SEASON RECAP: Crimson Cannot Convert on Late-Season Efforts

The Harvard men’s hockey team’s season shaped up to look a lot like its season last year.

A high-flying start to the year with early-season wins over perennial league foes like Clarkson and St. Lawrence devolved into a 17-game winless streak that lasted from November until early February. A strong performance in the Beanpot and a string of late-season wins seemed to indicate that the Crimson had a shot at the ECAC Championship and a bid to the NCAA tournament.

But the seemingly miraculous turnaround screeched to a sudden stop with a first-round loss to Brown in the ECAC Championship tournament.

“This season was obviously a disappointment for us all,” incoming captain Alex Biega said. “I think overall we showed some promising signs…but unfortunately we couldn’t consistently put it together.”

Despite the team’s lack of offensive rhythm, Harvard’s regular-season performance indicated potential for a stronger and more cohesive team next season.

This year, junior forward Doug Rogers led the Crimson’s offense with 21 points and eight goals. Rogers was instrumental in leading Harvard’s late-season turnaround.

Following the Beanpot tournament, where the Crimson nearly defeated Boston College and Boston University—ranked 15th and first, respectively, at the time—the team went 4-0-2 until it fell in the ECAC tournament.

The almost fairy-tale-like turnaround mirrored Rogers’ rise this season as he struggled to find the net until second semester rolled around. With the arrival of spring, the junior scored all eight of his goals and added five assists.

“I think in January we started playing smarter as a team,” Rogers said. “In the first half of the season, we had some mental lapses during games. Once we came together and took care of the puck more, scoring goals and playing defense became a lot easier.”

Freshman forward Alex Killorn also played a substantial role in Harvard’s late-season comeback. Killorn led all Crimson rookies in scoring with 13 points on six goals—five of which came on the power play—and seven assists.

Biega led the team on the defensive end of things and also contributed offensively, nabbing 16 assists and four goals—two of them being game-winners. Biega nearly had five tallies on the season, but his would-be tying goal hit the net a split-second after the final whistle in the opening-round of the Beanpot against BU.

The strong performance in the Beanpot came at the end of Harvard’s winless streak and inspired a comeback in league play.

“The reason the Beanpot is so special is because it’s anyone’s game, and no matter what your record is or how poorly you have done since then, you always have a shot at winning it,” Biega said. “We were close [to winning] but close doesn’t cut it.”

For the second-round of the Beanpot against BC, Harvard coach Ted Donato ’91 made a switch in net to give sophomore Ryan Carroll his first collegiate start. The gamble paid off for the team—Carroll made 42 saves in that game and contributed to the Crimson’s improvements on the defensive end. The sophomore had another 40-plus save game in the team’s win against then-No. 6 Cornell.

The victory came as a result of a full-team effort—something that the Crimson was unable to achieve during its winless winter stretch—as sophomore Matt McCollem, freshman Daniel Moriarty, senior Nick Coskren, and Killorn scored goals.

“When you’re losing, that’s when the team has to be more loose and come together collectively…to find a way out of the hole,” Biega said. “A lot of times, teams tend to become more individualistic and become more frustrated and nervous on the ice. The way you come out of a difficult stretch is getting more as a team and playing more at ease.”

While Harvard was able to reach a high level of play throughout the run-up to the ECAC tournament, the Crimson ultimately fell to bottom-ranked Brown in two low-scoring games in the first round.

“We played our worst hockey at the most important time of the year,” Biega said. “You can’t win like that no matter who you play. Playoffs are a win or go home mentality each and every game, and I don’t think we illustrated that consistently through the series.”

With the likes of Rogers, Carroll, and Biega at the helm for next season, Harvard will look to regain a position at the top of ECAC and national hockey.

“Next year will be better for us,” Rogers said. “To have a successful season, we will have to come out of the gate strong while improving week by week. If we can do this, we will see ourselves on top of the leader board in the ECAC.”

—Staff writer Lucy D. Chen can be reached at lucychen@fas.harvard.edu.