Men's Hockey Looks To Remain Top-Four Before ECACs

Following Monday’s win over Northeastern in the Beanpot consolation game, the Harvard men’s hockey team (8-7-10, 6-4-8 ECAC) looks to build on that success as it embarks on a two-night road trip this weekend, travelling to a Friday night matchup against Brown before heading to Yale for a Saturday showdown with its archrival.

Both the Bulldogs and the Bears will be looking for revenge, as the Crimson has prevailed in its home contest against each team, including a nationally televised 4-3 victory over Yale on Jan. 27.

“Right now, our focus is truly on Friday night,” head coach Ted Donato ’91 said. “I think [Saturday] will be electric, so we’ll have no problem being ready for that game.”

This weekend marks the ninth time the Crimson has played games on back-to-back nights, with a total record of 4-6-6 in those matchups. The team will travel from Providence to New Haven immediately following Friday night’s game against Brown. According to senior forward Alex Killorn, the combination of opponents makes for an atypical travel schedule, though it shouldn’t affect the team’s performance on the ice.

“Typically when we go to Brown it’s a day trip,” Killorn said. “There’s a lot of emotion in Ivy games, but they’re both huge games. You can always muster up the energy, especially for Yale.”

Despite a difficult start to ECAC conference play, Harvard has clawed its way back to fourth place, with 20 points, leading fifth-place Clarkson by one point. Both Yale and Brown trail the Crimson, with 15 and 12 points, respectively, in the conference.

“Climbing the ranking is always good for the national rankings, but it’s also good for our overall confidence,” junior forward Alex Fallstrom said. “We’re playing for four points this weekend, and we want to keep the teams [that are] behind us, behind us.”

After a close defeat against No. 1 ranked Boston University in the first round of the Beanpot, Harvard carried its solid play into Monday’s contest versus Northeastern, emerging with a 3-2 victory keyed by a game-winning shorthanded goal from junior forward Luke Greiner. The win was the first for the Crimson in 10 days, one that it hopes provides a boost in advance of the weekend’s games.

“The past games before that [against Rensselaer and BU], we were playing really well, just not getting the results we wanted,” Fallstrom said. “[The win] is a huge momentum shifter.”

Monday’s victory also marks the latest in the season the Crimson’s record has risen above .500 since 2007-08. For Killorn, playing in his last year at Harvard, the winning record represents a milestone not yet achieved during his career.

“Obviously, you want to be a winning team,” Killorn said. “Since I’ve been here, we haven’t really had the success that we want. Especially as a senior, you want to leave your mark.”

“There’s a lot of pride in our locker room,” Donato added. “Our schedule is always tough with our late start, and we’ve continued to schedule some of the toughest non-conference games in the country. [The record] is something that I think is a benchmark we’d like to improve upon.”

Looking beyond this weekend’s contests, Harvard will finish the regular season next Friday and Saturday at Bright Hockey Center with games against St. Lawrence and Clarkson. The Crimson looks for a strong finish before the ECAC Tournament, which kicks off on Mar. 2, and for which a spot in the NCAA Tournament will be at stake. Should Harvard remain in the top four of the conference following the conclusion of regular season play, the team will earn a first-round bye and a home best-of-three quarterfinal on Mar. 9-11.

“We want to get as high [in the standings] as possible, but we really want to establish how we’re playing heading into the playoffs,” Donato said. “Being second, third, or fourth isn’t as much of an issue as getting one of the top four spots.”

Given the quality of its recent play and the tight nature of this year’s ECAC—the top seven teams are separated by just nine points—the Crimson believe it has as good of a chance as any team to claim this year’s tournament title and the coveted NCAA bid that comes with it.

“We’ve played every team [in the ECAC] so far, so we know we have the ability to beat these teams,” Killorn said. “We’re excited.”