Hockey’s History Of Hot And Cold

I feel like I’ve seen six seasons of Harvard men’s hockey the past three years. What do I mean by that?

What I mean is that over the past three seasons, the Crimson has played the part of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde to perfection.

The story has been the same each year. Early in the season, Harvard looks completely defeated. Then about a month before playoffs, the team begins to look like an ECAC Championship caliber team.

The 2009-2010 season has gone like this: Harvard endured a 10-game winless streak in November and December, but now has emerged and is unbeaten in its past five ECAC contests. The team has moved up to a respectable 5-5-3 in league and is pulling off quite the season turnaround.

Normally, I’d be surprised by this type of comeback, but for Harvard hockey, seasonal ups and downs are expected. This trend of extended losing streaks followed by a late-season resurgence has become an oddly common phenomenon.

In 2007-2008, the Crimson suffered a nine-game winless streak in December and January, only to finish the year with an 11-4-1 run. Last year, a five-game unbeaten streak followed 13 games without a victory.

Why has Harvard been prone to these streaks? It really is impossible to answer that question with any accuracy. I could try to put my finger on something like pre-season preparation, confidence, the academic schedule, or some other cause, but the truth may be that these streaks of really bad and really good are just coincidences.

Whatever the reason for the streakiness, the Crimson is enjoying the latest ride.

“For the most part, our team has been doing a lot better,” captain Alex Biega said. “It’s very nice to have the winning culture back in the locker room.”

Over the past five games, in which Harvard has taken down No. 5 Yale and No. 13 Union, improved performance has come on both ends of the ice. Offensively, the Crimson has notched at least three goals in its past five ECAC games. Defensively, the improvement is even more pronounced. Harvard has given up 1.6 goals per game in its last five ECAC contests compared to 3.9 goals per game for the rest of the ECAC season.

There is something I want to say, though, about the Crimson’s current hot streak. If the team is going to keep its momentum, it has to avoid reverting to the poor third period performance that plagued the early parts of the season.

Over the course of this year, the Crimson has been outscored 29-16 in the third period, while outscoring opponents 34-32 in the first two frames. Against Colgate and Clarkson in November, the Crimson let two-goal leads slip away in the final minutes. Struggling in crunch time could end up being a backbreaker for a revitalized team.

Fitness, focus, strategy—whatever the third period problem was—it does look like Harvard coach Ted Donato ’91 may have found a solution. In its five-game ECAC unbeaten streak, the Crimson has given up just three of its eight goals in the final period.

What’s an even better sign is that Harvard put together a third period comeback of its own against RPI last weekend. With three goals in the third, the Crimson clawed back and tied the game with just seconds on the clock.

With the hot-and-cold Harvard hockey team, anything can happen for the rest of the year.

“We’re capable of ending up anywhere from first to eighth place in our league,” Biega said.

Maybe we’ll see a run to the ECAC Championship game like in 2007-2008, or maybe we’ll see the squad get upset in the first round of playoffs like last season. I guess it just depends on who shows up: Jekyll or Hyde.

—Staff writer Jake I. Fisher can be reached at jifisher@fas.harvard.edu.