturing College Hockey America’s conference title.

The pairwise rankings (PWR), finalized one night earlier, had forecast a Harvard trip to Amherst against UNH, but had also projected Boston College and Mercyhurst as the two teams most likely to accompany them to the Mullins Center. But according to Wayne Dean, the tournament committee chair, Denver was seen as more deserving of the second overall seed than Colorado College—No. 2 in the PWR—a subjective swap that skewed the predictions slightly.

Weighing in on the weekend ahead, though, Harvard coach Ted Donato ’91 dismissed suggestions that the makeup of the strict-PWR bracket would have been preferable to the final version.

“It’s the NCAA tournament,” Donato said. “I don’t think there are any easy draws.”

Although an at-large bid was almost certain, Harvard gathered at Dillon Fieldhouse yesterday morning to watch as the bids were announced live on ESPN2 at 11 a.m., despite returning from Albany late Saturday evening.

Upbeat and at-ease even after losing in the ECAC championship game 12 hours earlier, most members of the Crimson playfully joked that they must not have made the tournament as the East, Midwest, and West Regional quartets were announced in turn—Harvard’s matchup was the last revealed—and half-heartedly jawed with the in-studio commentators as they detailed the Crimson’s strengths and weaknesses. And when confirmation of the Amherst bracket finally came, many seemed relieved that they would not need to travel to Grand Rapids, Mich., or Minneapolis, regardless of their opponent.

Not that Harvard doesn’t have reason to be optimistic after drawing UNH. Though the two sides have not squared off since 2000, the Crimson holds a 3-1 record against Hockey East’s other top-four programs, Boston College, Boston University, and Maine.

“I’m happy with UNH,” captain Noah Welch said. “I know a lot of the guys on the team and play against them in summer hockey. I actually just text-messaged [UNH defenseman] Brian Yandle and told him I was going to bury him.”

Donato and several of his skaters did, however, express concern that the Mullins Center’s rink—measuring 200-by-95 feet—is wider than those Harvard is familiar with from ECAC play, which are generally 85 to 90 feet across. And on those few occasions that the Crimson was exposed to Olympic-size rinks this year, Harvard did not fare well, returning from Minnesota’s Dodge Holiday Classic with a 0-1-1 record.

UNH’s home ice, on the other hand, is 200-by-100 feet, and the Wildcats have already traveled to the Mullins Center, Hockey East opponent UMass’ home arena, once this season.

“We’ll probably try to find some ice this week outside of our own just to get on a bigger ice surface to try to get acclimated to it,” said Donato, who suggested several local prep schools as possible alternatives to the Bright Hockey Center. “It’s not that we haven’t seen it at all, but it’s different. It definitely adds different dimensions to the timing, the spacing, and the angles...But in this type of setting and in this type of game, I have a hard time believing that the size of the ice surface is going to determine the better team.”

AROUND THE ECAC

Colgate received an at-large bid to the tournament as well, bumping the number of ECAC invitees to three for the first time since 1998. ECAC champion and automatic bid recipient Cornell was chosen as the No. 2 seed in the Minneapolis regional and will face Ohio State in the first round. The winner of the Big Red-Buckeyes matchup draws the victor of Minnesota and Maine’s contest. Fourth-seed Colgate travels to Grand Rapids, where the Raiders are paired with Colorado College, with the winner slated to take on Wisconsin or Michigan in the regional final.

—Staff writer Timothy J. McGinn can be reached at mcginn@fas.harvard.edu.