Hockey Begins Redemption Quest

Sometimes, there’s nowhere else to go but up.

Last year, the Harvard men’s hockey team finished the season 10-19-3 on its way to the first last-place finish in the Eastern College Athletic Conference in school history.

The quest for redemption begins Saturday, as the team faces Bentley at home for the second straight year at 7:30 pm.

“It’s the beginning of a new season,” senior captain Dan Ford said. “There’s a lot of new guys, and we’re excited about a fresh start against Bentley.”

The sentiment is shared by Bentley, who, after losing to the Crimson by a score of 5-0 last year, went on to finish 10th in the unremarkable Atlantic Hockey Conference.

This year, the Falcons come into Bright just off a close 4-3 loss to last year’s national championship runner-up and current No. 9-ranked Quinnipiac.

“Obviously any time you play a school like Harvard it’s exciting,” said Bentley assistant coach Matt Curley. “I think for our guys it’s a great chance to come back and have another go at it, and see if we can make amends for last year’s loss and maybe get a win this Saturday.”

Harvard’s win over Bentley last year started off the season on a high note, as highly-touted freshman forward Jimmy Vesey lived up to the hype and notched two goals and an assist in his first collegiate start.

This year, Vesey is once again expected to make an impact after an impressive rookie season in which he earned Ivy League Rookie of the Year honors and a wspot on the All-ECAC Rookie team, and spent his winter break winning a U20 World Championship with the USA Junior National Team in Russia.

The forward will be joined by fellow super sophomores Brian Hart and Kyle Criscuolo, who added 18 and 13 points respectively to the Crimson offense last year.

Harvard will also look to Ford and junior standouts Patrick McNally and Max Everson as the team attempts to bounce back from a disappointing season marred by injuries and the mid-season withdrawal of several key players with a victory this weekend.

“We want to come out and make Bentley uncomfortable,” Ford said. “We want to play the way we want to play, come out with a win, and build some momentum. We’ve got a number of games right at the start of the season, so we really want to get off to a good start and build off that heading into some of our league contests.”

The Crimson is also faced with the tough task of replacing seniors Danny Biega and Marshall Everson. Biega, an All-American defenseman, played an important role on both offense and defense for Harvard, and Everson was one of the team’s top scorers, posting 11 goals and 5 assists in his final season.

“We lost a lot of players from last year’s team that played important roles, and I don’t think there’s going to be any individual guy making up for those losses,” Ford said. “It’s going to be a group effort to replace those guys.”

The effort should be helped by the new group of freshmen. The cohort makes up the top-ranked incoming rookie class in the ECAC.

Led by NHL draft picks Alexander Kerfoot and Sean Malone, the nine rookies make up the largest class on the Harvard roster. Unsurprisingly, they will be counted on to make an immediate impact.

While the Crimson will be playing for the first time in the 2013-2014 season on Saturday, Bentley comes into the matchup with a 1-4 record through its first five games. The Falcons will be looking to their senior leadership, including returning leading scorer Brett Gensler, to guide the team in the coming weeks and remain competitive.

“We don’t throw a lot at our guys, but one thing we do expect from them is to come ready and prepared to play from the opening whistle to the final horn,” Curley said. “It’s something they’ve been very good at thus far, and we certainly expect that Saturday.”

After having an entire summer off to ruminate on last season’s disappointments, Harvard appears ready to start proving that they’re finally ready to meet the high expectations that come with high talent.

“It’s been a long time since our last game,” Ford said. “We haven’t been able to play in about seven months. We’ve been practicing and working out here since September. I think we’re just really excited to finally play, and we’re looking forward to Saturday night.”