M. Hockey Looks To Bounce Back

Not one member of Harvard’s defensive corps will tell you that last weekend’s ECAC tournament performances—six goals allowed in two games—ranked high on the season list. But every member would likely agree with blueliner Ryan Lannon’s admission, “I’d rather have it happen last week than this coming weekend.”

With a 20-8-3 record entering the league championships, after all, the Crimson didn’t need to win out to secure a berth in the NCAA tournament.

This weekend’s NCAA regional semifinals will offer no such margin for error. One sloppy performance against New Hampshire—one defensive misstep—and the Crimson may be knocked from the tournament’s first round for the fourth straight year.

“The defense,” said captain Noah Welch, “it wasn’t good [last weekend]. We didn’t play the way we know we can play, and how we have been playing.”

Harvard allowed three goals in Friday’s semifinal against Colgate, two of which came in the last four minutes of regulation and both of which erased a one-goal Crimson lead. Harvard would win, 4-3, in double-overtime, but the next night, Cornell would manhandle the Crimson, 3-1.

One of the scores was the result of a two-on-one for which Welch took the blame, admitting that he allowed a cross-ice pass instead of shutting down the Big Red’s second skater and letting Harvard’s goaltender, Dov Grumet-Morris, take the shooter.

“Uncharacteristic,” Crimson coach Ted Donato ’91 said of the play of his defense, which had, before the two contests, allowed just 1.77 goals per game. “I expect us to bounce back.”

During Sunday’s NCAA bracket selection show on ESPN2, analyst Adam Wodon speculated that the Crimson defense had hung Grumet-Morris out to dry last weekend.

The words drew wry remarks from the Harvard skaters and coaches, who had gathered to learn their collective fate.

“That comment was correct,” Welch said, “but Adam had his Cornell jersey on under his shirt there.”

Welch was referencing Wodon’s long-time connection with the Big Red program, one which includes tours of duty in the broadcast booth and behind the keyboard.

“He loves taking jabs at us,” Welch said, “so we expected that.”

ON BIG ICE

Harvard’s matchup with New Hampshire will be played in the Mullins Center, home of the Massachusetts Minutemen in Amherst, Mass.

Mullins boasts bigger ice—200-by-95-feet, to be exact—than does the Bright Hockey Center, which is 204-by-87 feet, and Lannon says that “it changes the game a little bit, as far as having more space to create offensive opportunities.”

The Crimson played on Olympic-sized (200-by-100 feet) ice in Minnesota during the Dodge Holiday Classic, earning a scoreless tie and a 6-4 loss for their extra efforts.

“There’s a lot more ice out there to make plays,” Welch said, adding that this time around, Harvard is going to practice on bigger sheets in advance.

On Wednesday, the Crimson skated at Boston University’s Agganis Arena, which measures 200-by-90 feet. The team traveled to Amherst Thursday, when each of the four regional semifinal squads was granted time on the UMass practice rink.

The practice rink measures the same size as Mullins, on which the teams will be able to skate Friday. Come Saturday, though, Harvard will find itself skating against a New Hampshire squad that boasts its own Olympic-sized sheet and has already skated in the Mullins Center this season.

“We will, hopefully, be a bit used to it,” Donato said, “and I think that should help us.”

LED-DOWN

Senior forward Andrew Lederman is tied as the Crimson’s second-most efficient scorer, averaging 0.76 points per contest.

He has knocked home two game-winning goals, four power-play scores, and his 19 points place him in a four-way tie for third place. He is, according to Donato, “an important part of this team.”

But Lederman has skated just once in the last six games, the odd man out due to Harvard’s wealth of forwards.

After more than 96 minutes of play Friday against Colgate, though—the game ended at 11:42 p.m., less than 24 hours before the beginning of Saturday’s championship game—Lederman appeared a viable option, a fresh set of legs for a weary squad. He remained, however, a healthy scratch for the Big Red contest.

“It’s always a tough decision to decide whether you want to go with more speed and skill or you want to go with more size,” Donato said. “Certainly, Cornell’s a very big team.”

As for Lederman’s prospects in the regional semifinal—the senior skated Tuesday’s practice with freshman Tyler Magura, a fourth-line mainstay. Donato would only say, “I expect [him] to be a very important part [of our team]...coming down the stretch.”

—Staff writer Rebecca A. Seesel can be reached at seesel@fas.harvard.edu.